Behaviour

Question 1

What is the difference between innate and learned behaviour?

Answer 1

innate = based on genetic components, full response at first attempt

learned = based on environmental and experimental components, changes based on current stimuli

Question 2

What experiment did Tinbergen run to test innate behaviour?

Answer 2

• Fixed Action Pattern experiment
• stickleback fish
• tested response to red stimuli (competition cue)

Question 3

What can the gene EGR-1 code for?

Answer 3

• cichlid male dominance
• song recognition in zebra finch
• mothering behaviour in rats

Question 4

What is the plant nervous system like?

Answer 4

• neuronal proteins instead of neurons
• reacts to stimuli
• flow of calcium triggers responses

Question 5

What prehistoric species have shown evidence of the earliest chordate brains?

Answer 5

Haikouichthys and Pikaia

Question 6

What parts of the brain are enlarged for the following animal groups:

a) birds
b) dogs

Answer 6

a) birds = optic tectum (vision)
b) dogs = olfactory bulb (scent)

Question 7

What did Alex Taylor’s experiment with New Caledonian crows find?

Answer 7

crows are capable of using tools to get food out of a trapped container

Question 8

What are some benefits of group living?

Answer 8

• reduced individual risk of parasites
• predator dilution
• increased foraging/hunting success

Question 9

What is eusociality?

Answer 9

when the vast population is non-reproductive and helps to raise the offspring of a dominant individual/pairing

Question 10

What is haplodiploidy?

Answer 10

system where females are produced through sexual reproduction and males are produced asexually, so the relatedness is inequal

Question 11

What process allows for learning?

Answer 11

synaptic plasticity (ability for dendrites/nerves to change over time)

Question 12

Who coined the phrase “survival of the fittest”?

Answer 12

Herbert Spencer