BRAINCAKEBehavioural Adaptation
Behavioural adaptations are the ways an organism acts that increase its chance of survival and reproduction. Behaviour can be innate (inherited and carried out without learning) or learned from experience. Innate behaviours are shaped directly by natural selection.
Examples
• Migration: swallows fly south in autumn to warmer areas where food is available, and return to breed in spring.
• Courtship: displays and songs, such as the dance of a male bird of paradise, attract a mate of the same species and show the male is fit, increasing reproductive success.
• Avoiding extremes: many desert animals, such as kangaroo rats, stay in cool, humid burrows by day and come out at night, reducing water loss and overheating.
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More in Natural Selection
- Neo-Darwinism
- Adaptation
- Anatomical Adaptation
- Physiological Adaptation
- Grayling Butterflies
- Fungal Carnivores
- The Same Species in Different Environments
- Natural Selection
All 29 lessons in Natural Selection · All Edexcel AS-level Biology topics