You observe scrub jays hiding food and notice that one particular individual only pretends to hide food. Your experiments associate the presence of other siblings with the frequency of pretending to cache food. A colleague shows you animals of the same species that do not perform this pretend caching. How does this information affect your conclusions about this behaviour?
A) It suggests that your experimental design is flawed.
B) It prevents you from making conclusions.
C) It suggests that this behaviour might be learned.
D) It does not affect anything.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The presence of animals of the same species that do not perform this behavior suggests that the behavior may be learned rather than inherent to the species. This would affect the conclusions that can be drawn about the behavior and may require further investigation to determine the factors influencing its occurrence.

You Observe Scrub Jays Hiding Food and Notice That One