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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does the Watt Governor machine regulate?
(a) How heavy it becomes.
(b) How fast its arms spin.
(c) How high it rises.
(d) How hot it becomes.

2. In Dawkins' description, how does a retaliator behave?
(a) A retaliator appears to be a hawk but acts like a dove.
(b) A retaliator waits to see what will happen and then reacts through a code of rules.
(c) A retaliator appears to be a dove but acts like a hawk.
(d) A retaliator mimics the behavior of the creature it encounters.

3. How common does Dawkins say doubt about evolution is?
(a) He says it's in everyone.
(b) He says it's nonexistent.
(c) He says it's common.
(d) He says it's rare.

4. What does ESS stand for?
(a) Environmental Secure Strategy.
(b) Evolutionary Stable Strategy.
(c) Evolutionarily Successful Strategy.
(d) Engineered Survival Strategy.

5. What apparently unselfish act of a bee does the author describe?
(a) Losing its life to sting an intruder.
(b) Evacuating immature bees from an endangered hive.
(c) Bringing back pollen to help feed the whole colony.
(d) Fighting off predators who are near the queen.

6. To what does Dawkins compare ESS conclusions about individual behaviors within a species?
(a) Species behavior within an ecosystem.
(b) Cell development within an organ.
(c) Gene development within DNA.
(d) DNA development within chromosomes.

7. If two genes normally cooperate, what happens when one gene is missing?
(a) The other gene no longer has any effect.
(b) The other gene still causes the same total result.
(c) The other gene still causes the same total result but intermittently.
(d) The other gene still has an effect, but the total result is not the same.

8. Does the author believe that all people should act selfishly?
(a) Yes, he believes that selfish behavior is natural and therefore good, despite negative results.
(b) No, he believes people should try to overcome selfish natural tendancies.
(c) Yes, he believes selfish behavior has positive results.
(d) No, and he believes people will not naturally act selfishly.

9. What is the smallest unit that is reproduced and carried on through natural selection?
(a) A chromosome.
(b) A cell.
(c) A DNA strand.
(d) A gene.

10. What mixture tends to arrive in ESS simulations of multiple types of behavior?
(a) A mix of retaliators, doves, and prober-retaliators.
(b) A mix of retaliators, bullies, and hawks.
(c) A mix of hawks, doves, and bullies.
(d) A mix of proper-retaliators, hawks, and doves.

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

12. What molecules does Dawkins say existed in ancient seas and formed amino acids?
(a) Water, nitrogen, hydrogen, and sulfur.
(b) Water, carbon dioxide, methane, and amonia.
(c) Methane, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen.
(d) Carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulfur, and amonia.

13. What apparently selfish act of the praying mantis does the author describe?
(a) Injuring another mantis that enters a claimed territory.
(b) Leading another mantis into a spider's web.
(c) A female eating her mate.
(d) Fighting over an aphid colony.

14. When a cell creates a sperm cell or egg cell with reduced DNA, what is the process called?
(a) Plasmosis.
(b) Mitosis.
(c) Alleles.
(d) Meiosis.

15. What does Dawkins describe life forms as?
(a) Machines to protect competing self-copying molecules.
(b) Simple enlargements of self-copying molecules.
(c) Projections of self-copying molecules into a new dimension.
(d) Multiplications of self-copying molecules.

Short Answer Questions

1. What behavior does the author cite about how elephant seals relate to rivals?

2. What does the author suggest might be better wording than "survival of the fittest"?

3. What type of animal brains does Dawkins say are most successful?

4. In Dawkins' metaphor about DNA, what represents a gene?

5. What type of math does the author discuss that's used to model how real animals behave in the world?

(see the answer keys)

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