How does a cowbird learn to be a cowbird? (2016)(audubon.org)
audubon.org
How does a cowbird learn to be a cowbird? (2016)
https://www.audubon.org/news/how-does-cowbird-learn-be-cowbird
34 comments
Fascinating, but kinda creepy. What prompts them to spontaneously leave the nest and go to a certain place? Feel like this raises more questions than answers!
This behavior is thought to be innate, which by definition is considered to be not learned behavior but preprogrammed into DNA. Consider a plant titling towards the sun.
Plant tilting towards the sun is due to heliotropism : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliotropism
Isn't this true for all animals? How does a cat know that he is a cat? He never sees himself in a mirror but somehow knows that he is like other cats. I understand that they observe other cats' behavior, but how does he know initially that he is like other cats without seeing himself. This must be something innate. Also for birds mentioned in the article, they must know innately that they are cowbirds.
> how does he know initially that he is like other cats without seeing himself
He can't see his head or maybe his back, but can see the rest of himself, surely. And he can hear himself and smell himself
He can't see his head or maybe his back, but can see the rest of himself, surely. And he can hear himself and smell himself
Cats are social animals. Kittens learn a lot from play fighting with each other.
A lone cat can survive but they behave differently than a cat raised with peers. You can also tell a difference if a cat is raised among dogs. Kittens are friendly and will socialize with most creatures until a certain age where their disposition changes to be a bit more reserved.
A lone cat can survive but they behave differently than a cat raised with peers. You can also tell a difference if a cat is raised among dogs. Kittens are friendly and will socialize with most creatures until a certain age where their disposition changes to be a bit more reserved.
Years ago, a neighbor of mine had a young pit bull dog -- well, two actually. But the dog in question had been raised by a cat. So one day I'm leaning on the chainlink fence talking to my neighbor. A grey tomcat I had at the time beside me, the neighbor's pit bull beside him. As soon as the dog saw my cat, he laid down with his nose pressed to the fence, beseechingly whimpering for attention from my cat. Cat stood back about a foot from the fence doing cat stuff, hissing, arching his back, and pressing against my leg for a sense of security. The cat was clearly puzzled. Funny, but intriguing. The dog, however, was very comfortable with other dogs as well, but the cat really took him someplace emotionally, almost like he was seeking to re-experience the feeling of being a coddled puppy/kitten again.
On the flip side, we had a cat when I was growing up that had been reared by our dog, and must have been separated from its mom and all other cats at a very young age. The dog had recently had puppies at that stage, and they had all been given away. So, she thought that this was a weird looking puppy that had come back. She dearly loved that puppykitten.
That cat never learned how to meow. It would open its mouth, there would be silence for a few seconds, and then there would be a tiny squeak. It was clearly trying to bark, and failing. Every time.
Fortunately, that cat did learn how to use a litter box. But she never tried to run outdoors.
That cat never learned how to meow. It would open its mouth, there would be silence for a few seconds, and then there would be a tiny squeak. It was clearly trying to bark, and failing. Every time.
Fortunately, that cat did learn how to use a litter box. But she never tried to run outdoors.
<<<Fortunately, that cat did learn how to use a litter box. But she never tried to run outdoors.<<<
This is hard wired cat behaviour. Big cats do this too. They dig and bury because they are predators and don’t want to leave their wee/poo scent trail.
Domestic cats do this too. Except the parasite in cat’s urine makes rats lose their fear instinct and makes them suicidal..thereby luring them to the waiting hungry cat’s maw.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-parasite-t...
[..]Researchers have known for a few years that a rat infected with Toxoplasma loses its natural response to cat urine and no longer fears the smell. And they know that the parasite settles in the rat’s amygdala, the part of the brain that processes fear and emotions. Now a new study in the journal PLoS ONE adds another bizarre piece to the tale: When male rats infected with Toxoplasma smell cat urine, they have altered activity in the fear part of the brain as well as increased activity in the part of the brain that is responsible for sexual behavior and normally activates after exposure to a female rat.[..]
This is hard wired cat behaviour. Big cats do this too. They dig and bury because they are predators and don’t want to leave their wee/poo scent trail.
Domestic cats do this too. Except the parasite in cat’s urine makes rats lose their fear instinct and makes them suicidal..thereby luring them to the waiting hungry cat’s maw.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-parasite-t...
[..]Researchers have known for a few years that a rat infected with Toxoplasma loses its natural response to cat urine and no longer fears the smell. And they know that the parasite settles in the rat’s amygdala, the part of the brain that processes fear and emotions. Now a new study in the journal PLoS ONE adds another bizarre piece to the tale: When male rats infected with Toxoplasma smell cat urine, they have altered activity in the fear part of the brain as well as increased activity in the part of the brain that is responsible for sexual behavior and normally activates after exposure to a female rat.[..]
I'm not quite sure what sort of mental model one must have to pose such a question (maybe some sort of reincarnation-like spirituality where all animals and humans have the same soul/spirit substance that after birth has to figure out what kind of animal it was slotted into this time?).
How does a rock know to be a rock? Why doesn't it get confused and become water?
A cat doesn't need to know that it "is a cat". It just has a cat brain and a cat body, so it does cat stuff.
Of course, there is some learned behavior, parental socialization and some "culture"-like practices is certain species, but it's not like cats may forget "how to cat". Do you think a fish may get confused and suddenly forget to be a fish and instead act like a mouse?
How does a rock know to be a rock? Why doesn't it get confused and become water?
A cat doesn't need to know that it "is a cat". It just has a cat brain and a cat body, so it does cat stuff.
Of course, there is some learned behavior, parental socialization and some "culture"-like practices is certain species, but it's not like cats may forget "how to cat". Do you think a fish may get confused and suddenly forget to be a fish and instead act like a mouse?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz
Questions like these were mostly answered decades ago, at least operationally.
Broadly, most of behaviour is more-or-less mechanical, stimulus-reponse chains, while some behaviour has a "transmitted" component (aka "culture"), but learning is itself generally of the first order (like how children learn to walk and talk automatically); and then there is third-degree learning: the learning process itself comes to be self-reflexively the subject of culture, and this seems to be somehow the essence or crux of what differentiates humans from animals.
Questions like these were mostly answered decades ago, at least operationally.
Broadly, most of behaviour is more-or-less mechanical, stimulus-reponse chains, while some behaviour has a "transmitted" component (aka "culture"), but learning is itself generally of the first order (like how children learn to walk and talk automatically); and then there is third-degree learning: the learning process itself comes to be self-reflexively the subject of culture, and this seems to be somehow the essence or crux of what differentiates humans from animals.
As the article notes:
> "In laboratory experiments, cowbirds and other brood parasites that spend too much time with their foster families end up learning their host species’ songs, picking up their behaviors, and attempting to mate with them."
Clearly, this would be an evolutionary dead end for the cowbird species as such mating attempts would be unlikely to result in viable offspring. The reason that doesn't happen appears to be that cowbird parents and their offspring maintain a kind of distant relationship until maturity.
As usual, some people jump on these issues to promote their various ideologies, be it 'biological determinism' or 'social constructionism'. Notably the psychologists and politicans (i.e. German fascism promoted genetic determinism, Russian communism promoted phenotypic plasticity) are the ones who came up with these simplistic one-dimensional concepts, reality being far more complex in every case.
> "In laboratory experiments, cowbirds and other brood parasites that spend too much time with their foster families end up learning their host species’ songs, picking up their behaviors, and attempting to mate with them."
Clearly, this would be an evolutionary dead end for the cowbird species as such mating attempts would be unlikely to result in viable offspring. The reason that doesn't happen appears to be that cowbird parents and their offspring maintain a kind of distant relationship until maturity.
As usual, some people jump on these issues to promote their various ideologies, be it 'biological determinism' or 'social constructionism'. Notably the psychologists and politicans (i.e. German fascism promoted genetic determinism, Russian communism promoted phenotypic plasticity) are the ones who came up with these simplistic one-dimensional concepts, reality being far more complex in every case.
I believe it is actually entirely education and socialization.
I have seen or read plenty online about animal pups that were raised by a different species. And I also remember there being a famous case of a human that was raised by wolves.
I have seen or read plenty online about animal pups that were raised by a different species. And I also remember there being a famous case of a human that was raised by wolves.
> And I also remember there being a famous case of a human that was raised by wolve
Isnt that a myth?
Isnt that a myth?
Here's a rabbit-hole that will definitely eat up a good weekend for me:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feral_child#Raised_by_wolves
How does "innately" work is the question.
This evokes memories of deep-cover spies that come in as teens and how, after spending years ingrained within another society with little contact externally, they remain loyal to their native country.
If you're thinking of Soviet Illegals, a lot of them defected.
It's still impressive that the defection rate is less than 100%, whatever the folks in the KGB were doing, they surely succeeded in some places we still don't know about.
> they surely succeeded in some places we still don't know about
Probably not very many, as a lot of them were arrested when the Mitrokhin Archives reached the west in 1992.
Probably not very many, as a lot of them were arrested when the Mitrokhin Archives reached the west in 1992.
So how does a group of baby cowbirds learn to be a group of cowbirds (without adults teaching them) then?
I think the implication is that cowbird behaviours are genetically and/or epigenetically encoded.
That is not the implication. In the article they explain that the juvenile cowbirds spontaneously leave their brood host's nests at night and mingle with other cowbirds.
I don’t see how a large group of 4 week old cowbirds can know what’s correct cowbird behaviour anymore than a single 4 week old. It would be the blind leading the blind.
If your assuming they acquire this knowledge on the night of, how do you suppose the cowbird group accomplishes this over a few hours in the field?
If your assuming they acquire this knowledge on the night of, how do you suppose the cowbird group accomplishes this over a few hours in the field?
And why do they do that and their 'siblings' don't?
This is only a mystery to social constructionists.
Wrong. Did you read the article? Cowbirds raised in contact with only their foster parents (e.g., in captivity) think they are their foster parents' species, learn their songs, and try to mate with members of their host species. This research answers the question of how young cowbirds in the wild avoid this. The answer includes instinctual elements (that drive them to sneak out to meet their biological parents), but learning clearly is an essential factor.
>Did you read the article? [...] , but learning clearly is an essential factor.
I think your reading of the article missed the point of their experiments that dissected the learning :
Yes, the "learning from other-species foster parents" was affecting their non-cowbird type of behavior (e.g. songs).
But no, they did not "learn" the cowbird-specific behavior from any parents. E.g. They figured out their preferred roosting in the fields at age ~20 days on their own.
I think your reading of the article missed the point of their experiments that dissected the learning :
Yes, the "learning from other-species foster parents" was affecting their non-cowbird type of behavior (e.g. songs).
But no, they did not "learn" the cowbird-specific behavior from any parents. E.g. They figured out their preferred roosting in the fields at age ~20 days on their own.
a conspiracy of cowbirds
So, I should send my kids to party with rich people, right?
Yes - pay whatever it takes to get them into an elite university. It doesn't matter what they study.
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