Deck 7: Primate Behavior

Question 1

______ dispersal is the most common pattern in mammals, including primates.

A) female
B) male
C) elders
D) children
E) elderly

Answer 1

B

Question 2

___________ is the study of the evolution of behavior, emphasizing the role of ecological factors as agents of natural selection.

A) Sociobiology
B) Biological-ecology
C) Behavioral ecology
D) Evolutionary ecology
E) Eco-sociobiology

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Altruism is a behavior that

A) benefits another while involving some risk to the performer
B) benefits the performer while involving risk to another individual
C) benefits both the performer and another individual while involving risk to both
D) is not common among primates
E) creates potential risk to dependent offspring

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Ecological factors influencing primate social behavior include which of the following?

A) the distribution of food and water, predators, and nutritional value of foods
B) levels of testosterone among predators
C) Ancestry of primates
D) Gene codes for behaviors
E) learning

Question 5

Mounting as an expression of dominance in baboons is believed to also serve to

A) indicate sexual preference
B) defuse tense situations
C) indicate aggression
D) indicate a threat
E) submission

Question 6

Some of the deliberate nonhuman primate behaviors that serve as communication include all of the following except

A) spoken language
B) facial expressions
C) vocalizations
D) displays
E) relationships

Question 7

Primate social structure of a group of animals refers to

A) the composition
B) the size
C) the sex ratio
D) the composition, size and sex ratio
E) the behavior of the animals

Question 8

Amicable behaviors that promote group cohesion are called _______ behaviors.

A) cultural
B) philopatric
C) ritualized
D) affiliative
E) autonomic

Question 9

Chimpanzee caregiving behaviors are evidenced in

A) subjecting victims during attack
B) helping younger siblings
C) leaving the ill or dying to be alone
D) leave orphans, ensuring that they do not become burdens to the group
E) the lack of altruism

Question 10

Studies of nonhuman primate behavior

A) have no relevance for understanding human behavior
B) may provide valuable insights into human behavioral evolution
C) has not been shaped by genetic and environmental factors
D) offer familiar examples of individual and social behaviors but are not helpful in identifying the interactions between a number of environmental and physiological variables
E) are indicative of how humans were once monkeys

Question 11

Primate behavior is best viewed as being

A) influenced by environmental factors
B) entirely genetic in origin
C) independent of environmental factors
D) entirely learned and without any genetic basis
E) subject to very few factors

Question 12

In many primate species, ________ have/has a central role in reinforcing social relationships.

A) play
B) coalition formation
C) dominance hierarchies
D) food-sharing
E) grooming

Question 13

Primate groups composed of several adult males and females are advantageous in areas where

A) there are few sleeping sites
B) humans are active
C) primates are crepuscular
D) predation pressure is high
E) predation pressure is low

Question 14

What is chest slapping by gorillas an example of?

A) reassurance gesture
B) submission
C) display
D) involuntary behavior
E) affiliative behavior

Question 15

As a general rule, what do larger animals require?

A) fewer calories per unit of weight than smaller animals
B) more calories per unit weight than smaller animals
C) the same amount of calories per unit weight than smaller animals
D) no calories whatsoever
E) more testosterone

Question 16

Social relationships are crucial to nonhuman primates for all of the following reasons except:

A) Individuals support each other against outsiders
B) Alliances can be used to enhance the status of members
C) Resources can be protected
D) Order can be imposed by allowing individuals to attack each other
E) Predator avoidance

Question 17

In the context of social groups, dominance hierarchies

A) are maintained by females only
B) are maintained by males only
C) are not present in any primate species
D) impose a certain amount of order within the group
E) have not been studied by primatologists

Question 18

Grooming accomplishes all except

A) plays an important role in the day-to-day life of nonhuman primates
B) is an affiliative behavior
C) occurs in a variety of contexts
D) reinforces social relationships
E) empathy

Question 19

Which of the following statements is not true?

A) Adult primate males tend to be dominant to females.
B) Dominant individuals appear to have priority access to desired food items.
C) High-ranking females probably have higher reproductive success than subordinate females.
D) Dominance hierarchies create aggression and therefore do not impose a degree of order in primate societies.
E) In groups containing a number of females associated with one or several adult males, the males are generally dominant to females.

Question 20

According to proponents of behavioral ecology,

A) individuals act to enhance the survival of their species
B) infanticide is beneficial for the social group
C) individuals consciously behave in ways that ensure their fitness
D) behaviors have evolved through the operation of natural selection
E) Individuals choose certain environments based upon the likelihood of carrying out aggressive behavior

Question 21

Permanent male-female bonds are

A) common among nonhuman primates
B) not common among nonhuman primates
C) the basis of monogamous pairing typical of all nonhuman primate species
D) nonexistent in primates
E) known only in orangutans

Question 22

Infanticide by adult males

A) is rare in primates
B) appears to serve no function
C) is performed as a means of population control
D) is not resisted by females, including the mother
E) has been reported for a number of primate species

Question 23

The traditional view of nonhuman communication has been that nonhumans, including primates,

A) are perfectly capable of conveying information about the external environment or their emotional state
B) use symbolic communication
C) use language in the same manner as humans
D) can convey information about events in the past and future
E) communicate information relating to their emotional state ONLY

Question 24

In Old World monkeys, the swelling and changes in the color of the skin surrounding the female's genital area

A) is a sign of aggression
B) indicates a diseased state
C) is an indication of estrus
D) serves as a visual cue of a female's readiness to become aggressive
E) is also found in New World monkeys.

Question 25

What is the basic primate social unit?

A) the mother and infants
B) the father and infants
C) the male and female
D) sibling relationships
E) the mother and the mother's mother and sister

Question 26

Vervet monkey vocalizations

A) are involuntary responses to external stimuli
B) are voluntary responses to external stimuli
C) refer solely to the emotional state of the individual
D) includes information about past and present events
E) are impossible to record and study

Question 27

R-selected species include which of the following?

A) mice
B) chimpanzees
C) gorillas
D) wolves
E) dogs

Question 28

Cultural behaviors observed in wild chimpanzees include the following except:

A) stone-tool production
B) the use of "leaf sponges"
C) "termite fishing"
D) Twigs used as toothpicks
E) language

Question 29

Which of the following have been taught to use sign language?

A) baboons
B) chimpanzees
C) macaques
D) lemurs
E) vervets

Question 30

What does K-selection refer to?

A) species that produce large numbers of offspring and invest little to no parental care
B) species that become extinct after a few generations
C) species that produce relatively few offspring but invest a large amount of parental care
D) only egg-laying species
E) all species except primates

Question 31

Species producing relatively large numbers of offspring and invest little parental care are

A) K-selected
B) r-selected
C) p-selected
D) alloparental
E) sympatric

Question 32

The term for a mating system in which males, and some cases females, have several mating partners is

A) Estrus
B) Sexual selection
C) Polygynous
D) Monogamous
E) R-selected

Question 33

Female primates

A) assume most of the responsibility for infant care
B) have the same nutritional requirements as males
C) use the same strategies as males for avoiding predators
D) spend almost one-half of their lives pregnant or lactating
E) are the same size as males

Question 34

Human language can be characterized by all of the following except

A) uses symbols
B) is limited to communicating about the present
C) is an open system of communication
D) cannot be said to be the same as communication evidenced by the Great apes
E) evolved directly from nonhuman primate communication

Question 35

Linguistic symbols are said to be ________ because they do not resemble the object or concept they represent.

A) autonomic
B) deliberate
C) arbitrary
D) closed
E) innate

Question 36

Cultural behavior

A) has never been observed in nonhuman primates
B) is learned
C) is purely genetic
D) has only been observed in chimpanzees
E) has only been observed in bonobos

Question 37

Monkeys raised without mothers in captivity

A) were able to form lasting affectional ties
B) displayed completely normal parenting behaviors as adults
C) displayed normal sexual behavior
D) did not know how to care for infants
E) were socially normal as adults, provided they received adequate nourishment

Question 38

In bonobos, males and females

A) commonly form friendships and consortships
B) never interact except when a female is in estrus
C) are usually sexually active throughout the female's estrus cycle
D) always interact aggressively
E) always avoid one another

Question 39

According to the current evidence discussed in the text, which of the following statement is true?

A) Humans are the only species capable of conveying information pertaining to specific components of the external environment.
B) Nonhuman primates can communicate any information except that which pertains to their emotional state.
C) Some nonhuman primates appear to give specific alarm calls that refer to particular categories of predators.
D) Free-ranging monkeys and apes use symbolic language in the same manner as humans.
E) Some monkeys communicate about past and future events by means of symbolic gestures.

Question 40

Potato washing behavior has been observed in which of the following?

A) Japanese macaques
B) Albanian macaques
C) Japanese gorillas
D) Chimpanzees
E) vervets

Question 41

Chimpanzees have never been observed to modify twigs for termite fishing before actually arriving at the termite mound.

Question 42

What are dominance hierarchies, and what important functions do they serve?

Question 43

Discuss the tenets of behavioral ecology.

Question 44

List and discuss four factors that affect the social structure of a given species.

Question 45

Kanzi the bonobo learned to produce sharp flakes by throwing rocks to the ground.

Question 46

Discuss the effects of isolation in infancy and separation from the mother on monkey behavior.

Question 47

Large primate groups are advantageous because they increase the likelihood of early predator detection.

Question 48

Sexual selection does not seem to be an important factor in the evolution of sexual dimorphism.

Question 49

Male-female bonds, such as consortships, are advantageous to females because they gain protection from predators.

Question 50

What do the language experiments with chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas indicate?

A) They lack the ability to communicate symbolically.
B) They can learn to use up to 100 spoken words.
C) They have some ability to use signs to communicate.
D) They have human-like vocal tract anatomies.
E) They think symbolically in the same way humans do.

Question 51

All primate communication is autonomic in nature.

Question 52

It has been proposed that male Hanuman langurs that commit infanticide are actually reducing their own reproductive success.

Question 53

Several language experiments with chimpanzees, orangutans, gorillas, and bonobos have shown that all great apes have the capacity to use signs and symbols to communicate. Questions, however, have been raised about this type of research.

Question 54

What altruistic behaviors have been observed in nonhuman primates?

Question 55

Discuss the evolutionary explanation of infanticide in Hanuman langurs.

Question 56

Why do most biological anthropologists consider it appropriate to discuss cultural behaviors in nonhuman primates? Discuss a few examples of these behaviors.

Question 57

Contrast autonomic responses and behaviors with intentional behaviors that serve as communication.

Question 58

Scientists who use the behavioral ecology approach believe that primate behaviors have evolved through the operation of natural selection.

Question 59

The modification of natural objects for use as tools has several implications for nonhuman primate intelligence.

Question 60

Define the terms K-selection and r-selection. Are primates K-selected or r-selected?

Question 61

Discuss the factors that influence primate social structure. What similarities and differences can be drawn between nonhuman and human primate social structures?

Question 62

What are the benefits of studying nonhuman primates in wild environments, as opposed to captive environments? What is the greatest challenge facing physical anthropologists conducting primate research today?

Question 63

Do you think apes have language? Discuss some of the questions that have been raised and what research has demonstrated.