View a FREE sample

This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 10.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. What is a recessive gene?
(a) A gene that has no effect until two gene fragments come together from two sources.
(b) A gene that has no effect until environmental triggers create an effect.
(c) A gene that has no effect except when two individuals with that gene are in close proximity.
(d) A gene that has no effect in alternate generations.

3. In early reproducing molecules, what is the measure of "success"?
(a) That there are more molecules around that are like the molecule.
(b) That there are more copies of the molecule, whether they are accurate or not.
(c) That there are more chemical reactions that can use the molecule.
(d) That there are fewer ways for the molecule to be destroyed.

4. What does Dawkins postulate would preserve a gene forever?
(a) An undying being continuing to reproduce.
(b) A gene that caused nothing but remained in the DNA.
(c) A being that used only one gene.
(d) A being that passed on all its DNA through sexual reproduction.

5. How would the results differ if the goal were the success of the group?
(a) A group of only one kind of behavior would be more successful.
(b) The same mixture of two kinds of behavior would still be most successful.
(c) The reverse of the mixture of two kinds of behavior would be more successful.
(d) A slightly differnet mixture of the two kinds of behavior would be more successful.

Short Answer Questions

1. What happens to cuckoo eggs that look dissimilar to the host eggs they replace?

2. What chance does a parent have of giving a particular gene to a child?

3. What does Dawkins call the molecule that he imagines as the first molecule to make copies of itself?

4. What does Dawkins say removes humanity from the cruel and harsh laws of nature?

5. What game, played by computers, does Dawkins use as an example of things that can happen automatically based on rules?

(see the answer key)

This section contains 451 words (approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample