By contrast, non-mammalian animals don’t have the advantages of a neocortex. Rather, their cerebellums have recorded very precisely the key behaviors that they need to survive. These cerebellum-driven animal behaviors are known as fixed action patterns. These are hardwired into members of a species, unlike behavior learned through observation and imitation. Even in mammals, some fairly complex behaviors are innate. For example, deer mice dig short burrows, while beach mice dig longer burrows with an escape tunnel.[46] When lab-raised mice with no previous experience of burrows were placed on
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