Not just simple responses to an external stimulus play a role in instinctive behavior; instinctive activity involves sequences of behavior that run a predictable course. These behaviors may last seconds, minutes, hours or even days. Exemplifying this, we can refer to a particular species of digger wasp, which finds and captures only honeybees. With no previous experience, a female wasp will unearth an intricate burrow, find a bee, paralyze it with a careful and precise sting to the neck, pilot back to her discreet home, and, when the larder has been supplied with the correct number of bees, lay an egg on one of them and seal the chamber. ... Overall, one of the main distinctive features of instinctive activity is the ability to react to an external stimulus the correct way the first chance (and every time thereafter) the animal receives. This feature distinguishes this particular behavior from what ethnologists call learned behavior, which scientists have discovered are actions that take place from conditioning an animal to learn the right way. 1, fiche 1, Anglais, - instinctive%20behaviour
Le toilettage chez les animaux est une activité instinctive et pour partie parfois apprise et transmises aux générations suivantes (utilisation d'eau chaude, de terre, de feuilles ou de poussière par exemple). 2, fiche 1, Français, - activit%C3%A9%20instinctive
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