• Question: How do animals know about reproduction?

    Asked by to James, Jennifer, Kim, Liam, Ricardo on 17 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ricardo Ramirez

      Ricardo Ramirez answered on 17 Jun 2014:

      Just as teenagers do, it is an instinct. There are hormones that regulate the development of the body, and those also trigger the need to have sex. They may not know they are going to reproduce, but they feel the ‘need’.

    • Photo: Jennifer Stephens

      Jennifer Stephens answered on 22 Jun 2014:

      Hi bananadude

      Animals learn in different ways. In some animals behaviours are learned, while others are instinctive. If it’s learned behaviour an animal will learn from its parents or other animals around them. If you think of the saying “Monkey see, Monkey do” this would suggest that monkeys learn some behaviours by watching others so this may be how they learn about reproduction.
      When ducklings eggs hatch they immediately follow the nearest moving object thinking it is their mother. Since they’ve just been born they haven’t had time to learn this behaviour so it is instinctive.

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