I dont understand how instinct is transferred from parent to the child through genetics. How can a memory or behaviour be stored in genes? For example a snake has the instinct to hiss but how was that transferred from the parent to the child through genes? And how does it go from being just a genetic memory to actually go into the brain of the new animal and make them perform that behaviour?
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Hissing is a reflexive action. A startle reaction causes muscles to tense, air to leave past the vocal cords..a.nd a hiss comes out.
That hiss works, the snake starts to do it on purpose.
Take some things like building nests. The ‘instinct’ is things like an acuity to a certain visual stimulus, like crossing lines. And a perhaps a positive response to certain textures and tastes. So the animal grabs things that taste and feel good, and cross them over other things.
It’s often found that the first nests an animal makes aren’t very good. Prospective mates ignore them, or the animals nest falls apart and they loose their eggs. So the next year they try again, and genetically they tend to learn from this sort of behavior quite quickly.
Beavers are a great example of simple stimulus leading to complex behavior. Their entire dam building “instinct” seems to be a strong distaste for the sound of running water. They simply pile shit on top of the sound till it stops.
Researchers played such a sound through speakers on dry ground, and the beavers piled material on top of it, mud, branches etc.
This simple response leads to the entire submerged den ecosystem they thrive in.
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