In the 1800's, Gregor Mendel came up with an explanation as to why and which inherited traits show up in organisms:
A inherited trait is something that you have always had or is part of you because your DNA made you that way. For example,
An inherited trait is a feature or characteristic that has been passed from parents to offspring. All living things, including plants, inherit traits from their parents. Some examples are: your hair color, eye color, the ability to roll your tongue, height, and if you have freckles or not! Some inherited traits in plants are the type of stem, leaf shape, flower shape, and color.
Parents pass on these traits to their offspring but parents and their offspring have genetic differences. These differences are a result of meiosis. Each organism (or living thing) only receives half of its genes from each parent. It is not identical to either parent. There are dominant (strong) and recessive (weak) traits that are passed on. In order for a dominant trait to show up only one factor needs to be present but for a recessive trait to show up both factors need to be present.
A learned behavior is something that you can control. You can learn to speak a language, ride a bike or even how to play a sport. Many times learned behaviors and inherited traits work together and can get a bit confusing. Consider for example a tremendous athlete. Having athletic ability can be genetic, which is why parents who are athletic are more likely to have athletic kids. However, becoming really good at soccer is a learned activity. Athleticism will help a person become good at soccer more quickly and easily, but learning to play soccer itself is a learned behavior. Another commonly mistaken example is the language that you speak. Often kids assume that the language you speak is inherited when in reality it is the result of what your parents teach you. Behaviors also do NOT have to be explicitly taught. A learned behavior can come from just watching the behavior in another.
Instincts are behaviors that do not need to be learned. These are behaviors that animals know how to do without being taught. They are born knowing how to do them. Some examples include babies knowing how to cry and spiders spinning their webs, migration, and hibernation.