unit 3 KA6 - social behaviour Flashcards
what are social behaviours that are adapred to group living?
- social hierarchy
- co-operative hunting
- social defence
what is meant by social hierarchy
a rank order within a group of animals consisting of dominant and subordinate members. in a social hierarchy, dominant individuals carry out ritualistic (threat) displays whilst subordinate animals carry out appeasement behaviour to reduce conflict
what do social hierarchies increase the chances of?
the dominant animal’s favourable genes being passed on to offspring.
why may animals form alliances in social hierarchies?
to increase their social status within the group
why is cooperative hunting beneficial
- it may benefit subordinate animals as well as dominant ones as they may gain more food than by foraging alone
- less energy is used per individual
- enables larger prey to be caught and increases the chances of success
why is cooperative hunting good for increasing food findings?
less energy is used per individual
why do social defence strategies increase the chance of survival?
some individuals can watch for predators whilst others can forage for food
what may groups do if their young are at risk?
adopt specialised formations when under attack to protect them
what is altruistic behaviour
unselfish behaviour that is detrimental to the donor and beneficial to the recipient
when is behaviour that appears to be altruistic most common
between a donor and a recipient who are related (kin)
what is reciprocal altruism
this is where the roles of the donor and the recipient later reverse. this often occurs in social animals
how does the donor benefit in kin selection
they benefit in terms of the increases chances of survival of shared genes in the recipient’s offspring or future offspring
what are examples of social insects
- bees
- wasps
- ants
- termites
which members of a social insect society contribute reproductively in terms of bees
queens and drones
what are most members of the bee colony
they are sterile workers who cooperate with close relatives to raise relatives
what are example of worker bee roles
- defending the hive
- collecting pollen
- carrying out waggle dances to show the direction of food
why do sterile workers raise relatives
to increase the survival of shared genes
what is kin selection
this is when individuals reduce their net lifetime production of offspring in order to help their relatives reproduce
why do primates have a long period of parental care
to allow learning of complex social behaviour
why is complex social behaviour important
it supports the social hierarchy
how is conflict reduced in primate social hierarchies
- ritualistic display
- appeasement behaviour
what are appeasement behaviour examples
- grooming
- facial expression
- body posture
- sexual presentation
how are alliances that are formed between the individuals used
to increase social status within the group
what is a primate
primates are a group os placental mammals, further defined as possessing dextrous hands and feet, opposable thumbs, stereoscopic vision and a highly developed brain
what are examples of primates
- humans
- chimpanzees
- gorillas
- lemurs
what is involved in parental care of primates
- feeding them
- keeping them clean
- keeping them warm/cool
- transporting them
why do higher animals go to great lengths to reduce conflict in the primate social hierarchies
because fighting could result in the death of one primate and the serious injury of the other
