From Genes to Behaviour

Abstract

In the previous two chapters, we have seen that behaviour is the result of complex interactions between the physiological and anatomical characteristics of an animal. Together these determine how the animal perceives and integrates environmental information and the range of behaviours with which it is able to respond. Since we know that physiological and anatomical features are coded in the animal’s genes and that their phenotypic form is the result of a complex interaction between genotype and environment, it is reasonable to ask whether behaviour is similarly coded. Are animals pre-programmed to behave in the way they do, or is behaviour largely the result of experience and environmental influences? We shall leave a full discussion of the genes versus environment, or ‘nature/nurture’ argument until the next chapter. Let us first of all explore the evidence for a genetic basis to behaviour.