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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why might mates favor offspring over their mate, according to Dawkins?
(a) Offspring need more resources for survival than a mate does.
(b) Offspring have more of a lifespan ahead of them than mates.
(c) Mates in the animal world are not permanent and therefore inconsequential.
(d) Mates share no DNA with each other, but they do share DNA with offspring.

2. How does a mother protecting a child promote the selfish gene theory?
(a) The mother is extending selfish behavior to new situations.
(b) The mother is repurposing selfish genes to protect the child.
(c) The child will later protect the mother in turn.
(d) The child carries many of the same genes as the mother.

3. What ant behavior does Dawkins give as an example of seemingly altruistic behavior?
(a) Running into a burning anthill to retrieve others' eggs.
(b) Bringing food back to other ants without eating.
(c) Hanging from a ceiling as a living food pack.
(d) Throwing itself in front of predators.

4. What does Dawkins speculate might be a reason a female animal could be tricked into raising a child that is not her own?
(a) The animal might misinterpret how related it is to the child.
(b) The animal might gain practice for future offspring.
(c) The animal might identify specific genes it has in common with the child.
(d) The animal might make alliances for self-protection.

5. How does the author suggest that bird calls might help a bird that is trying to fly up into the trees?
(a) The call might be hard to pinpoint and therefore distract predators.
(b) The call might frighten away other birds in the tree the bird is flying to.
(c) The call might cause other birds to call and hide the noise of the bird's wings.
(d) The call might cause other birds to fly and confuse any predators.

6. What does Wynne-Edwards teach?
(a) That group behaviors are evolved and individual behaviors are incidental.
(b) That evolution is only partially responsible for behaviors.
(c) That individuals strive for individual success within the group.
(d) That groups of animals evolved for the good of the group.

7. According to Dawkins' description, what do insect colonies usually consist of?
(a) A large number of offspring descended from the same mother.
(b) Small, interrelated groups of offspring descended from many mothers.
(c) A large number of offspring descended from a small group of mothers.
(d) A communal group of offspring descended from many mothers.

8. What does Dawkins speculate that cuckoo chicks might do?
(a) Blackmail parents into getting more food by screaming loud enough to attract predators.
(b) Steal food from other chicks in the nest.
(c) Kill other chicks in the nest.
(d) Scream less loud to not attract too much attention to themselves as intruders.

9. What does Dawkins believe about the tension between survival of different generations?
(a) The children are always benefited, even at costs to older generations.
(b) A compromise evolves where different generations get reasonable amounts of resources.
(c) The parents are the primary benefactor because they control resources, and children only get the minimum of what they need.
(d) Children begin at a disadvantage, at the mercy of parents, and later begin to control the resources.

10. Do gulls recognize their own eggs and chicks?
(a) Gulls recognize their chicks but not their eggs.
(b) Gulls recognize neither their chicks nor their eggs.
(c) Gulls recognize their eggs but not their chicks.
(d) Gulls recognize their chicks and eggs.

11. What happens to female mice as the population rises to unacceptable limits?
(a) Fewer female mice are born.
(b) Female mice ignore male mice's advances.
(c) Female mice destroy their young.
(d) Female mice become less fertile.

12. According to Dawkins, how common is it for males to help raise the young?
(a) It always happens to some extent.
(b) It is the most likely scenario, with some exceptions.
(c) It never occurs in nature.
(d) It occurs in nature, but is not always the case.

13. In the example that Dawkins gives, what do pigs sometimes do to the runt of the litter?
(a) Eat it.
(b) Allow the other piglets to attack it.
(c) Kick it away.
(d) Refuse to feed it.

14. What does Wynne-Edwards suggest that animals do to communicate overpopulation?
(a) Leave measurable tracks in a common area.
(b) Eat a communal meal in an area of limited food.
(c) Gather together and make a lot of noise.
(d) Gather together in a clear area where they are easily seen.

15. From a gene's point of view, what does Dawkins say an organism is equally related to?
(a) A father and a son.
(b) A baby brother and a baby son.
(c) A cousin and a grandparent.
(d) A baby brother and a parent's sibling.

Short Answer Questions

1. What did Spanish researchers see a baby swallow do?

2. How common are genes that cause altruistic behaviors in nature?

3. Who does Dawkins' idea of AI expand the idea of PI to include?

4. In Dawkins' game theory analysis of a colony of birds and ticks, what were grudger birds?

5. What happens to baby birds if the parent does not find enough food for the group?

(see the answer keys)

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