Rigidity andElasticity of Animal Behavior

Animal behavior is rigid and elastic. When the energy source and the living space are limited， some of the behavior of animals will still be displayed， such as feeding， excrement behavior， etc. These behaviors are so called rigid behaviors. While there are some other animal behaviors， such as clusters， communication and play behavior， etc. When the energy source and living space become limited， these behaviors will be limited as well. This type of behavior is known as the elastic behavior.

With the help of elk reconstruction and the wild return project， we studied the adaptation and population management of the elk's behaviors. We came up with the concepts of rigid and elastic behavior. It was found that the expression of behavior requires specific environment. The inhibit behaviors of captive elk restored when released into the wild later. In addition， our experiments confirmed that， after several years of captive feed， elk still has the "memory" of their predators - dogs， lions， tigers and wolves. They will still have fear and alert when hearing their predators' voices.