T1: Introduction* done

Question 1

What can we study about social behavior?

Answer 1

-evolution
-mechanisms
-relationship with other disciplines
-impact, implications for the animals
-increased urbanization
-changing agricultural practices
-harvesting of natural commodities
-changing environments and ag practices

Question 2

How can we evaluate these ideas?

Answer 2

• genetics
• ethology
• ecology
  -physiology
  -reproduction
  -nutrition
  -endocrinology

all presented from the perspective of social behavior

Question 3

What are the classifications of birds?

Answer 3

• warm-blooded egg-laying vertebrates having the body feathered and the forelimbs modified to form wings
  -two legs with scales for walking or perching

Question 4

What are the two types of feathers and the difference between the two?

Answer 4

1. contour feathers: provide lifting force and balance needed for flight; flight feathers if they extend beyond the body
2. down feathers: trap air close to the body to keep birds warm

Question 5

What is the classification of mammals?

Answer 5

any class of warm-blooded higher vertebrate animals which nourish their young with milk secreted by mammary glands
- bear live young
- important endothermic features: hair, skin glands,

Question 6

What are the three types of mammals

Answer 6

1. Subclass Prototheria: (egg layers)
   - monotremes: echidna and platypus
2. Subclass Theria (livebearers)
   - infraclass Metatheria (marsupials): their young are born in an extremely immature state

-infraclass Eutheria (placentals): their young are born in an advance state

Question 7

What are the characteristics of reproduction for mammals?

Answer 7

monotremes: Lay eggs; cloaca

marsupials: bear live young; develop in pouch

placental mammals: nutrients, oxygen, carbon diozide and wastes exchanged through placenta

Question 8

What is a unique characteristic of marsupials

Answer 8

eggs are shed into a lateral vagina and the male often has a two-lobed penis
- true placenta of other mammals is missing

Question 9

What are the characteristics of monotremes like echidna/ spiny anteater?

Answer 9

-echidnas have a pouch
-“milk patches”
- males have a real spur but it is nonfunctional in terms of venom injection

Question 10

What are the characteristics of the monotreme, platypus?

Answer 10

• rubbery, pliable bill
  -no pouch: mother’s fur around ventral openings of the mammary glands
  -male spur: venom can be lethal to small animals

Question 11

What are the characteristics of livebearers, marsupials?

Answer 11

-marsupials, young are born at an extremely young physiological age and are then nurtured in a pouch

Question 12

What are the types of marsupials

Answer 12

• reg kangaroo; the biggest
• long-tailed planigale; the smallest

the only marsupial in North America is the Virginia opossum

Short-tailed opossum: (South America) lacks a pouch

Question 13

What is animal social behavior

Answer 13

the suite of interactions that occue between two or more individual animals, usually the same species

-form simple aggregations, cooperate and dispute over territory/access to mates

Question 14

Social behavior is defined by..

Answer 14

interaction, not by how organisms are distributed in space

Question 15

What are two examples of social behavior

Answer 15

female moth: pheromones to attract mates

red deer: rutting to signal dominance to keep other males away

Question 16

Define the social part of animal behavior

Answer 16

social, often connotes amicable interaction, but competition frequently occurs

Question 17

The modern view of social behavior ..

Answer 17

it is a product of the competing interests of the individuals involved

Question 18

examples of individuals evolving with selfish behavior

Answer 18

evolutionary game theory (John Maynard Smith) and the selfish gene (Richard Dawkins)

Question 19

What is the definition of social behavior with societies

Answer 19

a delicate balance of cooperative and competitive behaviors is expected to characterized animal societies

Question 20

what are the social benefits of living

Answer 20

1. defense against predators
2. improved efficiency of foraging
3. Subordinates may live with big group
4. some males may cuckold others
5. opportunity to increase reproductive ability

Question 21

What are the costs of social living

Answer 21

1. eye catching
2. transmission of diseases, parasites
3. competition for food
4. subordinate members
5. male vulnerability to cuckoldry
6. female vulnerability to egg tossing, dumping

Question 22

What are the three symbiosis types/ social interactions

Answer 22

1. Mutualistic: both groups/individuals benefit
2. Commensal: one group/individual benefits, the other is neutral
3. Parasitic: one group/individual benefits at the expense of the other group

Question 23

Can microbes encourage altruism?

Answer 23

Turicibacter sanguinis and Clostridium in a healthy colon drive intestinal cells to produce the NT serotonin

serotonin affects the intestinal muscle tone; relieve symptoms of anxiety and depression

this might in principle be a way for intestinal parasite to influence a host’s GI motlility and function/ mental state

Question 24

What is altruism?

Answer 24

refers to the behavior by an individual that increases the fitness of another individual while decreasing the fitness of the actor

• selfless concern for the welfare of others
• the motivation to help others without reward

“the selfless gene” Olivia Judson

“do animals feel empathy” Frans de Waal