Deck 13: Antipredator Behavior

Question 1

A predatory bird that eats a monarch butterfly is likely to

A) die.
B) experience severe vomiting.
C) immediately begin a search for another monarch butterfly to eat.
D) meet its protein requirement for that day.

Answer 1

experience severe vomiting.

Question 2

Most forms of animal camouflage, e.g., matching background colors, masquerade, etc., were described more than a century ago.

A) Direct experimental evidence supporting their function as antipredator devices has been rather limited, but the topic is now being studied more intensively.
B) Direct experimental studies have proven extremely difficult to design, so evidence for their antipredator function has remained indirect.
C) Large numbers of experimental studies supporting their function as antipredator devices were performed early on, but the homogeneity of the results has caused a recent decline in such research.
D) The number of experimental studies supporting their function as antipredator devices likewise been extensive.

Answer 2

Direct experimental evidence supporting their function as antipredator devices has been rather limited, but the topic is now being studied more intensively.

Question 3

John Endler's (1978) definition of an animal's ability to match background color as resulting from the animal's resemblance to a random sample of the visual background provides us with

A) a way to quantify the similarity between prey coloration and its background.
B) the answer to questions regarding the function of the coloration.
C) the most successful definition yet suggested.
D) all of the above.

Answer 3

a way to quantify the similarity between prey coloration and its background.

Question 4

Merilaita and Lind (2005) used artificial prey and an artificial background, but real avian predators, to test the hypothesis that background matching is maximized when coloration visually matches a random sample of the background. They used two types of prey patterns as experimental stimuli, one type judged difficult to detect and another type judged easy to detect. Prior to the actual experiment, "ease of detection" for the two prey types was judged by

A) a computer program.
B) birds.
C) both humans and birds.
D) humans.

Question 5

Research evidence suggests that background matching is comprised of

A) active selection of an appropriately colored background.
B) exhibition of a specific, appropriate behavior.
C) possession of an appropriate body color or pattern.
D) all of the above.

Question 6

Feltmate and Williams (1989) allowed stone nymphs (insects that are dark brown to black in color) an opportunity to settle on either a dark brown or a light gray piece of tile in their aquarium.

A) When the aquarium was dark, the nymphs displayed no preference between the tiles.
B) When the aquarium was dark, the nymphs preferred to settle on the dark brown tile.
C) When the aquarium was lighted, the nymphs displayed no preference between the tiles.
D) When the aquarium was lighted, the nymphs preferred to settle on the light gray tile.

Question 7

Animals that employ background matching are camouflaged in some habitats but not in others. Such animals are

A) likely to employ a back-up system of defense, such as the incorporation of noxious tasting toxins.
B) most at liberty to move about.
C) nearly always nocturnal.
D) often restricted to those particular areas where they are best concealed.

Question 8

The cephalopod mollusks known as cuttlefish

A) are transparent.
B) change their color and pattern depending on the background.
C) masquerade as a piece of seaweed.
D) possess countershading.

Question 9

Sometimes background matching is not sufficient to prevent prey from being seen by predators because they can be recognized by their body outline. Some animals attempt to break up their body outline by

A) being very fast moving.
B) developing bizarre projections.
C) having a small body size.
D) possessing only very subtle color patterns.

Question 10

Cuthill and colleagues (2005) conducted a field study designed to test hypotheses about the concealment effectiveness of different types of disruptive coloration. They expected all three of their different types of treatment stimuli to be equally camouflaged from the standpoint of background matching because

A) all of the prey items within each treatment type were of a single, monochromatic color, chosen from photographs of tree bark.
B) all of the stimulus prey types contained actual meal worms.
C) all three prey treatments were brown and black and had patterns derived from photographs of tree bark.
D) the same markings were used both on the edges of the wings and inside the wings of all types of the artificial prey.

Question 11

Cuthill and colleagues (2005) conducted a field study designed to test hypotheses about the concealment effectiveness of different types of disruptive coloration. They found that the artificial prey types with the highest probability of survival after 1400 minutes were the ones in the

A) edge, high contrast group.
B) edge, low contrast group.
C) inside, high contrast group.
D) inside, low contrast group.

Question 12

The fact that many animals have dark backs and light bellies is referred to as _____ and is proposed to achieve camouflage by means of _____.

A) countershading; self-shadow concealment.
B) disruptive coloration; high contrast concealment.
C) transparency; invisibility.
D) any of the above.

Question 13

Braude and colleagues (2001) studied the behavior of naked mole-rats both in captivity and in the field and found that most-but not all-naked mole rats are countershaded, with only queens, the small number of breeding males, newborns, and very old animals being completely pink. Taken together, their data were most consistent with the idea that the countershading is related to

A) camouflage.
B) protection from skin abrasions.
C) protection from ultraviolet light.
D) thermoregulation.

Question 14

Masquerade, as a form of camouflage, differs from the other forms because the prey may be detected but deemed inedible by predators. A particularly common disguise adopted by a variety of species is to resemble

A) flowers.
B) leaves.
C) rocks.
D) water.

Question 15

Endler (1978) found that among wild populations of guppies (Peocilia reticulata), when predation pressure is low, the males shift to

A) increases in diversity of colors and patterns.
B) less conspicuous colors.
C) reductions in the number of spots.
D) reductions in the size of spots.

Question 16

Predators sometimes develop a search image, a heightened ability to detect a prey species, rendering background matching a less than completely successful camouflage strategy. Some prey species have developed ways to get around the problem of search images by having individuals within the prey species

A) assume more conspicuous coloration.
B) disperse.
C) occur at widely spaced locations.
D) all of the above.

Question 17

A species in which individuals occur in a variety of shapes and/or colors is exhibiting

A) Batesian mimicry.
B) Mullerian mimicry.
C) polymorphism.
D) warning coloration.

Question 18

Kiltie (1989) examined approximately 2000 museum specimens of fox squirrels, described as the most variable in color of all mammals in North America, and determined the percentage of dorsal black for each of the skins. He found that the incidence of melanistic individuals is correlated with the ______ over the total range of the squirrel.

A) annual rainfall
B) average temperature
C) frequency of hailstorms
D) frequency of wildfires

Question 19

If two morphs are equally camouflaged in a given environment, but one is common and the other is rare, which will have a selective advantage?

A) It depends on the nature of the background coloration.
B) Neither. Both morphs should experience an equivalent selection ratio.
C) The common morph.
D) The rare morph.

Question 20

Many prey animals that have dangerous or unpleasant attributes

A) develop cryptic coloration.
B) disperse thinly over their range.
C) have bright colors and contrasting patterns.
D) have distinctive vocalizations that can be heard from long distances.

Question 21

Monarch butterflies, dendrobatid frogs, and some social wasps are examples of animals that

A) are very brightly colored.
B) display aposematic coloration.
C) possess significant toxins within their bodies.
D) all of the above.

Question 22

Animals with warning coloration often enhance their visual conspicuousness behaviorally by

A) being active during the daytime.
B) being very slow moving, so they can be seen easily.
C) moving about their ranges individually.
D) all of the above.

Question 23

Terrick and colleagues (1995) offered garter snakes (Thamnophis radix) fish presented on aposematically colored forceps or fish presented on nonaposematically colored forceps. The snakes were then injected with lithium chloride, which made them ill. The snakes that had been offered fish on aposematically colored forceps had a much longer-lasting aversion to fish than those that had been offered fish on the nonaposematically colored forceps. This suggests that the response of at least some predators to aposematic coloration may be

A) innate.
B) instantaneous.
C) largely based on the olfactory system.
D) learned.

Question 24

A palatable species that has adopted the warning characteristics of a noxious or harmful species is exhibiting

A) Batesian mimicry.
B) countershading.
C) Mullerian mimicry.
D) polymorphism.

Question 25

Mimics practicing Batesian mimicry tend to fare better when

A) mimics and models are encountered simultaneously.
B) predators don't have particularly good memories.
C) the mimic is plentiful, but the model is rare.
D) the model is extremely distasteful.

Question 26

Which of the following types of mimicry does NOT occur in nature?

A) Imitation of an aversive species by an innocuous one.
B) Imitation of an innocuous species by an aversive one.
C) Mimicry in which two or more distasteful species resemble one another.
D) Mimicry in which markings mimic the appearance of vertebrates' eyes.

Question 27

Reimchen (1989) first described a system of Batesian mimicry involving the juvenile stage of a snail and the tubes of a polychaete worm, where, overall, white-spiral snails (rather than yellow or brown, and which are virtually indistinguishable from the tubes of a polychaete worm) suffered the lowest number of attacks and the reduction in attacks was greater on fronds with polychaete tubes (9.4%) than on fronds devoid of tubes (22.9%). This type of mimicry appears to offer a protective advantage to the snail because the

A) polychaete tubes are difficult for the predator fish to remove from the substrate.
B) polychaete tubes are noxious to the predator fish.
C) tubes of the polychaetes are always occupied once the predator fish manage to remove them.
D) tubes of the polychaetes are highly toxic to predator fish.

Question 28

Once a prey animal has been discovered and attack appears imminent, which of the following is likely to be of LEAST use?

A) a false head.
B) autotomy.
C) disruptive coloration.
D) feigning death.

Question 29

An individual with a false head

A) can reinforce the illusion behaviorally.
B) can sometimes misdirect the attacks of predators.
C) has it at a safe distance from its true head.
D) all of the above.

Question 30

The ability to break off a body part when attacked is called

A) autotomy.
B) Batesian mimicry.
C) feigning injury.
D) polymorphism.

Question 31

Dial and Fitzpatrick (1983) staged encounters between a feral cat and two species of lizard, for each of which autotomy was induced by the experimenters. In some instances, the cat attacked the autotomized tail rather than the lizard allowing the lizard to escape; in others, the cat ignored the tail and attacked and captured the lizard. The primary difference between the two situations appears to have been

A) high levels of toxins that had been sequestered in the tail.
B) the fact that the lizards that escaped also possessed highly functional false heads.
C) vigorous postautotomous movement in the tails of the lizards that escaped.
D) all of the above.

Question 32

Burghardt and Greene (1988) monitored the recovery times following feigning death in newborn hognose snakes and found that the snakes took longer to recover than a control condition under which of the following conditions?

A) in the presence of a human who was staring directly at the snake.
B) in the presence of a human whose eyes were averted.
C) in the presence of a stuffed screech owl.
D) all of the above.

Question 33

The peacock butterfly (Inachis io), when disturbed, flicks open its wings while emitting a hissing sound. The wing flicking serves to expose

A) a false head.
B) bright, aposematic coloration.
C) four large eyespots.
D) small hooks on the wings that serve as weapons.

Question 34

The assassin bug, the bombardier beetle, the skunk, and the Texas horned lizard are similar in that they all make use of _____ when confronted with a predator.

A) autotomy.
B) chemical repellents.
C) enhancement of body size.
D) eyespots.

Question 35

Harrassing displays by prey animals that involve repeated approaches to the predator, accompanied by visual (and possibly auditory) components, are more likely to be directed at a

A) coursing predator.
B) human predator.
C) sit-and-wait predator.
D) stalking predator.

Question 36

Stotting, a behavioral display with many hypothesized functions, is most likely to be performed by

A) antelope.
B) butterflies.
C) lizards.
D) spiders.

Question 37

Antipredator tools such as alarm signals or improved predator detection are of benefit

A) only to family-based groups.
B) only to groups with relatively permanent members.
C) to individual animals dispersed widely throughout their habitat.
D) to mixed species groups.

Question 38

A tendency for predators to aggregate in areas where prey are abundant, and the presence of parasitoids and pathogens in large social groups may serve to weaken the antipredator benefit of

A) alarm signaling.
B) mobbing.
C) pronouncements of vigilance.
D) the dilution effect.

Question 39

The antipredator mechanism referred to as the "selfish herd" (Hamilton, 1971) emphasizes that

A) a group of animals will coordinate their escape efforts.
B) it is always best to be in the center of the group.
C) the group is actually composed of selfish individuals.
D) the number of individuals in the group is more important than their spatial arrangement.

Question 40

Sometimes prey directly attack predators, a strategy that typically involves visual and vocal displays, as well as swoops, runs, and direct hits on the predator. This technique is referred to as

A) mobbing.
B) improved detection.
C) pronouncement of vigilance.
D) the confusion effect.

Question 41

Antipredator behavior

A) has a low cost to benefit ratio.
B) is a significant drain on the energies of animals living in captivity.
C) is likely to decline if a local predator becomes extinct.
D) will be maintained at a high level even if threat of predation is removed.