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What is Behavior?

What is Behavior?

Behaviors are actions that an organism engages in—they can be related to finding food, reproducing, defending against threats, and many other possible actions. Behaviors include activities related to the environment around the animal—such as migration—as well as social interactions within a species or population. Many behaviors involve motor output—that is, muscle movements—while others involve less visible actions, such as learning.

Fixed Action Patterns

Fixed Action Patterns

A fixed action pattern (FAP) is a specific, hard-wired sequence of behaviors that occurs in response to an external stimulus, called a sign stimulus. The behavior is “fixed” because it is essentially unchangeable—proceeding similarly across individuals of a species every time it occurs.

Instinctive Drift

Instinctive Drift

Instinctive drift refers to the tendency of animals to revert to their innate behaviors despite repeated reinforcement. Breland and Breland demonstrated this concept in an experiment with a raccoon. The raccoon was trained to pick up two coins and place them in a container in exchange for food. Initially, the raccoon learned to associate the coins with food, making them a conditioned stimulus or a substitute for food. However, over time, the raccoon became less willing to put the coins into the...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Dec 13, 2025

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Boldness, Aggression, and Shoaling Assays for Zebrafish Behavioral Syndromes

Published on: August 29, 2016

Denning in brown bears.

Enrique González-Bernardo^1,2, Luca Francesco Russo^1,3, Esther Valderrábano⁴

¹Research Unit of Biodiversity (UMIB, CSIC-UO-PA) Mieres Spain.

Ecology and Evolution

|July 30, 2020

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Brown bears (Ursus arctos) hibernate to survive harsh conditions, with denning timing and physiology influenced by environment and genetics. Understanding these factors is crucial for conservation and adapting to climate change.

Keywords:

Ursus arctos climate change den chronology den selection hibernation physiology

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Area of Science:

Zoology
Ecology
Physiology

Background:

Hibernation is a vital adaptation for brown bears (Ursus arctos) to endure unfavorable environmental conditions.
This period involves significant reductions in physiological functions, posing metabolic challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

To review brown bear denning, covering chronology, den characteristics, and hibernation physiology.
To identify proximate and ultimate factors influencing hibernation and pinpoint research gaps and conservation needs.

Main Methods:

Literature review of den chronology, den characteristics, and hibernation physiology in brown bears.
Analysis of environmental, sex-specific, and reproductive status influences on denning behavior.
Examination of physiological adaptations enabling survival during nutritional deprivation.

Main Results:

Denning chronology varies significantly with sex, reproductive status, and environmental factors like snow, temperature, and food availability.
Den selection is critical for fitness, influenced by insulation, remoteness, and surrounding food resources.
Hibernation involves complex physiological adaptations to prevent muscle/bone loss and cardiovascular issues during fasting.

Conclusions:

Understanding the drivers of brown bear denning is essential for predicting responses to climate change and human impacts.
Further research integrating physiology, ecology, and behavior is needed to address conservation priorities and knowledge gaps in bear denning and hibernation.