Animal Behavior
Does your dog jump up on you, bark excessively, or chew on your things?
Does your cat scratch your furniture?
Have you ever watched an animal do something and wonder, “Why do they do that?”
Behavior deals with what an animal does and why. Some behaviors are natural or instinctive, while others are learned.
Why is behavior so important in any species of animal?
- If you know what normal behavior should be, you can recognize abnormal behavior. Abnormalbehavior can tell you when an animal is sick, is unhappy, or needs something.
- All animals—people as well as other animals—learn from everyone around them from the moment they are born. An animal’s history can tell you a lot about why he or she might do certain things.
- Animals learn certain behaviors from us, even if we don’t mean to be teaching them!
Animals don’t really know right from wrong like people do. Rather than trying to be naughty, animals that do something you don’t like are just acting in the way that they have learned works for them.