Question

Scientists have discovered that web-spinning spiders spin different kinds of webs, depending on internal cues. Spiders fed a daily diet of flies made a web that was not sticky and was used as a home. Starving spiders, on the other hand, spun a web that was very sticky in order to catch prey. This behavior shows how the internal stimulus of _________ affects animal behavior and survival.

Answer 1

Animal behavior includes all the ways animals interact with other organisms and the physical environment.

Behavior can also be defined as a change in the activity of an organism in response to a stimulus, an external or internal cue or combo of cues.

To fully understand a behavior, we want to know what causes it, how it develops in an individual, how it benefits an organism, and how it evolved.

Some behaviors are innate, or genetically hardwired, while others are , or developed through experience. In many cases, behaviors have both an innate component and a learned component.

Behavior is shaped by natural selection. Many behaviors directly increase an organism's fitness, that is, they help it survive and reproduce.

Answer 2

Spiders fed a daily diet of flies are full while starving spiders are hungry.

This behavior shows how the internal stimulus of hunger/fullness affects animal behavior and survival.