Table 3.
Treatment of potential behaviours by eight published definitions, survey results and our definition
Definitions: Abbreviated |
Definition number from text | 1. Ants not breeding | 2. Sponge pumps | 3. Spider builds | 4. Rabbit grows fur | 5. Stomata close | 6. Plant moves leaves | 7. Heart beats after nightmare | 8. Sweat in hot air | 9. Beetle in current | 10. Rat dislikes salt | 11. Decide to do nothing | 12. Horse grows arthritic | 13. Mouse in space | 14. Algae swim | 15. Frog orbits sun | 16. Geese fly in V formation | 17. Dog salivates | 18. Zebra herds fluctuate | 19. Chameleon changes colour | 20. Cat produces insulin |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The total movements made by the intact animal | 1 | - | + | + | - | - | - | - | - | + | - | - | - | - | - | + | ? | - | ? | - | - |
Visible activity of animal in response to ext. or int. conditions | 2 | + | + | + | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ? | + | ? | + | - |
Response to ext. and int. stimuli, genetic basis and subject to natural selection | 3 | ? | - | + | + | - | - | - | + | - | - | ? | - | - | - | - | + | + | + | + | + |
Anything observable an organism does in response to stimuli | 4 | ? | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | - | - | - | ? | + | + | ? | + | ? | + | ? |
Responses to stimuli | 5 | ? | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | - | + | + | - | + | + | ? | + | ? | + | + |
What an animal does | 6 | ? | + | + | + | - | - | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | - | + | ? | + | ? | + | + |
What an animal does + plants | 7 | ? | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | + | ? | + | ? | + | + |
Measurable responses by the animal | 8 | ? | + | + | ? | - | - | + | + | - | - | ? | - | - | - | - | ? | + | ? | + | + |
Survey Results | 64 | 74 | 97 | 13 | 38 | 48 | 34 | 24 | 05 | 66 | 81 | 06 | 11 | 78 | 10 | 99 | 75 | 96 | 57 | 14 | |
Our definition | + | + | + | - | - | + | ? | - | - | - | - | - | - | + | - | + | + | + | + | - |
The symbols +, -, ? signify acceptance, rejection, or uncertainty respectively regarding these examples. The survey approval ratings (%) are from the questionnaire responses received from 174 behavioural biologists (Table 1). See the text for a full description of potential behavioural phenomena, and for full definitions and sources. The final row gives the treatment of each phenomenon by our proposed new definition.