View a FREE sample

This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Dawkins characterize the runt of a litter?

2. What does Dawkins give as his example of the individual benefit of pack behavior in hyenas?

3. What does Dawkins mean by a "selfish gene?"

4. To what does Wynne-Edwards attribute changes to female mice as the population rises?

5. What does Dawkins speculate might be a reason a female animal could be tricked into raising a child that is not her own?

Short Essay Questions

1. Describe Trivers' observations of striped cleaner fish.

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

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

4. What factors does Dawkins mention that weigh into caring for older versus younger offspring?

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

6. What theory about parental suffering for children's success does Dawkins describe?

7. How does Dawkins describe female cells versus male cells?

8. How do Trivers and Dawkins differ in their interpretation of males investing energy into offspring before mating?

9. What is the cuckoo's adaptation to care for its eggs?

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

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss the origin of life as Dawkins presents it in The Selfish Gene.

1) Why is the origin of life, as Dawkins presents it, not something that still happens? How do the first replicator proteins come into being?

2) What elements in the environment lead to the development of replicator proteins into organisms?

3) How is the existence of early proteins as Dawkins presents it in ancient seas similar to and different from the existence of organisms in the natural world today?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss the idea of stability in natural systems.

1) What is ESS, and why is it valuable to scientists who are studying natural systems?

2) Why does nature tend toward stable systems? What causes this rule to be true?

3) How does stability affect evolution? What is its relationship to competition?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss the biological appearance of purpose in The Selfish Gene.

1) Why do biological structures appear like they have a purpose? What examples does Dawkins give of things in nature that appear to have purpose?

2) What examples does Dawkins give of machines and other things that only appear to have purpose?

3) How convincing are Dawkins' arguments that systems can appear to have purpose without actually having intention? Why does Dawkins give these arguments?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 1,041 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample