Animal Behaviors 5.2.2

​Reproduction is a characteristic that all living things share. Reproduction allows a species to produce more organisms of the same kind.

Animals use specific behaviors to increase the probability that they will reproduce. These behaviors can include:

• predation (pre-day-shen)

• herding

• migration (my-gray-shen)

• courtship

In today's lesson, you will learn how each of these behaviors affects the chances that an organism will reproduce.

​All organisms need energy to survive. Animals obtain energy from the food they eat. Predation occurs when one organism kills and eats another organism. There are always two organisms involved in predation.

• A predator is an animal that kills and eats another organism.

• The prey is the organism that gets eaten.

​Predation occurs when an organism kills and eats a plant or an animal. An herbivore, or animal that eats plants, can be a predator. A predator kills and eats another organism.

Imagine that an alpaca pulls grass out of the ground and consumes it. The alpaca killed and ate the grass. The alpaca is a predator of grass. Any organism that kills another organism to gain energy is a predator.

Animal Behaviors

​Herding is a behavior in which animals live and move together as a group. Prey animals are the most likely organisms to herd together. Herding helps increase the safety of each organism in the herd.

​Migration is a behavior in which animals travel long distances in a predictable pattern. Organisms might migrate to:

• find food

• find water

• reproduce

The Baltimore oriole is a songbird that migrates from Central America to the Northeastern U.S. each year to raise its young.

A behavior that an animal uses to attract a mate. Courtship behaviors make an animal more likely to reproduce. Courtship increases the probability of reproduction for a number of reasons.

• Male crickets chirp so that females can locate them to mate.

• Bucks, or male deer, fight by slamming their antlers together. The stronger buck wins the fight and the right to mate.

• Male birds sing, dance, and spread their feathers to draw the attention of females to mate with.

​Herding behavior increases the chances that animals will reproduce and successfully raise their offspring. The herd can also protect the young by keeping them near the center of the herd away from predators.

Other examples of herds include:

• a flock of birds

• a school of fish

• a swarm of bees

• a troop of monkeys

Remember the bird from yesterday?
Courtship is a behavior that an animal uses to attract a mate. Courtship behaviors increase an animal's likelihood of reproducing.

Examples:

• Male crickets chirp so that females

• can locate them to mate.

• Bucks, or male deer, fight by slamming

• their antlers together. The stronger buck

• wins the fight and the right to mate.