You observe scrub jays hiding food and notice that one particular individual only pretends to hide food. What kind of experiment could you perform to test whether this behavior was random or in response to another signal?
A) Observe more of these behaviors in the wild and try to determine if the behavior is random.
B) Hypothesize a set of signals that could produce this behavior and try to match the behaviors with the signals.
C) Attempt to reproduce the behavior in captivity by using bird models and a computer simulation.
D) Isolate the individual birds in a laboratory and repeat the observations.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Hypothesizing a set of signals that could produce the observed behavior and trying to match the behaviors with the signals would allow for controlled testing of whether the behavior is in response to a specific signal or random. This approach would provide evidence for the existence of a specific signal that triggers this behavior, rather than simply observing more of this behavior or isolating individuals in a laboratory.

You Observe Scrub Jays Hiding Food and Notice That One