Predicting behaviour

An animal’s behaviour depends partly on its ability to detect changes in its surroundings using its senses of touch, smell, sight and hearing. Once a change or a ‘stimulus’ has been detected by an animal it will assess the situation and react accordingly.

Animals will often produce the same type of response to the same stimulus, e.g. a young lamb will instinctively follow its mother when she moves. These in-built or ‘innate’ behaviours are usually relatively predictable, albeit modified by previous experiences. This knowledge can be used by handlers to encourage the animals to react in a given way.

Behaviours may be modified as a result of previous experiences and the animal’s reaction to them. For example, if an animal has had a bad experience when loaded onto a lorry, loading the animal the next time will be more difficult, as the animal has learnt to associate the lorry with a negative experience.

Next: Species Characteristics