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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 animals does the author mention as examples of animals that work hard to rescue or save others?
(a) Baboons and whales.
(b) Bears and squids.
(c) Lions and dolphins.
(d) Zebras and sharks.

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

3. In the example Dawkins gives, why do some ants grow a plant?
(a) The plant acts as camouflage for the anthill.
(b) The ants eat the plant.
(c) The plant feeds a fungus the ants eat.
(d) The plant protects the anthill against erosion.

4. What reason does Dawkins give that animal populations are about 50-50 male and female?
(a) Overlarge female populations purposefully create more males.
(b) Male and female balances shift from generation to generation to average out to 50-50.
(c) Males are overly competitive and destroy each other when the male population is too high.
(d) Dawkins says that a 50-50 ratio is the stable balance of males and females.

5. In Dawkins' discussion, why do baby birds scream?
(a) To show how hungry they are.
(b) To attract love from the parent.
(c) To scold sibling birds.
(d) To warn away aggressors.

Short Answer Questions

1. How closely related are two sister bees?

2. How does the author suggest that bird calls might help a bird that is trying to hide by freezing to camouflage itself?

3. In Dawkins' discussion, why don't baby birds continue to scream louder and louder?

4. From a gene's point of view, what does Dawkins say an organism is equally related to?

5. How does a mother protecting a child promote the selfish gene theory?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why, from the standpoint of the selfish gene, is it more beneficial to save five siblings than five cousins?

2. What factors does Dawkins mention that affect the human birthrate and population?

3. Why does Dawkins say mothers are more altruistic to their children than fathers?

4. Describe Trivers' observations of striped cleaner fish.

5. Explain the conflict between Wynne-Edwards and Dawkins over territory behavior.

6. What is the result of Dawkins' game theory analysis of male and female sexual and childrearing behaviors?

7. What examples does Dawkins give of male animals resisting raising offspring that's not their own?

8. What two possible explanations for the behavior of the baby swallow observed by the Spanish researchers does Dawkins present?

9. According to Dawkins, in what ways does weaning benefit an older child?

10. When and why are gulls' offspring in danger?

(see the answer keys)

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