Deck 47: Animal Behaviour

Question 1

Why do biologists categorize the cue that stimulates young herring gulls to peck as a sign stimulus?

A)because the pecking behaviour is completely instinctive
B)because the pecking behaviour requires learning to perfect
C)because the pecking behaviour appears both in the presence and absence of the cue
D)because the pecking behaviour is triggered by presentation of the cue

Answer 1

D

Question 2

What occurs when a territory-holding male zebra finch hears the song of the male zebra finch that has held the neighbouring territory for a long time?

A)The territory-holding male initiates a ritualized threat display that may culminate in an expansion of his territory into the neighbour's land.
B)Cells in the nucleus of the territory-holding male zebra finch's forebrain do not respond to the song of the neighbouring male.
C)Cells in the nucleus of the territory-holding male zebra finch's forebrain fire frequently.
D)The territory-holding male flies out to drive off the neighbouring male.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

What is the ultimate cause of the ability of male zebra finches to discriminate between the songs of established neighbours and those of strangers?

A)Neurons cease to respond to the sound of an established neighbour.
B)Zebra finches are capable of selective learning.
C)Zebra finches are genetically programmed to tolerate territory-holding neighbours but to repel invaders.
D)Male zebra finches produce more offspring by saving their energy for real battles.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What does it mean when geese or ducks are imprinted?

A)They learned the features of a suitable mate during a critical period.
B)They have two nonfunctional copies of a particular gene.
C)They will return to the place they were born to breed and raise their own young.
D)They have been experimentally trained by operant conditioning.

Question 5

How did newborn coastal garter snakes and newborn inland garter snakes exposed to banana slug chemicals respond, respectively?

A)The coastal snakes responded by avoiding the stimuli, while the inland snakes tongue-flicked.
B)The coastal snakes responded by feeding, while the inland snakes did not feed.
C)The coastal snakes responded by attacking, while the inland snakes fled.
D)The coastal snakes responded by tongue-flicking, while the inland snakes did not tongue-flick.

Question 6

Which function would a worker bee that is about one day old most likely perform in the hive?

A)feeding the nestmates
B)feeding the brood
C)cleaning the cells
D)packing the pollen

Question 7

In the figure, which graph represents the age span of worker bees primarily occupied by foraging?

A)graph B
B)graph C
C)graph D
D)graph E

Question 8

Which of the following is the best example of purely instinctive behaviour?

A)Coyotes in urban areas forage in trash cans near humans.
B)Baby geese imprint on their mother and follow her.
C)A flying cricket jerks up its right hind leg when it hears a bat coming from the left.
D)The male White-crowned Sparrow sings.

Question 9

Which sentence describes the sounds of young male White-crowned Sparrows that were experimentally raised without ever hearing the sound of their species?

A)They produced only random vocalizations.
B)They sang a recognizable version of the song of an ancestral sparrow species.
C)They sang a poorly developed version of their species' song.
D)They never sang at all.

Question 10

Why are instinctive behaviours distinguished from learned behaviours?

A)because instinctive behaviours are incomplete the first few times they are displayed, while learned behaviours are apparently a product of reason
B)because instinctive behaviours are dependent upon experience, while learned behaviours are genetically programmed responses
C)because instinctive behaviours are acquired from observation, while learned behaviours are acquired from practice
D)because instinctive behaviours are genetically programmed responses, while learned behaviours are dependent upon experience

Question 11

What is the primary trigger for pecking behaviour in young herring gulls?

A)hunger
B)a red spot on the bill of the parent
C)the shape of the parent gull's head
D)the overall body silhouette of the parent bird

Question 12

What do young male White-crowned Sparrows match their vocal output to when they first begin to sing?

A)any birdsong they hear during their initial days of singing
B)the memory of their species' song heard months earlier
C)the memory of whatever song they heard during an early critical period
D)an instinctive blueprint of their species' song

Question 13

Which of the following is a sign stimulus?

A)a cuckoo chick evicting the original chicks in the nest
B)a mother rat picking up young rats and returning them to the nest
C)the open mouth of a peeping baby bird
D)an innate learning

Question 14

How is classical conditioning different from operant conditioning?

A)Classical conditioning associates a response with punishment, while operant conditioning links a response with a reward.
B)Classical conditioning associates a voluntary activity with a reward, while operant conditioning links two phenomena that are usually unrelated.
C)Classical conditioning associates instinctive behaviours with punishments, while operant conditioning links learned behaviours with rewards.
D)Classical conditioning associates two phenomena that are usually unrelated, while operant conditioning links a voluntary activity with a reward.

Question 15

Which cue functions as sign stimuli to trigger smiling in very young babies?

A)the presence of two eyes
B)a detailed likeness of any person's face
C)a detailed likeness of one of the baby's caregivers
D)the outline of the smiling mouth

Question 16

The brains of female zebra finches lack the hormonal influences that occur in the brains of males. What changes are seen in the female brains as a result?

A)Octopamine levels increase, which stimulates neural transmissions.
B)Auditory processing centres are especially well developed in females.
C)Transcription is boosted in genes whose products are involved in memory retention.
D)The number of neurons in the higher vocal centre declines.

Question 17

What happens to worker bees when extra juvenile hormone is experimentally administered to them?

A)They develop impaired memories.
B)They produce more octopamine.
C)They begin laying eggs.
D)They live longer.

Question 18

In the figure, which graph represents the age span of worker bees primarily occupied by feeding the brood?

A)graph B
B)graph C
C)graph D
D)graph E

Question 19

Which term refers to instinctive behaviours that are performed in exactly the same way every time they are triggered?

A)habitual behaviours
B)fixed action pattern behaviours
C)release behaviours
D)conditioned behaviours

Question 20

The presence of which hormone results in the production of more neurons in the higher vocal centre of the brains of male zebra finches but NOT in the brains of female zebra finches?

A)follicle-stimulating hormone
B)estrogen
C)epinephrine
D)testosterone

Question 21

In 1938, Niko Tinbergen arranged pinecones around the nest of a female digger wasp. What happened when he removed these pinecones when the wasp was gone?

A)The wasp did not find the nest until the pinecones were replaced.
B)The wasp found the nest immediately.
C)The wasp took longer to find the nest.
D)The wasp dug a new nest in the centre of the repositioned circle of pinecones.

Question 22

In the figure, how will the other bees seek nectar if a honeybee performing the dance in image B moves straight down the comb?

A)by flying due south
B)by flying directly away from the Sun
C)by flying directly toward the Sun
D)by flying at a 45° angle to the left of the Sun

Question 23

How is a taxis distinguished from a kinesis?

A)A taxis is a group movement, while a kinesis is an individual movement.
B)A taxis is slow movement, while a kinesis is fast movement.
C)A taxis is an ordered movement, while a kinesis is a change in the rate of movement.
D)A taxis is a random movement, while a kinesis is a directional movement.

Question 24

What is a proximate cause of the noncombative behaviour of male African cichlids that do NOT hold territories?

A)Such behaviour allows the male to build his strength for a takeover attempt on a territory.
B)Cichlids can detect and store information about aggressive encounters.
C)GnRH production is high.
D)The GnRH-producing neurons in the hypothalamus are small.

Question 25

Alexander Erdbeer/Shutterstock.com (left); Vetapi/Shutterstock.com (right)
What does the figure illustrate?

A)Habitat preference in Blue Tits is learned but in Coal Tits it is innate.
B)Habitat preference in both Blue Tits and Coal Tits is innate.
C)Habitat preference in both Blue Tits and Coal Tits is learned.
D)Blue Tits instinctively prefer pine trees while Coal Tits instinctively prefer oak trees.

Question 26

How does a cricket respond when it hears the ultrasonic call of a bat coming from its right side?

A)by releasing a noxious chemical from specialized epidermal glands
B)by holding its hind legs close to the body
C)by interrupting the movement of the right wing
D)by interrupting the movement of the left wing

Question 27

Alexander Erdbeer/Shutterstock.com (left); Vetapi/Shutterstock.com (right)
What is an animal using if it finds its way by the type of way-finding known as piloting?

A)another animal to lead the way as it learns the route
B)familiar landmarks to guide its journey
C)the Earth's magnetic field to orient itself
D)both the Sun's position and a mental map

Question 28

Which of the following is an example of piloting?

A)Female digger wasps use smell to find their nests.
B)Indigo buntings use the position of stars to orient during migration.
C)A hiker looks for familiar rock formations as she finds her way back to the trailhead.
D)Grey whales use sea streams to feed.

Question 29

Most of a mole's cerebral cortex is devoted to processing input from certain body parts. Which are the body parts?

A)both front feet and both hind feet
B)both front feet and the tentacles closest to the mole's mouth
C)the tentacles farthest from the mole's mouth
D)the front feet

Question 30

How do female digger wasps find their nests, according to a study conducted by Niko Tinbergen in 1938?

A)by the position of stars in the night sky
B)by the position of the Sun
C)by visual landmarks
D)by olfactory cues

Question 31

Which of the following animals are migratory?

A)monarch butterflies
B)deer
C)wood lice
D)aphids

Question 32

Alexander Erdbeer/Shutterstock.com (left); Vetapi/Shutterstock.com (right)
When do animals establish and defend territories?

A)only when territorial defence is not energetically costly
B)only when some critical resource is in short supply
C)only when females choose among displaying males
D)only when the effort does not endanger the life of the individual

Question 33

In an experiment on way-finding, Indigo Buntings were housed in outdoor cages with blotting paper walls and inkpads on the floors. Which of the following facts demonstrated to researchers that the Indigo Bunting uses the positions of stars to orient its migration?

A)On clear nights, the footprint patterns were predicted.
B)In the spring, the inky footprints were mostly on the northern side of the cage.
C)In the fall, the inky footprints were mostly on the south side of the cage.
D)On cloudy nights, the footprint patterns were random.

Question 34

In the figure, what does the bee do if the food source being communicated about is close to the hive?

A)The bee performs the waggle dance, which is image A.
B)The bee performs the round dance, which is image A.
C)The bee performs the waggle dance, which is image B.
D)The bee performs the round dance, which is image B.

Question 35

Males and females often differ in their reproductive strategies. What is the male strategy compared to the female strategy?

A)Males mate with multiple females, while females mate with multiple males.
B)Males drive off other males, while females defend a productive territory.
C)Males defend a productive territory, while females enlist multiple males to aid in raising their offspring.
D)Males mate with multiple females, while females mate with a high-quality male.

Question 36

Which form of communication is likely to be intercepted by an attentive third party?

A)chemical
B)tactile
C)electrical
D)nonvisual

Question 37

Suppose that a raven finds a carcass. Under what circumstances will the raven call and attract other ravens?

A)only if the carcass is being consumed by an animal of another species
B)only if the carcass is found in a resident pair's territory
C)only if the carcass is found in his own territory
D)only if the carcass is large and plentiful

Question 38

What would a fiddler crab be prompted to do if a moving object appeared below the midline of its eyes?

A)become aggressive
B)ignore the object
C)prepare for mating
D)perform evasive manoeuvres

Question 39

How do black field crickets detect the ultrasound of predatory bats?

A)through acoustic organs on the antennae
B)through ears in their front legs
C)through an acoustic organ on the right hind leg
D)through ears on the sides of their heads

Question 40

Which of the following is correctly matched with its meaning?

A)polygamy: one female and one male form a pair bond
B)monogamy: one male has active pair bonds with more than one female
C)polyandry: one female has active pair bonds with more than one male
D)polygyny: one female has active pair bonds with just one male

Question 41

In the figure, why do bees C and D differ from bees E and F?

A)because bees C and D had a different mother than bees E and F
B)because bees C and D inherited different alleles form their mother than did bees E and F
C)because bees C and D inherited different alleles form their father than did bees E and F
D)because bees C and D are haploid drones while bees E and F are diploid female workers

Question 42

DNA fingerprinting analysis was used to reveal the relatedness of naked mole rats in the same colony. Which individuals had exactly the same combination of DNA sequences?

A)half-siblings
B)identical twins
C)siblings
D)parent and child

Question 43

Which trait is consistent with evolution by sexual selection?

A)Males are smaller than females.
B)Females actively choose superior males.
C)Gametes are dispersed into the environment by wind or water.
D)Males do not defend harems of females.

Question 44

Crickets have ears in their front legs.

Question 45

What are the two major factors underlying the evolution and maintenance of the nonbreeding worker caste in naked mole rat colonies?

A)structural sterility of the workers, and pronounced aggression of breeding males
B)haploid genomes of workers, and diploid genomes of breeders
C)low testosterone levels among male workers, and high testosterone levels among breeding males
D)close genetic relatedness among colony members, and greater chance of survival in the colony than outside it

Question 46

In the figure, what percentage of its total genome does bee A donate to its offspring?

A)100%
B)75%
C)25%
D)0%

Question 47

The red spot on the beak of a herring gull is a sign stimulus.

Question 48

What is the chance that a young child living with one parent and one stepparent would be criminally abused, relative to the chance that children living with both biological parents would be criminally abused?

A)40 times higher
B)10 times higher
C)4 times lower
D)10 times lower

Question 49

What is the difference between altruism and reciprocal altruism, respectively?

A)Altruism is defined as low-risk behaviour that provides minor benefits to others, while reciprocal altruism involves high-risk behaviour that provides major benefits to others.
B)Altruism is defined as aid given to nonrelatives, while reciprocal altruism involves benefits given to close relatives only.
C)Altruism is defined as the expectation of a future favour in return for present aid, while reciprocal altruism involves close relatives helping each other.
D)Altruism is defined as the sacrifice of an individual's reproductive success to help others, while the reciprocal altruism involves the expectation of a future favour in return for present aid.

Question 50

GnRH-producing cells in the brains of male cichlids are larger in territorial individuals.

Question 51

Suppose that a subordinate animal in a dominance hierarchy has limited access to food and mates. Why would it remain in a social group in which it was dominated?

A)It expects to become dominant in the future.
B)It is exhibiting altruistic behaviour.
C)It does not know that it would be an advantage to leave.
D)Its chances of survival and reproduction are better in the group than alone.

Question 52

Which sentence describes the form of natural selection known as kin selection?

A)Shared alleles for altruism are perpetuated if the helper produces more offspring than the relatives that it aids.
B)Group members sacrifice their own reproductive success to help individuals that are not their direct descendants.
C)Shared alleles for altruism are perpetuated if the assisted animals produce more offspring than the helper could have produced if it had not helped.
D)Individuals help relatives only if the relatives are likely to return the favour in the future.

Question 53

Which of the following species are known to engage in altruistic behaviour?

A)lobsters
B)elephants
C)wolves
D)deer

Question 54

Food preference in garter snakes is learned behaviour.

Question 55

Younger honeybees have higher levels of juvenile hormone.

Question 56

What did Wilson and Daly hypothesize about the behaviour of stepparents who care for their own children as well as children not genetically related to them?

A)The stepparents would never abuse any of the children.
B)The stepparents are more likely to abuse their own children.
C)The stepparents are more likely to abuse their stepchildren.
D)The stepparents are as likely to abuse their own children as their stepchildren.

Question 57

Neurons in the higher vocal centre of a male finch's brain are stimulated to proliferate by testosterone.

Question 58

A change in the rate or frequency of movements in response to environmental stimuli is called taxis.

Question 59

Bees surrounding a dancing bee produce a brief acoustical signal that stimulates the dancer to regurgitate a sample of the new food.

Question 60

The ZENK gene in the finch brain is activated by tactile stimuli.

Question 61

Why do peahens choose peacocks with the longest, showiest tails, when a long tail might be easily grabbed by a predator?

Question 62

Female blackbirds choose a mate primarily by the quality of his plumage.

Question 63

Sociologists have noted that women in different environments seem to find different types of men attractive. For example, a physically weak but professionally successful man may be admired by women in New York City; while in rural Wyoming, the rugged cowboys are most popular. Explain this phenomenon from the perspective of an evolutionary view of human social behaviour.

Question 64

Male lizards experimentally dosed with supplemental testosterone were more active, displayed more often, and had a higher rate of death.

Question 65

Match each term with its definition.
a.association between two phenomena that are usually unrelated
b.association between a voluntary activity and a favourable consequence
c.stereotyped behaviours triggered by a specific cue
d.behaviour dependent on having a particular kind of experience
e.process in which experiences change behavioural responses
f.simple cues that trigger specific behaviours
g.genetically programmed response
h.learned loss of responsiveness
fixed action patterns

Question 66

It will someday become possible to screen people for genes that can influence their behaviour. As scientists, we must consider the ethical implications of our work. What ethical issues may arise as a result of such screening?

Question 67

Under what circumstances does the gene called ZENK become active in zebra finches, and what is its effect?

Question 68

Dominant male wild dogs have higher levels of cortisol and other stress-related hormones than submissive wild dogs.

Question 69

Match each term with its definition.
a.association between two phenomena that are usually unrelated
b.association between a voluntary activity and a favourable consequence
c.stereotyped behaviours triggered by a specific cue
d.behaviour dependent on having a particular kind of experience
e.process in which experiences change behavioural responses
f.simple cues that trigger specific behaviours
g.genetically programmed response
h.learned loss of responsiveness
habituation

Question 70

What is haplodiploidy, and how is it related to altruism in honeybees?

Question 71

Full siblings share 25% of their alleles.

Question 72

Describe three examples of different animal behaviours.

Question 73

Many insects have a genetically determined preference for plants they eat during their larval stage.

Question 74

Parent monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico each year.

Question 75

Reciprocal altruism requires that animals remember which individuals have and have not shared.

Question 76

Briefly explain some of the advantages and disadvantages of living in social groups.

Question 77

Match each term with its definition.
a.association between two phenomena that are usually unrelated
b.association between a voluntary activity and a favourable consequence
c.stereotyped behaviours triggered by a specific cue
d.behaviour dependent on having a particular kind of experience
e.process in which experiences change behavioural responses
f.simple cues that trigger specific behaviours
g.genetically programmed response
h.learned loss of responsiveness
learning

Question 78

From an evolutionary perspective, why would humans sometimes act charitably toward strangers?

Question 79

Humans are more likely to abuse children that they know are NOT their own.

Question 80

Females almost always have a lower parental investment than males.