While researching last week’s Wildlife Wednesday I was digging through the BBC archives and in their nature/wildlife section I came across a whole list of different animal behaviours. Every single animal behaves in a different way as these different behaviours are essentially adaptions that help organisms to survive in their habitat. These adaptations can be anatomical, behavioural, or physiological.
Anatomical adaptations are physical features such as an animals shape. Behavioural adaptations can be inherited or learnt and include tool use, language, and swarming behaviour. Physiological adaptations include the ability to make venom; but also, more general functions such as temperature regulation.
Going through this list of animal behaviours there are a few that I recognise but did not recognise the name or I had just never heard of them before. I found it so interesting going through all of these so I thought I’d share with you a mix of ones that I had never heard before or that I just think are pretty cool.
Polygynous
Polygynous sexual behaviour is the system in which a single male mates with multiple females, but each female mates with only one male. This usually entails fierce competition between the males during the breeding season. Females invest more heavily in their offspring and all the parental duties fall to the mother. They become much choosier about their mate as a result, while the males attempt to have as many mates as possible in order to leave a maximum number of offspring. However, many males fail to win or impress a female and remain unmated their entire lives.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Aardvark
- Black bear
- Common seal
- Sea otter
- Polar bear
- Blackbuck
- Giraffe
- Black Rhino
- Barn owl
- Swallow
Polymorphism
Polymorphism means ‘many forms’ and can be exhibited in a variety of ways. A truly polymorphic species has individuals of notably different appearance living in the same area. Army ants, which have workers of different sizes in the same nest, are therefore polymorphic as are adders which can have a zig-zag pattern on their skin or be uniform black in colour. If the difference is between males and females of a species, as with peacocks and peahens, it’s sexual dimorphism rather than polymorphism.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Leopard
- Lion
- Black-crested gibbon
- Red squirrel
- Northern Bottlenose whale
- Fulmar
- Snow goose
- Galápagos land iguana
- Grass snake
- Army Ant
Torpor
Torpor is a form of sleep that helps animals conserve valuable resources in times of stress, such as in cold or very hot, dry weather. Body temperature drops and the heart and metabolic rates slow down so that less energy is needed to stay alive. Animals can stay torpid for short bursts, or go into long-term torpor lasting weeks or months, known as hibernation (winter) or aestivation (summer). Animals in torpor are far more difficult to wake up than animals in normal sleep.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Hedgehog
- Dormouse
- Brown bear
- Common crossbill
- Siberian Salamander
- Purple emperor butterfly
Sessile
Sessile describes animals that don’t move around, such as barnacles and corals. There may be mobile phases in the life cycle, often in the larval stage, where organisms might actively swim or merely drift about, but they will eventually fix themselves in place and remain there for the rest of their lives. Because sessile animals can’t go off in search of food, this is only a practical lifestyle if you live in water, where the currents or tides will carry food particles to you.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Common jellyfish
- Giant tube worm
- Pompeii worm
Symbiotic
Symbiosis is a relationship between two organisms that’s beneficial to one (commensal) or both (true symbiote). For instance, giant clams have algae living within them. They each recycle the other’s waste products and supply their partner with nutrients. Symbiosis can exist between different kinds of organism, such as between plants and fungi or plants and animals, as well as between different species.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Bee orchids
- Pied flycatcher
- Scottish wood ant
- Pompeii worm
Bioluminescence
Bioluminescence is light created by living organisms and and it can create the most fantastic displays. It includes ‘phosphorescence’ created by marine creatures and seen on the surface of the sea at night, the light of fireflies and the faint but eerie glow of some fungi. The light is produced chemically for many different reasons: to attract attention, to frighten enemies, to disguise what you really are, or – in the depths of the sea – to provide your own ‘headlights’ to search out prey.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Anglerfish
- Common glow worm
Kleptoparasitic
Kleptoparasitic animals are thieves and bandits. They steal food, nest material or other resources from their own species or from another one. Gulls are a famous example – they harass other seabirds such as puffins and kittiwakes into giving up their fish, and even snatch chips from unwary people on many a seafront. Lions and hyenas both steal each other’s kills, so both can be considered kleptoparasitic.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Tasmanian devil
- Lion
- Golden eagle
- Artic skua
- Herring Gull
- Polar bear
Neoteny
Neoteny refers to animals that retains juvenile features even when they become adults. The most well-known example is the axolotl, a type of salamander that remains tadpole-like all its life, never losing its gills, and never leaving the water to live on land. Neoteny is an important feature in evolution: human beings are neotenous primates and insects might be descended from a neotenous millipede-like ancestor.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Texas blind salamander
Ovoviviparous
Ovoviviparous animals produce eggs inside their body, but then give birth to live young. The eggs hatch out inside the mother and the offspring stay within her for a time. She later gives birth to the them. While they are within her, the young are fed on the yolk of the egg, and not directly from the mother’s body. Ovoviviparity is a special type of viviparity. Some fish, amphibians and reptiles reproduce this way, for instance the sand tiger shark.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Yellow anaconda
- Surinam Toad
- Whale shark
- Manta ray
Parthenogenetic
Parthenogenetic species – for example water fleas – reproduce asexually, without need of a male, mating or pollination. In parthenogentic animals, the offspring are usually all female, and in certain types of whiptail lizards, the entire species is female. Parthenogenesis often happens where there are no males of a species in the vicinity. In some cases, should males make a reappearance, the species can switch back to sexual reproduction. Recently in zoos, komodo dragons were discovered to be capable of this reproductive trick.
Chemical communication
Chemical communication is all about taste and smell. Plants use scent and pheromones to attract pollinators. Animals use scents and tastes for a whole variety of reasons, including scents emitted by female moths to attract a mate, alarm signals given off by bees when their hive is under threat and the territorial markers in wolf urine. Some insects, such as ants, lay down pheromone trails for their nest-mates to follow to food sources. Many animals have special scent glands for leaving these chemical messages.
Some animals with this behaviour are:
- Malayan colugo
- Giant anteater
- Three-toed sloths
- Fossa
- Grey wolf
- Meerkat
- Puma
- Tiger
- Springbok
- Asian Elephant
- Amazon river dolphin
- Komodo dragon
Congratulations! You made it to the end! Give yourself a round of applause! I hope you enjoyed this post and learnt something new and didn’t find it too taxing.
Love,
Savannah
The Savannah 