Adaptations are not only body parts. What an animal does helps it survive too.
Key idea
An instinct is a behavior an animal does right the first time without learning, like a spider spinning a web. A learned behavior comes from experience, practice or watching others, like a crow learning which trash cans hold food.
Why it works
Instincts are inherited, built in by an animal's genes, so they work the first time, with no teacher. That matters when there is no time to learn: a sea turtle hatchling has no parent to show it the way to the sea. Learned behavior lets an animal adjust to its own surroundings, but it is not passed on in genes: each animal must learn it again.
Worked examples
Worked example: Sort it
A honeybee does a dance that shows other bees where flowers are. Instinct or learned?
- Bees do this dance without being taught.
Answer: Instinct.
Worked example: Passed on?
A dog learns to open a door latch. Will its puppies know how without being taught?
- Learned behavior is not stored in genes.
- The puppies might learn it by watching, but they are not born knowing it.
Answer: No.
Common mistake
Thinking animals do everything by instinct, or that learned behavior is passed to offspring through genes. Many animals learn a great deal, and what they learn must be learned again by each young animal. Watch birds at a feeder and see how they figure out a new feeder over a few days; Nature Study has more to try.