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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. Why does Dawkins say individuals within a species interact more with each other than with other species?
(a) Because they are more easily recognizable to each other since they are similar.
(b) Because they need each other to survive.
(c) Because they inhabit the same habitat.
(d) Because they compete for the same resources using the same tools.

3. What is the name of the bee disease that Dawkins mentions in his example?
(a) Sac brood.
(b) Stone brood.
(c) Chalk brood.
(d) Foul brood.

4. What did scientists do to test the genes that controlled bee behavior?
(a) Breed bees with duplicates of both genes.
(b) Breed bees without either gene.
(c) Breed bees with duplicates of one of the genes.
(d) Breed bees with one of the genes only.

5. What would molecules that grouped and built protective walls around themselves become?
(a) Single-celled organisms.
(b) Animals.
(c) Inorganic materials.
(d) Plants.

Short Answer Questions

1. In Dawkins' discussion, what does he consider alleles to be, relative to genes?

2. What apparently selfish act of the penguin does the author describe?

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

4. What would not have existed in early oceans, that would have allowed amino acids and proteins to exist for long periods of time, to slowly develop into more complex forms?

5. If two genes normally cooperate, what happens when one gene is missing?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Dawkins view many-celled life forms?

2. What is a cistron?

3. What does Dawkins say about how genes "teach" a behavior to a bee?

4. What does Dawkins say would happen if a selfish member of a species were born into a species of unselfish members?

5. Describe the behavior of chains of atoms in human blood, as Dawkins describes it.

6. In war of attrition scenarios, what is the best bet for individual behavior, according to Dawkins' reports?

7. What does Dawkins have to say about the phrase "to ensure the survival of the species?"

8. How do animals become active and quicker than plants?

9. According to Dawkins, what happened to self-copying molecules that were less successful?

10. Describe the comparison that Dawkins makes regarding a gangster.

(see the answer keys)

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