# Do mammals have instincts?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 31, 2001, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284 "2001-03-31T20:58:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nick112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nick112)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2001, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/1 "2001-03-31T20:58:34Z")
My dad, and a few of his friends were argueing against my brother and I, that mammels have insticts. I have heard that they do not. I know that reptiles do, but do mammels?
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/2 "2001-03-31T21:03:58Z")
Define what you mean by instinct, but in common usage, yes.
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### Author:  [@FormerlyKnownAsBlank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerlyKnownAsBlank)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2001, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/3 "2001-03-31T21:06:43Z")
Sure they do. Baby humans are animals, and they have instincts to suckle, to grab your finger, to close their eyes to the light, to smile just before you take the picture, etc.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2001, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/4 "2001-03-31T21:25:52Z")
> [@](#):
>
> [instinct](http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=43455&tocid=0) – an involuntary response by an animal to an external stimulus, resulting in a predictable and relatively fixed behaviour pattern…
>
> All animals have instinct. In general, the higher the animal form, the more flexible the behaviour. Among mammals, learned behaviour often prevails eventually over fixed action patterns, as when a young rat learns through experience to adjust its instinctive heaping and smoothing motions to the appropriate stage of nest building. In humans, behaviour is heavily influenced by the socialization process, and the issue of heredity versus environment continues to be a controversial subject.
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### Author:  [@riley\_dieffenbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riley_dieffenbach)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2001, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/5 "2001-03-31T21:30:44Z")
In common usage I can’t think of any animal that doesn’t have a huge variety of instincts. Watch any unfortunate human being beat up. Instinct drives you to tuck in your head and cover up with your arms.
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### Author:  [@nick112](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nick112)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/6 "2001-04-01T14:28:38Z")
If you put any newborn mammal in the wild, it would die, no doubt.
If you put a snake that just hatched in the wild, it would live, If you put a tarantula, or an insect in the wild after it was bron it would live.
Mammals have reactions,not instints. It they are getting light in thier eyes they close them, because it hurts. But ehy couldnt survive because they dont have any idea how to do anything, they are taught everything.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/7 "2001-04-01T14:41:29Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by nick112 \*
> \*\*If you put any newborn mammal in the wild, it would die, no doubt.
>
> If you put a snake that just hatched in the wild, it would live, If you put a tarantula, or an insect in the wild after it was born it would live.
>
> Mammals have reactions, not instincts. It they are getting light in their eyes they close them, because it hurts. But they couldn’t survive because they don’t have any idea how to do anything, they are taught everything. \*\*
Here is a link that seems to support Nick’s point quite well 😃
[http://www.theonion.com/onion3119/stupidbabies.html](http://www.theonion.com/onion3119/stupidbabies.html)
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### Author:  [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/8 "2001-04-01T14:45:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by nick112 \*
> Mammals have reactions,not instints.
Meaningless semantical game. That’s what I was afraid of when I first saw this.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/9 "2001-04-01T14:49:58Z")
Nick112, you’ve never had a cat, have you?
Seriously, mammals exhibit a lot of learned behavior, yes, but there are still also lots of hard-wired actions as well. With cats, there are very definite, instinctual hunting actions and reactions, but they also have to be taught to be really effective hunters.
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### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/10 "2001-04-01T14:53:18Z")
Nick112,
The problem that you have with your point is that you are using “instincts” in a way that describes much more complex behaviors than the term usually refers too. Previous posters have given perfectly good examples of instincts, such as suckling, that can be easily demonstrated by human infants.
However, you seem to be using the term instinct to refer to a set of behaviors that allow a newborn to survive independently of its parents. This is a very different and much more complex question than the one that you asked.
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### Author:  [@berdollos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/berdollos)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/11 "2001-04-01T14:57:47Z")
Yes, mammals have instincts and so do you and your dad!
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### Author:  [@John\_Kentzel-Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Kentzel-Griffin)
#### Post date: [April 1, 2001, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-mammals-have-instincts/60284/12 "2001-04-01T17:03:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Originally posted by_\*\* nick112 \*\*
> If you put any newborn mammal in the wild, it would die, no doubt.
>
> If you put a snake that just hatched in the wild, it would live, If you put a tarantula, or an insect in the wild after it was bron it would live.
>
> Mammals have reactions,not instints. It they are getting light in thier eyes they close them, because it hurts. But ehy couldnt survive because they dont have any idea how to do anything, they are taught everything.
Wow! I have some many problems with what you’ve said. [ol][li]You make it sound like “in the wild” is _one_ place. There are oceans, deserts, wet lands, dry lands. A tarantula or insect could not survive in all of these.[_]Drop a baby tarantula into Baby’s room. Baby tarantula’s instincts will not help against Mom, her broom, and Mom’s instinctive desire to squash baby tarantula’s in Baby’s room.[_]Insects like bees, termites and ants do not leave the nest until they are adults. Baby bees would not survive “in the wild”.[/ol]Instincts evolve to help all animals (including us) survive in the environment they are most likely to grow up in.[/li]
To say that we (humans or mammals) do not have instincts is to indulge in vanity.