1. Animal Behavior

2. Which of the following questions asks about proximate causes of behavior?
How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
What is the behavior’s evolutionary history?
How variable is this behavior for the species?
How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence its response to stimulus?
Answer: d

3. Which of the following questions asks about proximate causes of behavior?
How does the behavior aid survival and reproduction?
What is the behavior’s evolutionary history?
How variable is this behavior for the species?
How does the animal’s experience during growth and development influence its response to stimulus?

4. The territorial response in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a fixed action pattern that is triggered by a sign stimulus. What environmental cue did Niko Tinbergen determine was the sign stimulus for aggression in three-spined sticklebacks?
the color red
a torpedo shape
the stickleback spines
a square shape
a swollen belly
Answer: a 4

5. The territorial response in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) is a fixed action pattern that is triggered by a sign stimulus. What environmental cue did Niko Tinbergen determine was the sign stimulus for aggression in three-spined sticklebacks?
the color red
a torpedo shape
the stickleback spines
a square shape
a swollen belly 5

6. Which of the following does not correctly describe a fixed action pattern?
They are essentially unchangeable.
Once started, they are usually carried to completion.
They are more prominent in juveniles.
They are triggered by an external cue.
Answer: c

7. Which of the following does not correctly describe a fixed action pattern?
They are essentially unchangeable.
Once started, they are usually carried to completion.
They are more prominent in juveniles.
They are triggered by an external cue.

8. Which of the following statements about migration is not concerned with ultimate causes of this behavior?
Many animals use magnetic fields to orient themselves during migration.
Migration allows animals to use favorable breeding and feeding areas that are geographically separate.
Migration is often physically extremely demanding.
Risk of nest predation is often lower further north for migratory birds in the arctic.
Answer: a

9. Which of the following statements about migration is not concerned with ultimate causes of this behavior?
Many animals use magnetic fields to orient themselves during migration.
Migration allows animals to use favorable breeding and feeding areas that are geographically separate.
Migration is often physically extremely demanding.
Risk of nest predation is often lower further north for migratory birds in the arctic.

10. Which of the following statements about animal communication is true?
It requires transmission and reception of a signal.
It is only found in vertebrates.
It always has both a visual and auditory component.
It is of little importance for mating.
Answer: a

11. Which of the following statements about animal communication is true?
It requires transmission and reception of a signal.
It is only found in vertebrates.
It always has both a visual and auditory component.
It is of little importance for mating.

12. Which of the following statements about pheromones is false?
They must be released at high concentrations to overcome typical levels of environmental noise.
They are chemical signals used to communicate among individuals of the same species.
Many animals can detect pheromones of a different species.
Pheromones can play an important role in communication over both long and short distances.
Answer: a

13. Which of the following statements about pheromones is false?
They must be released at high concentrations to overcome typical levels of environmental noise.
They are chemical signals used to communicate among individuals of the same species.
Many animals can detect pheromones of a different species.
Pheromones can play an important role in communication over both long and short distances.

14. Learned behaviors are shaped by experience while innate behaviors are developmentally fixed. Which of the following statements is true?
Learned behaviors are much less variable than innate.
Learned behaviors are much more variable than innate.
There can be no variation in innate behaviors.
Learned behaviors cannot be passed onto offspring.
Answer: b

15. Learned behaviors are shaped by experience while innate behaviors are developmentally fixed. Which of the following statements is true?
Learned behaviors are much less variable than innate.
Learned behaviors are much more variable than innate.
There can be no variation in innate behaviors.
Learned behaviors cannot be passed onto offspring.

16. Many distasteful insects are brightly colored
Many distasteful insects are brightly colored. What type of behavior might help explain this?
fixed action pattern
associative learning
kinesis
spatial learning
habituation
Answer: b 16

17. Many distasteful insects are brightly colored
Many distasteful insects are brightly colored. What type of behavior might help explain this?
fixed action pattern
associative learning
kinesis
spatial learning
habituation 17

18. Which of the following statements about cognition and learning is true?
Learning that develops over long periods only occurs in humans and certain marine mammals. In other groups learning can only happen over minutes or hours.
Cognition is limited to vertebrates.
Problem solving is the cognitive activity of coming up with ways to go from one state to another.
Problem solving has only been demonstrated for primates and certain marine mammals.
Answer: c

19. Which of the following statements about cognition and learning is true?
Learning that develops over long periods only occurs in humans and certain marine mammals. In other groups learning can only happen over minutes or hours.
Cognition is limited to vertebrates.
Problem solving is the cognitive activity of coming up with ways to go from one state to another.
Problem solving has only been demonstrated for primates and certain marine mammals.

20. Complete the following statement
Complete the following statement. In a population, individuals with the highest fitness ______________.
may behave very differently from other individuals with high fitness
behave the same way as all other individuals with high fitness
behave in a unique way
retain high fitness regardless whether behavior of other individuals changes
Answer: a

21. Complete the following statement
Complete the following statement. In a population, individuals with the highest fitness ______________.
may behave very differently from other individuals with high fitness
behave the same way as all other individuals with high fitness
behave in a unique way
retain high fitness regardless whether behavior of other individuals changes

22. Every time your dog goes to lie down in her bed, she makes three circles. If you interrupt her, she will start over and do it again. This is an example of
imprinting.
fixed action pattern.
associative learning.
spatial learning.
Answer: b 22

23. Every time your dog goes to lie down in her bed, she makes three circles. If you interrupt her, she will start over and do it again. This is an example of
imprinting.
fixed action pattern.
associative learning.
spatial learning. 23

24. On islands off British Columbia, Canada, Northwestern crows (Corvus caurinus) search rocky tide pools for sea snails called whelks. After spotting a whelk, the crow picks it up in its beak, flies upward, and drops the whelk onto the rocks. If the drop is successful, the shell breaks and the crow can dine on the whelk’s soft parts. If not, the crow flies up and drops the whelk again and again until the shell breaks.
The height of drops made by crows in the wild was measured by referring to a marked pole erected nearby. In the test, the crow’s behavior was simulated using a device that dropped a whelk onto the rocks from a fixed platform. The average number of drops required to break whelks from various platform heights was recorded and averaged over many trials with the device. Combining the data for each platform height, total “flight” height was calculated by multiplying the drop height by the average number of drops required.

26. The number of drops required does not change with drop height.
How does the average number of drops required to break open a whelk depend on platform height?
The number of drops required does not change with drop height.
The number of drops required increases with increasing drop height.
The number of drops required decreases with increasing drop height.
The number of drops required decreases with increasing drop height, but only for heights greater than 5 meters.
Answer: c

27. How does the average number of drops required to break open a whelk depend on platform height?
The number of drops required does not change with drop height.
The number of drops required increases with increasing drop height.
The number of drops required decreases with increasing drop height.
The number of drops required decreases with increasing drop height, but only for heights greater than 5 meters.

28. Look at total flight height (represented by the green bars)
Look at total flight height (represented by the green bars). Remember that total flight height was calculated by multiplying the drop height by the average number of drops required.
How would you describe the relationship between total flight height and drop height?
Total flight height is higher at the lowest and highest drop heights than at the mid-range drop heights.
Total flight height decreases as drop height increases.
There is no relationship between total flight height and drop height.
Total flight height increases as drop height increases.
Answer: a

30. Look at total flight height (represented by the green bars)
Look at total flight height (represented by the green bars). Remember that total flight height was calculated by multiplying the drop height by the average number of drops required.
How would you describe the relationship between total flight height and drop height?
Total flight height is higher at the lowest and highest drop heights than at the mid-range drop heights.
Total flight height decreases as drop height increases.
There is no relationship between total flight height and drop height.
Total flight height increases as drop height increases.

31. Are the data consistent with the hypothesis of optimal foraging?
Total flight height can be considered to be a measure of the total energy required to break open a whelk. Compare the graph of total flight height for the platform drops to the drop height preferred by crows.
Are the data consistent with the hypothesis of optimal foraging?
Yes, because the height preferred by crows roughly coincides with the lowest total flight height.
Yes, because the height preferred by crows roughly coincides with the lowest average number of drops required.
No, because the height preferred by crows does not coincide with the lowest total flight height.
No, because the height preferred by crows does not coincide with the lowest average number of drops required.
Answer: a

33. Are the data consistent with the hypothesis of optimal foraging?
Total flight height can be considered to be a measure of the total energy required to break open a whelk. Compare the graph of total flight height for the platform drops to the drop height preferred by crows.
Are the data consistent with the hypothesis of optimal foraging?
Yes, because the height preferred by crows roughly coincides with the lowest total flight height.
Yes, because the height preferred by crows roughly coincides with the lowest average number of drops required.
No, because the height preferred by crows does not coincide with the lowest total flight height.
No, because the height preferred by crows does not coincide with the lowest average number of drops required.

34. Researchers observed that the crows only gather and drop the largest whelks. Why might crows favor larger whelks?
Large whelks might require a higher drop height in order to break open.
Large whelks might require more drops, on average, in order to break open.
Large whelks might be more rare, and thus be harder to find, than small whelks.
Large whelks might offer more calories than small whelks.
Answer: d

35. Researchers observed that the crows only gather and drop the largest whelks. Why might crows favor larger whelks?
Large whelks might require a higher drop height in order to break open.
Large whelks might require more drops, on average, in order to break open.
Large whelks might be more rare, and thus be harder to find, than small whelks.
Large whelks might offer more calories than small whelks.

36. It turns out that the probability of a whelk breaking is the same for a whelk dropped for the first time as for an unbroken whelk dropped several times previously. If the probability of breaking instead increased with each additional drop, what change might you predict in the crows’ behavior?
The crows’ behavior would not change.
The crows would fly to higher heights in subsequent drops.
The crows would fly to lower heights in subsequent drops.
The crows would keep dropping the same whelk instead of switching to a different whelk after an unsuccessful drop.
Answer: c

37. It turns out that the probability of a whelk breaking is the same for a whelk dropped for the first time as for an unbroken whelk dropped several times previously. If the probability of breaking instead increased with each additional drop, what change might you predict in the crows’ behavior?
The crows’ behavior would not change.
The crows would fly to higher heights in subsequent drops.
The crows would fly to lower heights in subsequent drops.
The crows would keep dropping the same whelk instead of switching to a different whelk after an unsuccessful drop.