Instinct

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Foraging is an example of an instinct driven by impulses serving specific biological functions.

Portrait of Charles Darwin, circa 1874, seated and facing left, with a long white beard and wearing a dark coat.

Konrad Lorenz, an older man with white hair and a beard, wearing a suit and tie, looks to the side and smiles in this 1973 portrait.

Male three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) display instinctive territorial defense behaviour against trespassing males, who may be rivals for reproductive mates.

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) sitting on a rock, showing its colorful face with bright blue and red markings and yellow beard.

Mating behaviour in animals is instinctive.

The courtship displays of animals such as the male frigate bird (Fregata minor) are driven by instinct.

At a Glance

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instinct summary

Instinct: Media

behavior

Images

Foraging is an example of an instinct driven by impulses serving specific biological functions.

Foraging is an example of an instinct driven by impulses serving specific biological...

Scott Bauer—ARS/USDA

Portrait of Charles Darwin, circa 1874, seated and facing left, with a long white beard and wearing a dark coat.

Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin, c. 1874.

From Charles Darwin. A Paper Contributed to the Transactions of the Shropshire Archeological Society, by Edward Woodall, 1884

Sigmund Freud

Sigmund Freud

Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud, 1891.

Wellcome Library, London (CC BY 4.0)

Konrad Lorenz, an older man with white hair and a beard, wearing a suit and tie, looks to the side and smiles in this 1973 portrait.

Konrad Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz.

Keystone—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Male three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) display instinctive territorial defense behaviour against trespassing males, who may be rivals for reproductive mates.

Male three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) display instinctive...

© slowmotiongli—iStock/Getty Images

European toad

European toad

European toad (Bufo bufo).

© Erni/Fotolia

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) sitting on a rock, showing its colorful face with bright blue and red markings and yellow beard.

mandrill

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx).

© Lauren Suryanata/Shutterstock.com

Mating behaviour in animals is instinctive.

Mating behaviour in animals is instinctive.

© Corbis

The courtship displays of animals such as the male frigate bird (Fregata minor) are driven by instinct.

The courtship displays of animals such as the male frigate bird (Fregata minor)...

© Kojo Tanaka, Animals Animals

Caribou

Caribou

A herd of caribou migrating, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

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