An instinct is a stereotyped, species-typical behavior that appears fully functional the first time it is performed, without the need for learning. Such behaviors are usually triggered by a particular stimulus or cue, and are not readily modified by subsequent experience. For instance, a kangaroo rat instantly performs an automatic escape jump maneuver when it hears the sound of a striking rattlesnake, even if it has never encountered a snake before. Clearly, instinctive behaviors play an important role in survival, but our understanding of the forces that promote and guide their development in living animals is in fact quite limited.

Classic examples of animal instinct

Researchers of animal behavior, ethologists, first named the stereotyped, species-typical behaviors exhibited in particular circumstances fixed action patterns, which were later called instincts. A cocoon-spinning spider ready to lay its eggs builds a silk cocoon in a particular way, first spinning a base...