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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 5.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dawkins call the molecule that he imagines as the first molecule to make copies of itself?
(a) The replicator.
(b) The duplicator.
(c) The chicken-and-egg molecule.
(d) The proto-RNA.

2. Why does Dawkins say kind or cooperative behavior arises?
(a) Because it promotes the good of the whole species.
(b) Because other kind or cooperative behavior promotes it.
(c) Because other factors besides natural selection are in play.
(d) Because it allows a gene to achieve a selfish goal.

3. In the science fiction story Dawkins cites, who sends instructions through time?
(a) Intelligent animals.
(b) Aliens.
(c) Robots.
(d) Future humans.

4. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, how does he describe the creation of new DNA by sexual reproduction?
(a) Books from different shelves are mixed together on a new shelf.
(b) Two bookshelves are combined into one.
(c) Two books are combined into one two-volume work.
(d) Pages are torn out of different books and put together.

5. What kind of animals does the intruder retreat experiment by Niko Tinbergen use?
(a) Birds.
(b) Fish.
(c) Worms.
(d) Rats.

Short Answer Questions

1. What almost always happens when copies of things are made, according to Dawkins?

2. What apparently selfish act of the praying mantis does the author describe?

3. If two genes normally cooperate, what happens when one gene is missing?

4. What would give longevity to early self-duplicating molecules, according to Dawkins?

5. What mixture tends to arrive in ESS simulations of multiple types of behavior?

(see the answer key)

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