CHAPTER 6 - Attack and Defense

Question 1

Weapons like horns and spikes, beyond their usefulness in defending prey when attacked, are also

Answer 1

deterrents.They discourage predators from choosing to attack in the first place.

Question 2

Crypsis is the ability of an animal

Answer 2

avoid detection, and cryptic adaptations include camouflage color patterns, hiding behaviors, and odor-masking chemicals.

Question 3

Finite element analysis

Answer 3

is a technique that has been used by paleontologist to help evaluate hypotheses about the functions of many dinosaur adaptations. Finite element analyses are computer simulations that apply set material properties to a digital object and that report data on how stresses are dispersed through the object, when a force is applied at a particular point.

Question 4

Stereoscopic vision allows

Answer 4

an animal to see the same object with both eyes, and thus to see it from two slightly different angles, which improves the animal’s ability to judge depth.

Question 5

Fighting and aggressive displays between members of the same species are called

Answer 5

agonistic behaviors

Question 6

ritualized agonistic combat

Answer 6

determines which of two individuals is the strongest without either combatant risking serious injury

Question 7

Monospecific bonebeds

Answer 7

are large accumulations of fossil bones that are all from multiple individuals of the same species.

Question 8

Generally speaking, the more lines of evidence you can find to support a given hypothesis about dinosaur behaviour…

Answer 8

the more confident we can be in our conclusions about that behaviour.