Born Knowing and Learning to Survive

Today you will learn how behaviors that animals are born with, and behaviors they learn, help them stay alive.

Some animals know how to do things without being taught. This is called an instinct, a behavior an animal is born knowing how to do. Think about sea turtles on the Texas coast. A mother turtle lays her eggs in the warm sand. When the hatchlings break out, no parent is there to help them. Still, they crawl straight toward the water and swim away. Nobody showed them the way. That instinct gets them into the sea fast, before birds or crabs can catch them.

Other behaviors are learned. A learned behavior is something an animal picks up by watching others or by practicing. Orcas hunt together in groups called pods. Young orcas watch the older ones chase fish and seals. They copy the moves. Over time, they learn how to work as a team and push prey into one spot. Hunting in a pack means the group catches more food than one orca could catch alone. More food means a better chance to live and grow.

Both kinds of behaviors do the same job. They raise an animal's chance of survival, which means staying alive long enough to grow up and have young of its own. Instincts work right away, even for a tiny hatchling. Learned behaviors take time, but they let animals get better at finding food and staying safe.

You can see both near your own home. A mockingbird builds its nest by instinct. A squirrel in your neighborhood learns which yard has a feeder full of seeds.

Try it: A mother killdeer pretends her wing is broken to pull a coyote away from her eggs, and she does this the very first time without being taught, so is that an instinct or a learned behavior?