How is instinctive behavior acquired?

Answer 1

Instinct is behaviour that is inherited rather than learned. We might say that a person who often fights has an aggressive instinct. But the person may not have been born with a desire to fight - and, with a different home or school background might never have developed it.

An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli. An instinct is inherited.

Answer 2

instinctive behavior is acquired when the animal is young and watches the behavior of the parents. This is imprint learning and it is called that because what the animal sees is deeply ingrained and deemed important in the mind of the animal. For instance, a baby squirrel watches it's mother running when she smells a foreign presence and is following her, the baby squirrel is scared when this happens, so the next time a foreign presence is detected, although the squirrel won't remember why it is fearful because of the time gone by but it will be scared, determining it's next action.