49. Animal Behavior

What do ultimate explanations of behavior focus on?

Female spotted sandpipers aggressively court males and, after mating, 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. polygynyb. polyandryc. promiscuityd. certainty of paternity

Pheasants do not feed their chicks. Immediately after hatching, a pheasant chick starts pecking at seeds and insects on the ground. How might a behavioral ecologist explain the ultimate cause of this behavior?a. Pecking is an innate behavior.b. Pheasants learned to peck, and their offspring inherited this behavior.c. Pecking by newly hatched chicks is the result of trial-and-error learning.d. Pecking is a result of imprinting during a sensitive period.

A behavior is considered adaptive if it increases an individual's fitness. How is fitness measured? Select True or False for each statement.T/F strengthT/F body sizeT/F speedT/F number of viable offspring

A region of the canary forebrain shrinks during the nonbreeding season and enlarges when breeding season begins. This change is probably associated with the annuala. addition of new syllables to a canary's song repertoire.b. crystallization of subsong into adult songs.c. sensitive period in which canary parents imprint on new offspring.d. elimination of the memorized template for songs sung the previous year.

A male redwing blackbird will chase predatory birds away from his breeding territory during nesting season. Which hypothesis best explains his behavior?a. He is acting for the good of the species. He may die, but other birds of his species will be saved.b. He knows this will increase his fitness, so he chases away the predator.c. He carries a gene that causes fathers to protect their offspring, which increases inclusive fitness.d. He has imprinted on the offspring in his nest, so he knows that they are his.

Why does altruism seem paradoxical?a. Sometimes altruistic behavior is actually selfish.b. Altruism does not actually help others.c. Alleles that cause an organism to behave altruistically should be selected against since these alleles should lower the organism's fitness.d. Animals behave altruistically to help the species, but sometimes their behavior harms the species.

Although many chimpanzees live in environments with oil palm nuts, members of only a few populations use stones to crack open the nuts. The likely explanation is thata. the behavioral difference is caused by genetic differences between populations.b. members of different populations have different nutritional requirements.c. the cultural tradition of using stones to crack nuts has arisen in only some populations.d. members of different populations differ in learning ability.

Some airports have attempted to scare geese off by playing goose alarm calls over loudspeakers. This tactic kept the geese away initially, but soon the geese ignored the alarm calls. How would you explain this outcome?a. The alarm calls are a social signal that geese ignore unless they can see the other geese.b. The geese became imprinted on the alarm calls.c. The geese used spatial learning to navigate the environment of the airport.d. The geese became habituated to the alarm calls when no danger was present.

Is it true that all organisms forage optimally? Why or why not?

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.

Almost all the behaviors of a housefly are innate. What are some advantages and disadvantages to the fly of innate behaviors compared with behaviors that are mainly learned?

The male cuttlefish in the chapter-opening photo can rapidly change their skin colors (under nerve control) to flash warning patterns to rivals. Predict the proximate and ultimate causes of this behavior.

In Module 35.3, you learned that Norway rat offspring whose mothers don't interact much with them grow up to be fearful and anxious in new situations. Suggest a possible ultimate cause for this link between maternal behavior and stress response of offspring. (Hint: Under what circumstances might high reactivity to stress be more adaptive than being relaxed?)

Propose an evolutionary hypothesis to explain the observation that some bird populations do not migrate if people supply food for them in feeders.