The activity or pattern of activity of the patient; can be modified by training and medication; used clinically as a measure of cerebral activity.
- abnormal b. — includes any activity judged to be outside the normal behavior pattern for animals of that particular class and age, including the vices, the fixed patterns of abnormality.
- aggressive b. — is common in animals as part of the establishment of territorial rights by males, as competition for sexual favors, because of fear of the unknown, and as maternal protection of young. In companion animals, aggression and dominance directed against humans can also be learned. See also aggression.
- allelomimetic b. — group activity behavior; those behavioral traits used to interact with others, particularly developed during the early socialization period.
- auditory b. — the use of the voice to communicate is poorly developed in animals but is used for example in the various voices used by cattle including mooing, lowing, bellowing. Is used most extensively by animals in communicating between mother and young and in courtship.
- automatistic b. — see stereotypic behavior (below).
- communicative b. — the behavioral patterns that result in communication between animals. Includes auditory, visual and chemical patterns.
- consumptive b. — includes inappropriate sucking and wool sucking, particularly in cats. May be the result of early weaning.
- destructive b. — involves digging or the destruction of items, such as furniture, doors, or toys, by chewing. Causes include separation anxiety, fear-induced aggression and play aggression.
- elimination b. — the ritual and method of passing urine and feces, particularly as seen in dogs and cats. This includes searching for the site, pre-elimination behavior of sniffing, scratching, etc., posture and post-elimination action such as scratching the ground or covering feces with dirt. Housetraining involves modification of this behavior.
- epimeletic b. — maternal behavior; that demonstrated by a dam caring for her young in the early stages.
- et-epimeletic b. — care-seeking behavior; young responding to the dam's care giving. In puppies, this includes tail-wagging, licking the dam's face, and following the dam closely.
- hallucinatory b. — behavior which suggests dementia. This may be inherent or acquired, e.g. shying at nonexistent objects in cows with nervous acetonemia, biting at imaginary flies by dogs.
- ingestive b. — includes overeating, inadequate intake of food, predation, wool sucking, pica, coprophagia, garbage eating and food-related aggression.
- b. modification — the use of learning techniques to alter behavior.
- predatory b. — chasing and killing is commonly displayed by cats in catching birds and rodents. Dogs, particularly in packs, may show predatory behavior in threatening and killing of livestock and, in some instances, humans.
- sexual b. — includes courtship and the mating act. Much of the behavior is visual including posture, feather fluffing, tail carriage; some of it is auditory, especially in cats, but chemical communication via pheromones is the clincher.
- social b. — behavior relative to others in the group. Includes establishment of the peck order, bulling by steers in feedlots, crowd pressure in the feeding of large groups of pigs, cannibalism in overcrowded communities, even self-immolation in lemming communities. The social stress that may follow abnormal group behavior may result in lowered production, reduction in disease resistance, or the expression of actual disease, e.g. esophagogastric ulcer of pigs.
- stereotypic b. — constant and repetitive actions, such as vocalization, grooming, walking or weaving, which would otherwise be seen normally in the species. See also obsessive–compulsive behavior.
- thermoregulatory b. — actions such as seeking cool places, lapping water, huddling are self-explanatory examples.
- visual b. — body language for animals. Posture, gait, other body movements all convey information about the animal.
