Deck 26: Animal Behavior

Question 1

B. F. Skinner is most closely associated with

A) causing chickens to return to the roost at night.
B) breeding experiments with pigeons.
C) operant conditioning (trial-and-error learning).
D) insight learning.
E) imprinting experiments with ducks.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

After eating at the new restaurant in town, you develop a mild case of food poisoning. Consequently, you never go back to that restaurant again. This is an example of

A) innate behavior.
B) trial-and-error learning.
C) insight learning.
D) classical conditioning.
E) habituation.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A strong association learned during a sensitive period of an animalʹs development is referred to as

A) imprinting.
B) habituation.
C) classical conditioning.
D) altruism.
E) insight learning.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Failure to respond to harmless, repetitive stimulation is an example of

A) operant conditioning.
B) insight learning.
C) habituation.
D) trial-and-error learning.
E) imprinting.

Question 5

If you teach your dog to sit by giving him a treat for every correct response, this is an example of

A) habituation.
B) social learning.
C) insight learning.
D) innate behavior.
E) operant conditioning.

Question 6

When city dwellers fail to respond to ordinary traffic sounds, it is an example of

A) operant conditioning.
B) insight learning.
C) habituation.
D) trial-and-error learning.
E) imprinting.

Question 7

Baby ducks can be taught to behave as though a human investigator was their mother by providing the appropriate stimulus during a sensitive period. This form of learning is called

A) classical conditioning.
B) habituation.
C) fixed action behavior.
D) imprinting.
E) altruism.

Question 8

When walking your male dog, you notice that he urinates on every vertical object in his path. His urine is used to ʺmarkʺ his territory and serves as a chemical signal to other dogs. What does the urine contain?

A) Pheromones
B) Hormones
C) Releasers
D) Apomones

Question 9

If a baby squirrel is adopted by a mother cat and begins to copy the behaviors of the cat, it is an example of

A) operant conditioning.
B) habituation.
C) trial-and-error learning.
D) imprinting.
E) insight learning.

Question 10

A behavior that occurs immediately after birth, before any encounter with another member of the same species, is

A) not under genetic control.
B) nonadaptive.
C) innate.
D) learned.
E) based on habituation.

Question 11

The protist Stentor contracts when it is touched for the first time but gradually stops retracting if the touching is continued. This behavior is called

A) a sensitive period.
B) habituation.
C) imprinting.
D) operant conditioning.
E) insight learning.

Question 12

During operant conditioning, an animal learns to

A) perform a response to a new stimulus.
B) behave like a different animal.
C) change an imprinted behavior.
D) perform a behavior to receive a reward or avoid punishment.
E) imprint upon an inappropriate object.

Question 13

A toad avoiding bad-tasting insects is an example of a(n)

A) random behavior.
B) learned behavior.
C) instinctive behavior.
D) innate behavior.

Question 14

Which communication method is most effective over short distances?

A) Pheromones
B) Vocalizations
C) Dominance hierarchies
D) Visual communication
E) Touch

Question 15

Ivan Pavlov is most closely associated with

A) imprinting experiments with ducks.
B) classical conditioning with dogs.
C) insight learning.
D) operant conditioning (trial-and-error learning).
E) breeding experiments with pigeons.

Question 16

A child learns which foods taste good or bad through

A) insight learning.
B) trial-and-error learning.
C) imprinting.
D) innate learning.
E) habituation.

Question 17

A newly hatched duck adopts the most frequently encountered animal or object it sees during a sensitive period as its mother. This is an example of

A) operant conditioning.
B) insight learning.
C) habituation.
D) trial-and-error learning.
E) imprinting.

Question 18

Which type of learning would be most beneficial for a person from New York City who is shipwrecked on an uninhabited tropical island?

A) Innate learning
B) Imprinting
C) Habituation
D) Insight learning
E) Operant conditioning

Question 19

Nesting geese will roll softballs (placed next to their nests by biologists) into their nests, perhaps because the balls resemble eggs that might have rolled out of the nest. This behavior is most likely

A) innate.
B) trial-and-error learning.
C) conditioned.
D) insight learning.
E) habituation.

Question 20

Training an animal to respond in a specific way to a stimulus is called

A) operant conditioning.
B) insight learning.
C) habituation.
D) trial-and-error learning.
E) imprinting.

Question 21

Male bullfrogs produce loud calls during the mating season to attract females. The loudest males tend to mate with the most females. What can we reasonably conclude about this situation?

A) The loudness of a maleʹs call is not a good predictor of his quality.
B) We cannot come to any conclusions based on the information given.
C) The louder a maleʹs call, the lower his quality.
D) The louder a maleʹs call, the higher his quality.

Question 22

Chemicals produced by an individual that influence the behavior of members of the same species are called

A) hormones.
B) stimuli.
C) pheromones.
D) steroids.
E) enzymes.

Question 23

An animal that effects changes to make itself look larger is exhibiting

A) an aggressive display.
B) dominance in a social group.
C) a readiness to mate.
D) a desire to fight.
E) a submissive posture.

Question 24

To communicate across hundreds of miles, whales use

A) sight.
B) touch.
C) wave motions.
D) sound.
E) pheromones.

Question 25

What is the advantage of play?

A) Play decreases the risk of injury to the young.
B) Play decreases competition within the group.
C) Play slows the development of adult behaviors.
D) Play keeps the young close to the parents for longer.
E) Play is a chance to practice skills such as hunting, fleeing, and social behaviors.

Question 26

Aggressive encounters between individuals of the same species

A) occur only when food supplies are low.
B) do not occur in nature.
C) usually include rituals or displays.
D) are always a fight to the death.
E) usually result in one of the individuals being injured.

Question 27

Bowerbirds build elaborate nests to

A) attract a mate.
B) increase aggressive behavior.
C) defend their territory.
D) hide from predators.
E) attract prey.

Question 28

The different calls of vervet monkeys indicate

A) the types of food available.
B) the size of a territory.
C) the types of predators detected.
D) the availability of water.
E) sexual differences.

Question 29

A bird flashing white patches underneath its wings is an example of what type of communication?

A) Passive visual
B) Physical contact
C) Chemical
D) Active visual
E) Sound

Question 30

Two cats getting ready to fight puff up their fur to make themselves look larger. This is an example of

A) imprinting.
B) aggressive behavior.
C) pheromones.
D) minimized competition.
E) altruism.

Question 31

Which of these is an example of a pheromone?

A) The waggle dance of the honeybee
B) A peacockʹs tail
C) Bird song
D) A dog urinating on a bush
E) Light emitted by fireflies

Question 32

How do silk moths attract mates?

A) The males sing a high-pitched song to attract the females.
B) The females flit around the males in an elaborate dance.
C) The females secrete pheromones to attract males.
D) They build elaborate nests.
E) The males turn bright red as a visual signal.

Question 33

What is the function of the dominance hierarchy within a group of animals?

A) Increase competition
B) Increase fighting among members of a population
C) Eliminate competition
D) Minimize aggression
E) Limit the size of the population

Question 34

The greatest long-distance sound communication occurs among

A) whales.
B) elephants.
C) bats.
D) insects.
E) birds.

Question 35

The dominant animal in a social hierarchy, such as a wolf pack, is called the

A) master.
B) alpha.
C) leader.
D) king.
E) omega.

Question 36

When threatened, a cobra will rear up and spread its hood, which makes its head look larger and displays the eye spots. What kind of behavior is this?

A) A desire to fight
B) Dominance in a social group
C) An aggressive display
D) A submissive posture
E) A readiness to mate

Question 37

The shape, size, or color of an animal

A) is used to mark the boundaries of territories.
B) plays a role in passive visual communication.
C) does not communicate information.
D) plays a role in active visual communication.
E) relates to the pheromones the animal produces.

Question 38

A chemical produced by one animal that is usually only detectable by another animal of the same species is called a

A) pheromone.
B) hormone.
C) neurotransmitter.
D) subliminal suggestion.
E) releaser.

Question 39

Female peafowl (peahens) prefer to breed with males (peacocks) that have the longest tails. However, the longer the peacockʹs tail, the less well he can fly and the more likely he is to be eaten by predators. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A) Sexual selection favors longer tails, but natural selection favors shorter tails.
B) Both sexual selection and natural selection favor shorter tails in peacocks.
C) Both sexual selection and natural selection favor longer tails in peacocks.
D) Sexual selection favors shorter tails, but natural selection favors longer tails.

Question 40

Defense of an area that contains important resources for survival is termed

A) kinesis.
B) appeasement.
C) territoriality.
D) aggression.
E) passive behavior.

Question 41

Among social animals, cooperative behavior does NOT usually include

A) a caste system in which individuals do certain jobs.
B) division of labor.
C) everybody doing their own thing.
D) alliances among members of the population.
E) increased likelihood of finding mates.

Question 42

A learned behavior cannot be changed.

Question 43

Foraging honeybees communicate the location of a source of food by

A) flying around the location.
B) doing a specific waggle dance.
C) using a unique verbal language.
D) releasing pheromones.
E) creating noises with their wings.

Question 44

Drones are male honeybees that

A) build the hexagonal cells of wax for the larvae.
B) mate with the queens.
C) forage for food.
D) feed the developing larvae.

Question 45

Honeybees will sting a bear that is robbing their hive even though the bees will die after they sting the bear. This is an example of

A) submission.
B) conditioning.
C) habituation.
D) altruism.

Question 46

Pheromones have the ability to modify reproductive behaviors in some animals.

Question 47

Behaviors result from an interaction between genes and environment.

Question 48

When the back of a male stickleback turns blue, this signal is perceived by females

A) to indicate danger to the school.
B) to signal the beginning of the mating season.
C) to delimit territory.
D) to describe the location of food.
E) as an example of courtship behavior.

Question 49

An animal can imprint only on members of its own species.

Question 50

Which of the following illustrates altruism?

A) Parent birds clean out their nests.
B) Parent birds spend much of their time and energy feeding their young.
C) Birds of a different species care for a cuckoo egg.
D) Males sing to attract females as mating partners.
E) A mother bird pretends to be wounded to distract a predator away from her young.

Question 51

A hungry newborn human infant, touched on the side of her mouth, will turn her head and attempt to suckle. This behavior is

A) nonadaptive.
B) not under genetic control.
C) innate.
D) learned.

Question 52

Smiling when happy seems to be an expression common to all human societies, suggesting that this behavior is probably

A) based on social standing.
B) genetic in origin.
C) altruistic.
D) learned.

Question 53

Which of the following is a disadvantage for animals living in groups?

A) Decreased risk of disease
B) Lower efficiency in finding food
C) Reduced chance of finding a mate
D) Increased chance of being spotted by predators

Question 54

Complex societies involving a caste system, where individuals are born into a specific role, can be found among which of the following?

A) Insects
B) Reptiles
C) Birds
D) Fishes
E) Amphibians

Question 55

Trial-and-error learning can be important in the development of a behavior.

Question 56

Human facial expressions in response to various emotions

A) vary according to race.
B) vary according to age.
C) vary tremendously from culture to culture.
D) vary according to sex.
E) are remarkably similar among different cultures.

Question 57

Worker honeybees are

A) sterile males.
B) sterile females.
C) fertile males.
D) fertile females.
E) immature bees of either sex.

Question 58

Migration is an innate behavior among whooping cranes.

Question 59

When a 1-month-old baby is shown a piece of white paper with two dark, eye-sized spots, the baby will

A) exhibit fright.
B) exhibit avoidance actions.
C) smile.
D) not respond to a stimulus of this nature.
E) vomit.

Question 60

Kin selection refers to

A) determining which related animals must live and which must die.
B) the selection of a mate.
C) deciding which related animals can live in the colony.
D) an animal promoting the survival of the genes of its close relatives.
E) deciding which related animals can share the food.

Question 61

Living in a social group decreases the odds of finding a mate.

Question 62

A female dog in estrus attracts males with pheromones.

Question 63

The pattern of flashes produced by fireflies is an example of visual communication.

Question 64

Successful defense of territories increases the odds of mating success.

Question 65

In male bighorn sheep, the dominant male is usually the one with the largest horns.

Question 66

Pheromones are species specific.

Question 67

Living in a social group increases the risk of contracting an infectious disease.

Question 68

Birds use vocal displays to defend their territories.

Question 69

Territoriality increases aggression.

Question 70

Play inhibits normal behavioral development.

Question 71

The effectiveness of sound for communication is limited because only simple messages can be transmitted.

Question 72

Only primates play.

Question 73

Dominance hierarchies minimize aggression in social animals.

Question 74

The function of honeybee queens is to bring nectar back to the hive.

Question 75

Pheromones affect only the animal that produces them.

Question 76

Only primates have the ability to communicate by sound.

Question 77

Birds produce species-specific songs.

Question 78

The fur standing up along a dogʹs back when it confronts a strange dog is an example of visual communication.

Question 79

The head bobbing of lizards is a visual mating signal.

Question 80

The queen in a naked mole rat colony is the only female allowed to breed.