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4/8/2013 12:42:51 AM
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Why do living things have instincts?

Like how Baby Turtles crawl to the ocean because they know it's safe. Boggles my mind, people.

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  • Edited by VerticalGradient: 4/8/2013 1:17:52 AM
    Found what I was looking for. Keeping old biology notes/packets are handy, yeah? I added a few words of my own. Animal behavior can be inherited through genes (innate behavior), or it can be learned through interactions with the environment. Behavior that is influenced by genes (innate) is molded by natural selection and other evolutionary forces. As a result, most genetically based behaviors should increase the fitness or reproductive success of the individual. The study of behavior that seeks to explain how specific behaviors increase individual reproductive success is called behavioral ecology. - Instinct is behavior that is innate, or inherited. - Fixed action patterns are innate behaviors that follow a regular, unvarying pattern. They're initiated by specific stimulus. Typically, the behavior is carried out to completion - even if the original intent of the behavior can no longer be fulfilled. - Imprinting is an innate program for acquiring a specific behavior, only if an appropriate stimulus is experienced during a critical period. Once acquired, the behavior is irreversible (meh, never say never! And science.) Okay . . . I flipped the page and there are like 6 more kinds of behavior and/or learning. I don't feel like typing all of the explanations. - Associative learning; trial-and-error learning; spatial learning; habituation; observational learning; insight. Some behaviors that appear to be learned may actually be innate behaviors that require maturation (or, vice-versa, it'd be easy to mistake for the other). For example, birds appear to "learn" to fly by trial-and-error, or by observation. However, if birds are raised in isolation, they will fly on their first try, if they are physically capable of flying. In general, inherited behaviors and learning capabilities of animals have evolved because they increase individual fitness (and, in turn, increases chances of survival and reproduction). In relation, there are also various types of movement; directed, undirected - migration, movement toward light, scent; communication, social behaviors, etc.

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    • Because evolution and natural selection. Baby turtles that didn't immediately head towards water either died to the elements or predation. Thus any genes that they carried that caused them to head to other directions died out since they were not able to reproduce.

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    • Because outstincts are so yesterday.

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    • God.

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    • Because genetic memory.

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    • [i]It has been said that the secret of peace cannot be imposed, but that is not so. All intelligent beings do not understand the meaning of peace, so they need to be made to understand it. When all living beings look through their eyes and see and the thunder and the surf, they see peace; when every drop of rain falls on them, they know peace.[/i]

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    • 0
      I'd answer... but then I'd start going on about nature vs. nurture.

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    • Evolution? The ones who 'randomly' developed these instincts were the ones to survive, thus produce off spring.

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    • Because they have more babies that way.

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    • Think for a moment, now, that in an animal brain, there is no conscious thought, only reaction. It is a processing of information. Animal behavior changes based upon different reactions, hence different processes. Turtles which reacted by sensing which direction the ocean is and moving towards it tended to survive with a higher frequency. So over time, only the turtles which processed the surrounding information in this such way at that moment in their life remained. Now ask yourself, "Why are people innately afraid of the dark?"

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        Instincts keep us alive.

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      • natural way of life

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      • Science, man. Science.

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      • Lifeshaper's Geas.

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