In contrast, ethology-a discipline that developed in Europe but that now dominates United States studies as well-holds that much of what animals know is innate . A particular species of digger wasp, for example, finds and captures only honey bees. With no previous experience a female wasp will excavate an elaborate burrow, find a bee, paralyze it with a careful and precise sting to the neck, navigate back to her inconspicuous home, and, when the larder has been stocked with the correct number of bees, lay an egg on one of them and seal the chamber. The female wasp's entire behavior is designed so that she can function in a single specialized way. Ethologists believe that this entire behavioral sequence has been programmed into the wasp by its genes at birth and that, in varying degrees, such patterns of innate guidance may be seen throughout the animal world. Extreme ethologists have even held that all novel behaviors result from maturation-flying in birds, for example, which requires no learning but is delayed until the chick is strong enough-or imprinting, a kind of automatic memorization discussed below.
The three Nobel Prize-winning founders of ethology-Konrad Lorenz of Austria, Nikolaas Tinbergen of the Netherlands, and Karl von Frisch of West Germany-uncovered four basic strategies by which genetic programming helps direct the lives of animals: sign stimuli, motor programs, drive, and programmed learning . Sign stimuli are cues that enable animals to recognize important objects or individuals when they encounter them for the first time. Baby herring gulls, for example, must know from the outset to whom they should direct their begging calls and pecks in order to be fed. An adult returning to the nest with food holds its bill downward and swings it back and forth in front of the chicks. The baby gulls peck at the red spot on the tip of the bill, causing the parent to regurgitate a meal. The young chick's recognition of a parent is based entirely on the sign stimulus of the bill's vertical line and red spot moving horizontally. A wooden model of the bill works as well as the real parent; a knitting needle with a spot is more effective than either in getting the chicks to respond. Sign stimuli need not be visual. The begging call that a chick produces is a releaser for its parents' feeding behavior.
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