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

Multiple Choice Questions

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

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

3. In sexual reproduction, what does the larger egg cell have that the smaller sperm cell does not?
(a) A complete set of DNA.
(b) More food reserves for the future embryo.
(c) The ability to protect itself from other cells.
(d) The ability to move around to more beneficial environments.

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

5. What does Wynne-Edwards believe about territories that animals fight over?
(a) Individual territories provide survival for the species.
(b) Individual territories are illusions.
(c) Individual territories are symbolic.
(d) Individual territories provide survival for the individual.

6. What does the study of egg clutch sizes that Dawkins cites show?
(a) That there are only benefits to having a lot of eggs.
(b) That there are only detriments to having a lot of eggs.
(c) That there are detriments and benefits to having a lot of eggs.
(d) That having a lot of eggs is, in the end, exactly the same as having few eggs.

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

8. According to Dawkins, for whom does a bird regulate the number of eggs it lays?
(a) For the good of the species.
(b) For the good of itself.
(c) For the good of its genetic offspring.
(d) For the good of itself and its mate.

9. How is male and female responsibility for offspring different in fish?
(a) Females may lay eggs and abandon them, while males fertilize the eggs and are left to care for them.
(b) Females care for the eggs, and when they hatch, they leave the live offspring to the males.
(c) Males care for eggs, and then females take over when the offspring hatches.
(d) Males and females both leave their fertilized eggs without investing resources in them.

10. What shape is the location where guillemots lay their eggs?
(a) Flat.
(b) Rough and grassy.
(c) Jagged.
(d) Hilly.

11. What does Dawkins say removes humanity from the cruel and harsh laws of nature?
(a) Humans teach children ways to behave and learn better behaviors as adults.
(b) Nothing.
(c) Humans have developed genes for communication, which allows cooperation.
(d) Humans create environments that protect them from natural laws.

12. What does Wynne-Edwards say happens when other animals communicate to the species that there is overpopulation?
(a) The animals store extra food.
(b) The animals claim larger territories.
(c) The animals have fewer young.
(d) The animals attack others' young.

13. What attribute of male birds of paradise does Zahavi say is a kind of boast that even with a dangerous physical characteristic, the bird is strong enough to survive?
(a) A beautifully feathered but uselessly structured foot.
(b) A brightly colored, easily seen headdress.
(c) A bright, attractive pattern on its wings.
(d) A long, dragging tail.

14. What response does Dawkins give to the idea that birth control is wrong because it's unnatural?
(a) That birth regulation is an evolutionary adaptation.
(b) That birth regulation is a survival instinct.
(c) That human lifestyle is completely unnatural.
(d) That feeding the poor is also unnatural.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. In Dawkins' discussion, why do baby birds scream?

2. What does Wynne-Edwards teach?

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

4. What does Dawkins point out about different species' attitude toward offspring?

5. What does Trivers look at breeding as?

(see the answer keys)

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