The tapping behavior is innate, or genetically preprogrammed. Herring gull chicks will peck at the red dots of their parents' beaks without any prior training. In fact, a baby herring gull can be tricked by a yellow stick adorned with a red dot—it will peck at the stick just as eagerly as it would at a parent's beak.^2
2
squared
This is just one example of an innate behavior, or behavior that's genetically hardwired in an organism. Given the right cues, an organism will perform an innate behavior without the need for prior experience or learning. Innate behaviors tend to be very predictable—like the herring gull tapping—and they are often performed in a very similar way by all members of a species.
