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Some dogs love attention, and Frodo the beagle learns that if he barks, he gets attention. Which of the following might you use to describe this behavior?


A) The dog is displaying an instinctive fixed action pattern.
B) The dog is trying to protect its territory.
C) The dog has been classically conditioned.
D) The dog's behavior is a result of operant conditioning.

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Upon returning to its hive, a European honeybee communicates to other worker bees the presence of a nearby food source it has discovered by ________.


A) vibrating its wings at varying frequencies
B) performing a round dance
C) performing a waggle dance
D) visual cues

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You discover a rare new bird species, but you are unable to observe its mating behavior. You see that the male is large and ornamental compared with the female. On this basis, you can probably conclude that the species is ________.


A) polygamous
B) monogamous
C) polyandrous
D) agonistic

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Which of the following has a coefficient of relatedness of 0.25?


A) a father to his daughter
B) an uncle to his nephew
C) a brother to his brother
D) a sister to her brother

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Behaviors are diverse and important for survival and reproduction. Some behaviors are learned, such as the species-specific song of a yellow warbler that is different from the song of a blue-winged warbler. Other behaviors are innate, such as a female cat in heat urinating more often and in many places to attract a mate or the honeybees' "dance" that indicates the distance and direction of a food source when they return to their hive. Which of the following statements supports the idea that behaviors are important in survival and therefore affect natural selection?


A) Learned behaviors always increase fitness.
B) Innate behaviors are the result of selection for individual survival and reproductive success.
C) All behaviors are survival mechanisms that increase reproductive fitness by increasing mutation rates.
D) Both innate and learned behaviors are entirely based on genes inherited from parents.

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You observe scrub jays hiding food and notice that one particular individual only pretends to hide food. Your experiments associate the presence of other individuals with the frequency of pretending to cache food. A colleague shows you animals of the same species that do not perform this pretend caching. How does this information affect your conclusions about this behavior?


A) It suggests that this behavior might be learned.
B) It prevents you from making conclusions.
C) It suggests that your experimental design is flawed.
D) It does not change your initial conclusions.

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Scientists have tried raising endangered whooping cranes in captivity by using sandhill cranes as foster parents. This strategy is no longer used because ________.


A) the fostered whooping cranes' critical period was variable such that different chicks imprinted on different "mothers"
B) sandhill crane parents rejected their fostered whooping crane chicks soon after incubation
C) none of the fostered whooping cranes formed a mating pair-bond with another whooping crane
D) sandhill crane parents did not properly incubate whooping crane eggs

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Which of the following is not required for a behavioral trait to evolve by natural selection?


A) In each individual, the form of the behavior is determined entirely by genes.
B) The behavior varies among individuals.
C) An individual's reproductive success depends in part on how the behavior is performed.
D) Some component of the behavior is genetically inherited.

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Learning has the most influence on behavior when ________.


A) making mistakes does not result in death
B) animals reproduce asexually
C) animals have enormous cognitive ability
D) making mistakes results in death

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A male stickleback fish will attack other male sticklebacks that invade its nesting territory. It will only attack male fish, which display the red belly characteristic of the species. Why has natural selection favored this behavior?


A) The behavior reduces competition between species, which gives the male stickleback access to more food.
B) The behavior allows the male stickleback to attract females with its aggressive display.
C) The behavior allows the male to establish a defined space for breeding with female sticklebacks.
D) The behavior is a mechanism to reduce predation and resource competition.

Correct Answer

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Which of the following is true of innate behaviors?


A) Their expression is only weakly influenced by genes.
B) They occur with or without environmental stimuli.
C) They are expressed in most individuals in a population.
D) They occur in invertebrates and some vertebrates but not mammals.

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If a prairie dog had the opportunity to perform an altruistic act (that is, give an alarm call) to help its relatives, which combination of the following relatives would the prairie dog be most likely to help (base your answer solely on the genetic relationships) ?


A) two nieces, two cousins, and one half-brother
B) two half-sisters and two nieces
C) one son, one niece, and one half-sister
D) equal altruism to all combinations described

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The proximate causes of behavior are interactions with the environment, but behavior is ultimately shaped by ________.


A) hormones
B) evolution
C) pheromones
D) the nervous system

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Feeding behavior with a high-energy intake-to-expenditure ratio is called ________.


A) autotrophy
B) heterotrophy
C) search scavenging
D) optimal foraging

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Listed are several examples of types of animal behavior. Choose the letter of the correct term (A-E) that matches each example in the following questions. A. operant conditioning B. classical conditioning C. innate behavior D. imprinting E. altruistic behavior -A human baby performs a sucking behavior perfectly when it is put in the presence of the nipple of its mother's breast.


A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

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Every morning at the same time, John went into the den to feed his new tropical fish. After a few weeks, he noticed that the fish swam to the top of the tank when he entered the room. This is an example of ________.


A) cognition
B) imprinting
C) classical conditioning
D) operant conditioning

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You observe a species of bird that, upon hatching, has contact with its parents only while being fed. You also never hear the parents sing during the feeding process. What would you propose about song learning in this species of bird?


A) Song learning in this species is most likely learned.
B) The period of imprinting is likely later in the bird's life.
C) The males will learn song when they congregate with other males of their species during the winter.
D) Song learning in this species is most likely innate.

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What type of signal is brief and can work among obstructions at night?


A) olfactory
B) visual
C) auditory
D) magnetic

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During a field trip, an instructor touched a moth resting on a tree trunk. The moth raised its forewings to reveal large eyespots on its hind wings. The instructor asked why the moth lifted its wings. One student answered that sensory receptors had fired and triggered a neuronal reflex culminating in the contraction of certain muscles. A second student responded that the behavior might frighten predators. Which statement best describes these explanations?


A) The first explanation is correct, but the second is incorrect.
B) The first explanation refers to proximate causation, whereas the second refers to ultimate causation.
C) The first explanation is testable as a scientific hypothesis, whereas the second is not.
D) Both explanations are reasonable and simply represent a difference of opinion.

Correct Answer

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The presence of altruistic behavior is most likely due to kin selection, a theory maintaining that ________.


A) genes enhance survival of copies of themselves by directing organisms to assist others who share those genes
B) companionship is advantageous to animals because in the future they can help each other
C) critical thinking abilities are normal traits for animals and they have arisen, like other traits, through natural selection
D) natural selection has generally favored the evolution of exaggerated aggressive and submissive behaviors to resolve conflict without grave harm to participants

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