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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What does Dawkins describe some female birds demanding from males?
(a) They demand males fight off predators.
(b) They demand males feed them.
(c) They demand males fight off other birds.
(d) They demand males walk or fly close behind them.

2. In the natural world, which gender does Dawkins identify as more likely to select the other for breeding?
(a) Males tend to select females for breeding.
(b) Females tend to select males for breeding.
(c) Species tend to have both selective females and selective males, which are individuals that select another for breeding.
(d) Species are split about halfway on which gender selects the other for breeding.

3. What chance does a parent have of giving a particular gene to a child?
(a) A forty percent chance.
(b) A thirty percent chance.
(c) A fifty percent chance.
(d) A sixty percent chance.

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

5. What does Trivers look at breeding as?
(a) A war between the sexes.
(b) A race with time.
(c) A goal of existence.
(d) A careful calculation based on resources.

6. 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 cause other birds to fly and confuse any predators.
(c) The call might frighten away other birds in the tree the bird is flying to.
(d) The call might cause other birds to call and hide the noise of the bird's wings.

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

8. What four categories does Dawkins have in his game theory analysis of male and female sexual and childrearing behaviors?
(a) Coy females, fast females, faithful males, and philandering males.
(b) Accepting females, rejecting females, cooperative males, and uncooperative males.
(c) Coy females, philandering females, demanding males, and unreliable males.
(d) Faithful females, faithless females, faithful males, and faithless males.

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

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

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

12. What happens to baby birds if the parent does not find enough food for the group?
(a) The parent will give up its life to feed the baby birds.
(b) The babies will survive but be sickly and have later problems.
(c) All the babies die.
(d) The parent will feed only a few babies, and the others will die.

13. In Dawkins' example, why might an older child give up food for a younger sibling?
(a) The child is not concerned about its own survival.
(b) The child is more concerned about sibling survival than about its own survival.
(c) The parents are more concerned about the older child and ignoring the younger one.
(d) The child does not need the food as much as the younger sibling.

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

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Dawkins believe about human population growth?

2. According to Dawkins, for whom does a bird regulate the number of eggs it lays?

3. What does PI stand for?

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

5. What does Wynne-Edwards teach?

(see the answer keys)

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