Module #16 Test

Question 1

Down feathers

Answer 1

Feathers with smooth barbules but no hooked barbules

Question 2

Contour feathers

Answer 2

Feathers with hooked and smooth barbules, allowing the barbules to interlock

Question 3

Placenta

Answer 3

A structure that allows an embryo to be nourished with the mother’s blood supply

Question 4

Gestation

Answer 4

The period of time during which an embryo develops before being born

Question 5

Mammary glands

Answer 5

Specialized organs in mammals that produce milk to nourish the young

Question 6

Animal behavior

Answer 6

Any response an animal makes to changes in its environment

Question 7

Innate behavior

Answer 7

Inherited behavior performed correctly by all members of a species, without previous experience

Question 8

Learned behavior

Answer 8

A change in behavior resulting from experience; it is not inherited

Question 9

Fixed action pattern (FAP)

Answer 9

Innate behavior, triggered by a stimulus, occurring as an unchangeable sequence of actions that continues uninterrupted until completed

Question 10

Habituation

Answer 10

A learned behavior in which an animal learns not to respond to a repeated stimulus that conveys little or no important information

Question 11

Imprinting

Answer 11

A usually irreversible type of learning limited to a specific time period in an animal’s life

Question 12

Conditioning

Answer 12

A type of learning in which a stimulus or response is linked to a reward or punishment

Question 13

State the six characteristics that set birds apart from other vertebrates

Answer 13

1: Endothermic

#2: Heart with four chambers
#3: Toothless bill
#4: Oviparous, laying an amniotic egg that is covered in a lime-containing shell
#5: Covered with feathers
#6: Skeleton composed of porous, lightweight bones (not all birds)

Question 14

Do all birds fly? Give example if the answer is no?

Answer 14

No. Penguins are an example of flightless birds

Question 15

A blood sample comes from the ventricle of an animal that is either an amphibian or a bird. How can you tell which?

Answer 15

If the blood sample has a mixture of oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood, it comes from an amphibian. If it has only one or the other, it comes from a bird. (Bird has four-chambered heart, so the blood does not mix)

Question 16

Which has a harder shell: the egg of a reptile or the egg of a bird?

Answer 16

A bird egg’s shell is harder, because it contains lime

Question 17

You see some barbs from a feather. You have no idea whether they came from a down feather or a contour feather. Looking at the barbs under the microscope, however, you see that there are no hooked barbules. What kind of feather is it?

Answer 17

Down feathers have no hooked barbules

Question 18

What type of feather (down or contour) is used for flight? What kind is used for insulation?

Answer 18

Contour feathers are used for flight, while down feather are used for insulation

Question 19

What is a bird actually doing when it is preening?

Answer 19

Oiling its feathers. They need to be oiled to keep the hooked barbules sliding freely along the smooth barbules and to keep the feather essentially waterproof

Question 20

What is unique about a bird’s method of molting?

Answer 20

A bird’s feathers molt in pairs.

Question 21

What three things (at least) did flight engineers have to learn from birds to make flight possible?

Answer 21

Flight engineers learned the proper structure of a wing from birds. They also learned how to make strong, hollow tubes from studying bird bones. Finally, they learned how to reduce wing turbulence from birds

Question 22

Which is heavier, a bird’s bone or the same size bone from an amphibian?

Answer 22

The amphibian’s bone is heavier because birds have air-filled cavities that make their bones lighter than other vertebrates’ bones

Question 23

State the five characteristics that set mammals apart from other vertebrates

Answer 23

1: Hair covering

#2: Reproduce with internal fertilization and usually viviparous
#3: Nourish their young with milk secreted from specialized glands
#4: Four-chambered heart
#5: Endothermic

Question 24

What is the principal function of under hair?

Answer 24

Insulation

Question 25

What do we usually see when we look at a mammal, under hair or guard hair?

Answer 25

We usually see the mammal’s guard hair

Question 26

Name a non placental mammal

Answer 26

Any monotreme or marsupial is non-placental.

Duck-billed platypuses, echidnas, spiny anteaters, kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, opossums

Question 27

What is the main difference between offspring born after a long gestation period and offspring born after a short gestation period

Answer 27

Offspring born after a long gestation period are more developed than those born after a short gestation period

Question 28

Compare and contrast innate and learned behaviors

Answer 28

Innate behaviors are correctly performed by all members of a species the very first time, no learning required. Learned behaviors are based on experience

Question 29

What are the types of learned behavior?

Answer 29

Habituation, imprinting, and conditioning

Question 30

Ants remove dead ants from the anthill. A researcher painted a live ant with a chemical from a dead any, and the other ants carry it out kicking and struggling. When the painted ant returns to the anthill, other ants carry it out again. What best explains the behavior of the group of ants toward the painted ant?

Answer 30

The chemical from the dead ant that was painted on the live one must trigger a fixed action pattern

Question 31

What is one hypothesis that could explain how a dominance hierarchy benefits the animals in a social group?

Answer 31

Individual animals can spend more time and energy on finding food and raising young

Question 32

What are rhythmic patterns of behavior? Give two example

Answer 32

Rhythmic patterns of behavior are behaviors that are repeated.

Sleeping and waking times are based on circadian rhythms

Seasonal behaviors such as migration also repeat based on external signals (temperature/day length)

Question 33

Starlings usually fly in a loose formation, but if a predatory bird flies above them, the starlings form a tight flock. Predatory birds rarely attack flocks of birds. Should you consider the behavior of the starling to be cooperation?

Answer 33

Yes, flocking behavior should be considered cooperation. Similar to the ring formation of the musk oxen, by forming a flock when predators are present, the starlings work together to benefit the whole group