Question 1

We group animal strategies for finding their way between home and a goal into three levels of ability: piloting, compass orientation, and true navigation. Which of them makes the greatest use of familiar landmarks?
A) compass orientation
B) piloting
C) true navigation
D) all three, i.e., they all make use of landmarks to a similar extent.

Accepted Answer

Piloting involves the use of familiar landmarks to navigate from one place to another, making it the strategy that makes the greatest use of landmarks.

Question 2

A member of a migratory species of bird is displaced to a distant location and then released. If it continues in the same direction in which it had originally been traveling it is displaying use of
A) compass orientation.
B) magnetoreception.
C) piloting.
D) true navigation.

Accepted Answer

Compass orientation allows an animal to maintain a consistent direction using environmental cues such as the sun, stars, or Earth's magnetic field, but does not involve the ability to determine its precise location or adjust its course based on a specific destination.

Question 3

Most first time migrant birds reach their destination without knowing where that goal is located. To do this they may make use of an innate process called vector navigation. Evidence supporting the idea of vector navigation is the finding that
A) cross-bred members of two populations that had very different migratory directions produced offspring that failed to reflect the migratory direction of either parent population.
B) individual birds held in the laboratory continue to flutter in their characteristic migratory direction even after their counterparts in the wild have completed their migratory journey.
C) individual birds held in the laboratory flutter in the direction in which they would be flying if they were free.
D) individual birds held in the laboratory maintain their original course of direction, even when free-flying members of their population have changed direction.

Accepted Answer

Evidence supporting vector navigation is shown when birds in captivity still exhibit the innate behavior of fluttering in the direction they would naturally migrate, indicating an internal, possibly genetic, mechanism guiding their direction without the need for prior experience or learning from others.

Question 4

Wittlinger and colleagues (2007) experimentally manipulated the length of the legs of desert ants (Cataglyphis bicolor), shortening some and lengthening others. This was done to test the ants' ability to use stride length to determine
A) the degree to which wind resistance has displaced their travel.
B) the distance they have traveled on their outward route from the nest.
C) the way back to their nest, even if they are experimentally displaced just as they begin their return home.
D) their direction on their outward route from the nest.

Accepted Answer

Wittlinger and colleagues' experiment aimed to understand how desert ants estimate the distance they have traveled. By altering the ants' leg lengths, they could observe changes in the ants' ability to gauge the distance back to their nest, demonstrating that ants use stride length as a key factor in their navigation system.

Question 5

If an animal displays the ability to maintain reference to a goal that it cannot sense directly at the time, regardless of its location, without the use of landmarks, it is displaying
A) compass orientation.
B) magnetoreception.
C) piloting.
D) true navigation.

Accepted Answer

True navigation, also known as map and compass navigation, allows an animal to locate a specific location or direction without the need for visible landmarks, by integrating both its position relative to the goal and its compass direction, even when the goal is not directly perceivable.

Question 6

True navigation has been found in
A) mammals, but no other taxonomic groups.
B) nearly all species.
C) only a few species.
D) only a single species.

Accepted Answer

True navigation, which involves the ability to determine one's position relative to a destination without relying on familiar landmarks, has been found in only a few species, such as certain birds and sea turtles.

Question 7

If you are thinking, "Go down this road until I get to the house with the white fence, turn right and go that way until I get to the intersection with the convenience store, then turn left and travel to the fifth house on the right," you are getting home by means of
A) a back-up system of navigation.
B) dead reckoning.
C) landmark recognition.
D) path integration.

Accepted Answer

This thought process relies on recognizing specific landmarks (the house with the white fence, the convenience store) to navigate, which is characteristic of landmark recognition.

Question 8

Tinbergen and Krypt (1938) demonstrated that the digger wasp (Philanthus triangulum) relies on landmarks to relocate its nest after a foraging flight by placing a ring of 20 pine cones around the nest opening
A) after the wasp had left the nest to forage but before it returned.
B) and then removing half of the pine cones while the wasp was away.
C) and then removing them completely while the wasp was away.
D) before the wasp left the nest to forage, and then moving it a short distance before it returned.

Accepted Answer

Tinbergen and Krypt's experiment involved moving the landmarks (pine cones) a short distance while the wasp was away, demonstrating that the wasp used these landmarks to locate its nest.

Question 9

On average, the sun appears to move how many degrees per hour across the sky?
A) 5
B) 10
C) 15
D) 30

Accepted Answer

The Earth rotates 360 degrees every 24 hours, which averages to 15 degrees per hour. This is the apparent movement of the Sun across the sky due to Earth's rotation.

Question 10

Use of the sun for orientation is complicated by its apparent motion across the sky. Compensation for the sun's apparent motion is especially important for species that
A) are nocturnal.
B) lack a biological clock.
C) take frequent short trips during the course of the day.
D) travel away from home for prolonged periods.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Use of the sun for orientation is...

Question 11

Gustav Kramer was among the first to determine that birds migrating during the day use the sun as a navigational cue by noting that caged starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) oriented in the normal migratory direction
A) as long as the sun was visible.
B) but only when they were released to fly normally.
C) unless the "sun" was being produced by a mirror.
D) when sky was overcast.

Accepted Answer

Gustav Kramer's experiments demonstrated that caged starlings oriented in their normal migratory direction as long as the sun was visible, indicating that they use the sun as a navigational cue.

Question 12

The idea for a time-compensated sun compass began when Gustav Kramer found that, when the sun was replaced with a stationary light source, the birds
A) completely lost their ability to orient appropriately.
B) continually adjusted their orientation as though the artificial sun were moving.
C) maintained a constant orientation with respect to the stationary source.
D) oriented correctly during the spring but became disoriented in the fall.

Accepted Answer

Kramer observed that birds adjusted their orientation as if compensating for the perceived movement of the sun, indicating their use of a time-compensated sun compass for navigation.

Question 13

Birds have been placed on an artificial light-dark cycle in a laboratory that initially corresponds to the natural lighting conditions outside; the lights are on from 6:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. The light period is then shifted so that the lights come on at 9:00 a.m. In this case, the animal's body time would be set
A) at natural time. Their biological clocks are not fooled by the artificial lighting.
B) 3 hours earlier than real time.
C) 3 hours later than real time.
D) 6 hours later than real time.

Accepted Answer

The birds' biological clocks would adjust to the new lighting schedule, setting their body time 3 hours later than real time, as their day effectively starts later with the lights coming on at 9:00 a.m. instead of 6:00 a.m.

Question 14

Birds have been placed on an artificial light-dark cycle in a laboratory that initially corresponds to the natural lighting conditions outside; the lights are on from 6:00 a.m. to 6 p.m. The light period is then shifted so that the lights come on at 9:00 a.m. In this case, if the biological clock is used to compensate for the movement of the sun, orientation in these subjects should be off by
A) 15º
B) 30º
C) 45º
D) 90º

Accepted Answer

The answer of Birds have been placed on an artificial...

Question 15

We now know more details about time-compensated sun orientation.
A) A time compensated sun compass exists in only a few select species.
B) Even with exposure to only a partial sun arc, many animals develop a sun compass that can be used all day.
C) The internal clock of birds compensates for the daily variation in the rate of the sun's apparent movement (i.e., faster at sunrise or sunset than at noon).
D) The sun compass used by animals is quite robust, and does not interact with the star compass or the magnetic compass.

Accepted Answer

The answer of We now know more details about time-compensated...

Question 16

Franz and Eleonore Sauer demonstrated that, when placed inside a planetarium so that the nighttime sky could be controlled, sylviid warblers oriented themselves in the proper migratory direction for that time of year by taking their bearings from the
A) moon.
B) planets.
C) stars.
D) sun.

Accepted Answer

Sylviid warblers were shown to orient themselves using the stars when placed in a controlled environment like a planetarium, indicating their ability to navigate by celestial cues during migration.

Question 17

We know the most about the mechanism of star compass orientation in the indigo bunting (Passerine cyanea) through Stephen Emlen's systematic planetarium studies. These experiments indicate that the indigo bunting orients by relying on the region of the sky within 35º of
A) Aldebaran.
B) Betelgeuse.
C) Polaris.
D) Venus.

Accepted Answer

Indigo buntings orient by relying on the region of the sky within 35º of Polaris. Stephen Emlen's planetarium studies showed that these birds use the North Star as a point of reference for navigation during their nocturnal migrations.

Question 18

Stephen Emlen demonstrated that young indigo buntings (Passerine cyanea) have to learn where north is rather than being born with that information already programmed. He did that by having birds that would orient appropriately relative to the center of star rotation even though they had been reared in a planetarium with
A) the dome diffusely lit.
B) the stars held stationary relative to Polaris.
C) the stars in retrograde relative to Vega.
D) the stars rotating around Betelgeuse.

Accepted Answer

Emlen's experiment involved rearing indigo buntings in a planetarium where the stars rotated around Betelgeuse instead of the North Star, Polaris. The birds oriented themselves relative to this new center of rotation, demonstrating that they learned celestial navigation cues from their environment rather than inheriting them.

Question 19

Most light consists of a great many waves that are vibrating in all possible planes perpendicular to the direction in which the light is traveling. Such light is described as
A) fully polarized.
B) partially polarized.
C) radically polarized.
D) unpolarized.

Accepted Answer

Light consisting of waves vibrating in all possible planes perpendicular to its direction of travel is described as unpolarized. This is typical for light emitted by most common light sources, such as the sun or a light bulb, where the electromagnetic waves are randomly oriented.

Question 20

The plane of polarization of sunlight is always
A) at a 45º angle relative to the poles.
B) centered at the relevant pole.
C) parallel to the direction in which the light beam is traveling.
D) perpendicular to the direction in which the light beam is traveling.

Accepted Answer

Sunlight, like any other form of light, is an electromagnetic wave. The plane of polarization refers to the plane in which the electric field component of the electromagnetic wave oscillates. For a beam of light, this plane is always perpendicular to the direction in which the light is traveling. This is a fundamental property of transverse waves, which include all electromagnetic radiation such as sunlight.

Quiz 10: Mechanisms of Orientation and Behavior

We group animal strategies for finding their way between home and a goal into three levels of ability: piloting, compass orientation, and true navigation. Which of them makes the greatest use of familiar landmarks?

A member of a migratory species of bird is displaced to a distant location and then released. If it continues in the same direction in which it had originally been traveling it is displaying use of

Most first time migrant birds reach their destination without knowing where that goal is located. To do this they may make use of an innate process called vector navigation. Evidence supporting the idea of vector navigation is the finding that

Wittlinger and colleagues (2007) experimentally manipulated the length of the legs of desert ants (Cataglyphis bicolor) , shortening some and lengthening others. This was done to test the ants' ability to use stride length to determine

If an animal displays the ability to maintain reference to a goal that it cannot sense directly at the time, regardless of its location, without the use of landmarks, it is displaying

True navigation has been found in

If you are thinking, "Go down this road until I get to the house with the white fence, turn right and go that way until I get to the intersection with the convenience store, then turn left and travel to the fifth house on the right," you are getting home by means of

Tinbergen and Krypt (1938) demonstrated that the digger wasp (Philanthus triangulum) relies on landmarks to relocate its nest after a foraging flight by placing a ring of 20 pine cones around the nest opening

On average, the sun appears to move how many degrees per hour across the sky?

Use of the sun for orientation is complicated by its apparent motion across the sky. Compensation for the sun's apparent motion is especially important for species that

Gustav Kramer was among the first to determine that birds migrating during the day use the sun as a navigational cue by noting that caged starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) oriented in the normal migratory direction

The idea for a time-compensated sun compass began when Gustav Kramer found that, when the sun was replaced with a stationary light source, the birds

We now know more details about time-compensated sun orientation.

Franz and Eleonore Sauer demonstrated that, when placed inside a planetarium so that the nighttime sky could be controlled, sylviid warblers oriented themselves in the proper migratory direction for that time of year by taking their bearings from the

We know the most about the mechanism of star compass orientation in the indigo bunting (Passerine cyanea) through Stephen Emlen's systematic planetarium studies. These experiments indicate that the indigo bunting orients by relying on the region of the sky within 35º of

Most light consists of a great many waves that are vibrating in all possible planes perpendicular to the direction in which the light is traveling. Such light is described as

The plane of polarization of sunlight is always