Inherited Behaviors

Why is a spider spinning a web an innate behavior?

• It learns how to spin the web from its mother.
• It learns how to spin a web through insight learning.  
• It is born knowing how to spin a web.
• It learns how to spin a web through observational learning.

Smelts are fish that lay their eggs in the sand of a beach. When the eggs hatch, the babies know to go to the water. This is an example of...

• inherited behavior
• camouflage
• hibernation
• learned behavior

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

Pufferfish puffs up several times their normal size

• learned behavior
• instinct

bears protect cubs

• learned behavior
• instinct

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

Which of the following is an example of an animal showing an instinctive behavior?

• a dog sitting on command when the owner says, "Sit!"
• a woman sneezing when she gets pepper in her nose
• a bird building a perfect nest the first time it tries
• a bear sitting in a cave to keep from getting wet in a rain storm

A sixth grader gets home late from football practice and then stays up even later to finish her math homework.  In class the next day, she can't stop yawning.  Yawning is a response to what kind of stimulus? 

• external
• internal
• imprinting
• conditioning

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS1-8

Characteristics passed from parents to their offspring.

• behavior
• learned trait
• inherited trait
• function

Tags

NGSS.3-LS3-1

Which of these is not an inherited trait?

• a bird building a nest
• a turtle burying its eggs
• a bear hibernating in winter
• a horse pulling a plow

Instinct, inherited trait, or learned behavior?
Bears go into hibernation.

• Instinct
• Inherited trait
• Learned behavior

What is an instinct?

• Characteristics passed from parents to offspring.
• A natural behavior that an organism inherits.
• A behavior that an organism obtains from experiences.