Animals' response to the environment is considered under the general heading of behavior. Instinct is the name we give inherited behavior. Learned behavior can develop new patterns or modify instinctive behavior. Some of the kinds of innate behavior include:

KINESIS: This is a movement that lacks directional orientation and depends upon the intensity of the stimulation. Essentially, the stimulus produces a change of rate of random movements. Increasing temperature can cause some animals e.g. insects to become more active.

TAXES: This name is given to behavior that involves movement to or away from a stimulus. An example would be cockroaches fleeing from light.

INSTINCT: This is an inherited or innate pattern of response. Suckling by newborn mammals is an instinctive behavior.

REFLEXES: These are responses of part of the body to a stimulus that does not involve the higher brain centers. The blinking of an eye or knee jerk are examples of reflexes.

Place your mouse pointer over the eye to cause eye-blink reflex.

FIXED ACTION PATTERNS: These are complex instinctive behaviors. An example might be the series of behavioral activities engaged in by birds that are not sexually dimorphic that allows mate selection. It may include bowing, mutual vocalization, mutual preening and posturing. Sometimes a series of dozens of behavioral acts, each stimulating a response, follow one another.

Young baboon grooming an adult is an example of a fixed action pattern.