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

Short Answer Questions

1. Does Dawkins believe people want to view parental care as different from other evolutionary behaviors?

2. According to the relatedness calculations in the book, how related is a person to him- or herself?

3. In the natural world, which gender does Dawkins identify as more likely to select the other for breeding?

4. What is difficult to explain about honeybees, according to Dawkins' theory?

5. What does Trivers look at breeding as?

Short Essay Questions

1. What does Dawkins substitute for survival of a species?

2. According to Dawkins, what selfish behavior might birds that have fewer eggs because of overpopulation exhibit?

3. Explain Dawkins' interpretation of the affects of overpopulation on female mice.

4. What possible explanation for viruses does Dawkins give?

5. Describe Trivers' observations of striped cleaner fish.

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

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

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

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

10. What does Dawkins cite that makes human beings exceptions to the idea that genes for having too large a number of children die out?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Discuss sexual reproduction in The Selfish Gene.

1) How does Dawkins characterize male and female reproductive cells? What is the relationship between this characterization and Dawkins' theory of the selfish gene?

2) How does sexual reproduction affect the ability of genes to survive? Why should sexual reproduction exist at all?

3) What implications do Dawkins' ideas about sexual reproduction have for the male and the female of a species?

Essay Topic 2

Discuss hive behavior in Dawkins' book.

1) How does Dawkins' idea of the selfish gene explain the behavior of hives and of sterile individuals in a species?

2) Why does Dawkins discuss hive behavior and the behavior of insects? Why does he only devote a part of a chapter to this discussion?

3) How much variation is there in insect behavior? How much variation is there between insect behavior and other types of animal organisms? How does this variation affect Dawkins' ideas?

Essay Topic 3

Discuss aggression within a species in Dawkins' book.

1) Why does Dawkins raise the question of cannibalism as a potentially viable food source for species, and what are his conclusions about the question?

2) How does Dawkins analyze aggression between members of a species? Are his arguments convincing?

3) What various personality types does Dawkins identify in regard to aggression? How simplified is this model compared to the natural world?

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