37) Fred and Joe, two unrelated, mature male gorillas, encounter one another. Fred is courting a
female. Fred grunts as Joe comes near. As Joe continues to advance, Fred begins drumming
(pounding his chest) and bares his teeth. Joe then rolls on the ground on his back, gets up, and
quickly leaves. This behavioral pattern is repeated several times during the mating season.
Choose the most specific behavior described by this example.
A) agonistic behavior
B) territorial behavior
C) learned behavior
D) fixed action pattern
38) Female spotted sandpipers aggressively court males and, after mating and egg laying, leave
the clutch of young for the male to incubate. This sequence may be repeated several times with
different males until no available males remain, forcing the female to incubate her last clutch.
Which of the following terms best describes this behavior?
A) monogamy
B) polygyny
C) polyandry
D) promiscuity
39) Feeding behavior with a high energy intake-to-expenditure ratio is called _____.
A) autotrophy
B) heterotrophy
C) search scavenging
D) optimal foraging
40) Which of the following might affect the foraging behavior of an animal in the context of
optimal foraging?
I) risk of predation
II) prey size
III) prey defenses
IV) prey density
A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only I, II, and III
D) I, II, III, and IV
41) Which of the following is most likely associated with the evolution of mating systems?
A) population density
B) territoriality
C) certainty of paternity
D) sexual dimorphism
42) Females are typically larger and more ornamented than males where _____ occurs.
A) monogamy
B) polyandry
C) polygamy
D) polygyny
43) Which of the following statements is true about certainty of paternity?
A) Certainty of paternity is high in most species with internal fertilization because the acts of
mating and birth are separated by time.
B) Certainty of paternity is low when males guard females they have mated.
C) Certainty of paternity is low when egg laying and mating occur together, as in external
fertilization.
D) Paternal behavior exists because it has been reinforced over generations by natural selection.
44) Which of the following best describes “game theory” as it applies to animal behavior?
A) The fitness of a particular behavior is influenced by other behavioral phenotypes in a
population.
B) The total of all of the behavioral displays, both male and female, is related to courtship.
C) The play behavior performed by juveniles allows them to perfect adult behaviors that are
needed for survival, such as hunting, courtship, and so on.
D) The evolutionary “game” is played between predator and prey. The prey evolve a behavior in
response to the nature of the predatory behavior.
45) The color of throats of males in a population of side-blotched lizards is determined by _____.
A) ambient temperature: blue = cold; orange = normal; yellow = hot
B) stage of development/maturity
C) their receptiveness to mate
D) the success of the mating behavior of each of the throat color phenotypes
46) In the figure above, which of the following conclusions is most logical based on the data?
A) Females produce more eggs more quickly when exposed to breeding males.
B) Females produce eggs more quickly when exposed to many males than females paired with a
male.
C) All non-isolated females do just as well as isolated females.
D) After four weeks together, females with males produce mature follicles to the same extent as
females without males.
Listed below are several examples of types of animal behavior. Choose the letter of the correct
term (A-E) that matches each example in the following question(s).
A. operant conditioning
B. agonistic behavior
C. innate behavior
D. imprinting
E. altruistic behavior
47) Upon observing a golden eagle flying overhead, a sentry prairie dog gives a warning call to
other foraging members of the prairie dog community.
A) B
B) C
C) D
D) E
48) The fru gene in fruit flies _____.
I) controls sex-specific development in the fruit fly
II) is a master regulatory gene that directs expression of many other genes
III) can be genetically manipulated in females so that they will perform male sex behaviors
IV) programs males for appropriate courtship behaviors
A) only I and III
B) only II and IV
C) only II, III, and IV
D) I, II, III, and IV
49) Pair-bonding in a population of prairie voles can be prevented by _____.
A) the ensuing confusion caused by introducing meadow voles
B) administering a drug that inhibits the brain receptor for vasopressin in the central nervous
system (CNS) of males
C) dying the coat color from brown to blond in either male or female prairie voles
D) allowing the population size to reach critically low levels
50) Which of the following statements about evolution of behavior is correct?
A) Natural selection will favor behavior that enhances survival and reproduction.
B) An animal may show behavior that minimizes reproductive fitness.
C) If a behavior is less than optimal, it will eventually become optimal through natural selection.
D) Innate behaviors cannot be altered by natural selection.
51) How do altruistic behaviors arise through natural selection?
A) By his/her actions, the altruist increases the likelihood that some of its genes will be passed
on to the next generation.
B) The altruist is appreciated by other members of the population because its survivability has
been enhanced by virtue of its risky behavior.
C) Animals that perform altruistic acts are allowed by their population to breed more, thereby
passing on their behavior genes to future generations.
D) Altruistic behaviors lower stress in populations, which increases the survivability of all the
members of the population.
52) 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
53) Animals that help other animals of the same species _____.
A) have excess energy reserves
B) are bigger and stronger than the other animals
C) are usually related to the other animals helped
D) are always male
54) 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
55) 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) The prairie dog would be equally likely to act altruistically to each of the combinations
described.
56) How would you classify the genetic basis for most behavioral traits in the animal kingdom?
A) One gene typically codes for one behavior.
B) One gene typically codes for many behaviors.
C) Many genes typically code for one behavior.
D) Behaviors are learned, not coded by genes.
Use the following information to answer the question(s) below.
The following are an abstract and figure from a paper that explores the evolutionary relationship
between a protein kinase and behavior (M. Fitzpatrick and M. Sokolowski. 2004. In search of
food: Exploring the evolutionary link between cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) and
behavior. Integrative and Comparative Biology 44:28-36).
Abstract:
Despite an immense amount of variation in organisms throughout the animal kingdom, many of
their genes show substantial conservation in DNA sequence and protein function. Here we
explore the potential for a conserved evolutionary relationship between genes and their
behavioral phenotypes. We investigate the evolutionary history of cGMP-dependent protein
kinase (PKG) and its possible conserved function in food-related behaviors. First identified for
its role in the foraging behavior of fruit flies, the PKG encoded by the foraging gene had since
been associated with the maturation of behavior (from nurse to forager) in honey bees and the
roaming and dwelling food-related locomotion in nematodes. These parallels encouraged us to
construct protein phylogenies using 32 PKG sequences that include 19 species. Our analyses
suggest five possible evolutionary histories that can explain the apparent conserved link between
PKG and behavior in fruit flies, honey bees, and nematodes. Three of these raise the hypothesis
that PKG influences the food-related behaviors of a wide variety of animals including
vertebrates. Moreover it appears that the PKG gene was duplicated some time between the
evolution of nematodes and a common ancestor of vertebrates and insects whereby current
evidence suggest only the for-like PKG might be associated with food-related behavior.
Neighbor joining trees depicting the evolutionary relationships of 32 PKG kinase domain and C-
terminal amino acid sequences spanning 19 species of protozoans and metazoans. Values at the
nodes represent the results of 5000 bootstrap replications. Lineages with known behavioral links
with PKG are indicated by gray branches.
57) Look at the evolutionary relationship of protein kinases in the figure above. Knowing that
there is evidence that this particular protein kinase is linked to food-related behaviors in the
animals studied, what conclusions can you draw?
A) There is enormous variation in amino acid sequences between taxa.
B) There is likely a conserved evolutionary relationship between these genes and their behavioral
phenotype.
C) PKG influences food-related behaviors in a wide variety of animals, and there is enormous
variation in amino acid sequences between taxa.
D) PKG influences food-related behaviors in a wide variety of animals, and there is likely a
conserved evolutionary relationship between these genes and their behavioral phenotype.
58) Using the figure above and the accompanying paragraph, and knowing that the PKG encoded
by the foraging gene has recently been associated with the maturation of out-of-nest behavior in
honeybees, what would be a logical explanation for this relationship? As animals mature, they
_____.
A) require more food; therefore, PKG levels must increase.
B) are more likely to forage; therefore, PKG levels must increase.
C) respond to pheromones from the queen, which increases PKG levels.
D) are able to fly, an activity that is connected to the increase in PKG levels.
59) What probably explains why coastal and inland garter snakes react differently to banana slug
prey?
A) Ancestors of coastal snakes that could eat the abundant banana slugs had increased fitness.
No such selection occurred inland, where banana slugs were absent.
B) Banana slugs are camouflaged, and inland snakes, which have poorer vision than coastal
snakes, are less able to see them.
C) Garter snakes learn about prey from other garter snakes. Inland garter snakes have fewer
types of prey because they are less social.
D) Inland banana slugs are distasteful, so inland snakes learn to avoid them. Coastal banana
slugs are palatable to garter snakes.
60) Behaviors are diverse and important for survival and reproduction. Some behaviors are
learned, such as the species-specific song of a yellow warbler which 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 honeybees do a “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 may not necessarily increase fitness. Baby warblers can learn the song of
another species.
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.
61) The graph indicates that males leave the area where they were born while females stay in the
area. What is the most likely reason for the evolution of this behavior?
A) Movement of males out of the territory reduces competition for food among the males.
B) The females are not as strong as the male ground squirrels and therefore stay closer to their
birthplace.
C) Females reproduce by parthenogenesis, which means they produce offspring from unfertilized
eggs so the males are not needed.
D) Within the ground squirrel population, males leave the area of their birth and are replaced by
new males, thus maintaining genetic diversity in the population.
62) 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 interspecific competition, 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.