Editing Fight-or-flight response (section)

==Other animals==

===Evolutionary perspective===
An [[evolutionary psychology]] explanation is that early animals had to react to threatening stimuli quickly and did not have time to psychologically and physically prepare themselves.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Adamo |first=S. A. |date=2014-09-01 |title=The Effects of Stress Hormones on Immune Function May be Vital for the Adaptive Reconfiguration of the Immune System During Fight-or-Flight Behavior |journal=Integrative and Comparative Biology |language=en |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=419–426 |doi=10.1093/icb/icu005 |issn=1540-7063|doi-access=free |pmid=24691569 }}</ref> The fight or flight response provided them with the mechanisms to rapidly respond to threats against survival.<ref name="Purpose of fight or fight - Grohol">{{cite web|last=Grohol|first=John|title=What's the purpose of the fight or flight response?|url=http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/12/04/whats-the-purpose-of-the-fight-or-flight-response/|access-date=18 April 2013|archive-date=23 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130323170934/http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/12/04/whats-the-purpose-of-the-fight-or-flight-response/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Concepts of Stress - Goldstein">{{cite journal|last=Goldstein|first=David|author2=Kopin, I|title=Evolution of concepts of stress|journal=Stress|year=2007|volume=10|issue=2|doi=10.1080/10253890701288935|pages=109–20|pmid=17514579|s2cid=25072963|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Examples===
A typical example of the stress response is a grazing [[zebra]]. If the zebra sees a [[lion]] closing in for the kill, the stress response is activated as a means to escape its [[Predatory imminence continuum|predator]]. The escape requires intense muscular effort, supported by all of the body's systems. The [[sympathetic nervous system]]'s activation  provides for these needs. A similar example involving fight is of a cat about to be attacked by a dog. The cat shows accelerated heartbeat, [[piloerection]] (hair standing on end), and pupil dilation, all signs of sympathetic arousal.<ref name=gleitman/> Note that the zebra and cat still maintain [[homeostasis]] in all states.

In July 1992, ''[[Behavioral Ecology (journal)|Behavioral Ecology]]'' published experimental research conducted by biologist Lee A. Dugatkin where [[Guppy|guppies]] were sorted into "bold", "ordinary", and "timid" groups based upon their reactions when confronted by a [[smallmouth bass]] (i.e. inspecting the predator, hiding, or swimming away) after which the guppies were left in a tank with the bass. After 60 hours, 40 percent of the timid guppies and 15 percent of the ordinary guppies survived while none of the bold guppies did.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dugatkin|first=Lee Alan|title=Tendency to inspect predators predicts mortality risk in the guppy ''(Poecilia reticulata)''|journal=[[Behavioral Ecology (journal)|Behavioral Ecology]]|year=1992|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|volume=3|issue=2|pages=125–127|doi=10.1093/beheco/3.2.124|url=https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article-abstract/3/2/124/218010|access-date=September 9, 2020|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nesse|first1=Randolph|author-link1=Randolph M. Nesse|last2=Williams|first2=George C.|author-link2=George Christopher Williams|title=Why We Get Sick: The New Science of Darwinian Medicine|year=1994|page=213|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|place=New York|isbn=978-0-679-74674-4}}</ref>

===Varieties of responses===
{{more citations needed|date=October 2016|section}}
[[File:Ruseckas-Stumbro medžioklė.jpg|thumb|Bison hunted by dogs]]
Animals respond to threats in many complex ways.<ref name=":0" /> Rats, for instance, try to escape when threatened but will fight when cornered. Some animals stand perfectly still so that predators will not see them.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schulz |first=Kathryn |date=2024-10-28 |title=What Do Animals Understand About Death? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/11/04/playing-possum-susana-monso-book-review |access-date=2025-05-26 |work=The New Yorker |language=en-US |issn=0028-792X}}</ref> Many animals freeze or play dead when touched in the hope that the predator will lose interest.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Niermann |first1=H.C.M. |last2=Figner |first2=F. |last3=Roelofs |first3=K. |date=January 24, 2017 |title=Individual differences in defensive stress-responses: the potential relevance for psychopathology |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154616301425 |journal=Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences |volume=14 |pages=94–101 |doi=10.1016/j.cobeha.2017.01.002 |via=Science Direct|hdl=2066/166278 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Bristol |first=University of |title=How long to play dead in order to stay alive? |url=https://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2020/july/antlions-play-dead.html |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=www.bristol.ac.uk |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Humphreys |first=Rosalind K. |last2=Ruxton |first2=Graeme D. |date=2018 |title=A review of thanatosis (death feigning) as an anti-predator behaviour |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5769822/ |journal=Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=22 |doi=10.1007/s00265-017-2436-8 |issn=0340-5443 |pmc=5769822 |pmid=29386702}}</ref>

Other animals have alternative self-protection methods. Some species of [[Ectotherm|cold-blooded]] animals [[Chromatophore|change color]] swiftly to camouflage themselves.<ref name="Fish changing colors">{{cite book|last=Gill|first=A.C.|title=Revision of the Indo-Pacific dottyback fish subfamily Pseudochrominae (Perciformes: Pseudochromidae)|year=2004|publisher=Smithiana Monographs|pages=1–123}}</ref> These responses are triggered by the [[sympathetic nervous system]], but, in order to fit the model of fight or flight, the idea of flight must be broadened to include escaping capture either in a physical or sensory way.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rösler |first=Lara |last2=Gamer |first2=Matthias |date=2019-11-20 |title=Freezing of gaze during action preparation under threat imminence |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53683-4 |journal=Scientific Reports |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=17215 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-53683-4 |issn=2045-2322}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kozlowska |first=Kasia |last2=Walker |first2=Peter |last3=McLean |first3=Loyola |last4=Carrive |first4=Pascal |date=2015 |title=Fear and the Defense Cascade: Clinical Implications and Management |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4495877/ |journal=Harvard Review of Psychiatry |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=263–287 |doi=10.1097/HRP.0000000000000065 |issn=1465-7309 |pmc=4495877 |pmid=26062169}}</ref> Thus, flight can be disappearing to another location or just disappearing in place, and fight and flight are often combined in a given situation.<ref name="BIFF Response-Aballay">{{cite journal|last=Singh|first=J|author2=Aballay, A|title=Microbial Colonization Activates an Immune Fight-and-Flight Response via Neuroendocrine Signaling|journal=Developmental Cell|date=April 8, 2019|volume=49|issue=1|pages=89–99|doi=10.1016/j.devcel.2019.02.001|pmid=30827896|pmc=6456415|doi-access=free}}</ref>

The fight or flight actions also have polarity – the individual can either fight against or flee from something that is threatening, such as a hungry lion, or fight for or fly towards something that is needed, such as the safety of the shore from a raging river.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2023-11-09 |title=Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn: How We Respond to Threats |url=https://www.simplypsychology.org/fight-flight-freeze-fawn.html |access-date=2025-05-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>

A threat from another animal does not always result in immediate fight or flight. There may be a period of heightened awareness, during which each animal interprets behavioral signals from the other. Signs such as paling, piloerection, immobility, sounds, and body language communicate the status and intentions of each animal. There may be a sort of negotiation, after which fight or flight may ensue, but which might also result in playing, mating, or nothing at all. An example of this is kittens playing: each kitten shows the signs of sympathetic arousal, but they never inflict real damage.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roelofs |first=Karin |date=2017-04-19 |title=Freeze for action: neurobiological mechanisms in animal and human freezing |url=https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5332864/ |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=372 |issue=1718 |pages=20160206 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2016.0206 |issn=1471-2970 |pmc=5332864 |pmid=28242739}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The 5 Fs: fight, flight, freeze, flop and friend |url=https://rapecrisis.org.uk/get-help/tools-for-victims-and-survivors/understanding-your-response/fight-or-flight/ |access-date=2025-05-26 |website=Rape Crisis England & Wales}}</ref>