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REVISION QUESTIONS ON BEHAVIOUR IN ANIMALS.

1. (a)With relevant examples, explain the meaning of each of the following forms of
behavior.
Behavior Meaning Examples
form
(i)Habituation Is a simplest form of -snail crossing the board withdraws into its shell
learning in which repeated on hitting the board strongly; repetition of this
exposure/subjecting an action, the snail ignores the stimulus.
organism to same stimulus -scare crow usually make birds avoid rice gardens
results in decreased for a few days but later become habituated to it;
response. with even landing on them when feeding.
-on touching the crown of tentacles of pea cock
worm, it jerks back into its tube; and on continuous
touching, the worm stops responding it.
-species of animals relying on alarm calls to convey
information about predators, stops giving alarm
calls once familiar with other species in their
environment that are not harmful.
-A police horse ignores the loud noise of traffic and
bustling crowd because it is habituated to noise as
part of training.
-Goat tied along road side ignoring passersby.
(ii)Imprinting Is a rapid form of learning; -Nestlings respond to their parents’ calls shortly
in which an animal shortly after birth.
after birth(hatching)/during -Newly hatched salmon learns the complex mixture
receptive/critical period of of odours associated with the stream in which they
life; recognizes and hatch.
establishes a long lasting -Goslings and ducklings become attached to a
response to a specific specific individual they interact with during their
individual(usually their critical period of life.
parents)/some large object
in its environment.
(iii)Instinctive A complex inborn -Nest hygiene behavior in bees; where when a bee
behavior stereotyped behavioral dies in a hive; a worker bee picks it up and carry it
pattern; characteristic of a out, essentially throwing it away;
species; occurring in -Hungry herring gull chicks peck repeatedly at the
response to a specific tip of a parent’s bill until the parent regurgitates
environmental stimulus; for food.
the first time an individual is -Newly hatched sea turtle on a beach; moves
exposed to that stimulus. automatically towards the ocean.
-Marsupials climb into its mother’s pouch upon
NB. Stereotyped implies being born.
same response is given to -Honey bees dance in the direction of a food source
same stimulus on different without formal instruction.
occasions; -A bird building a nest
-A spider spinning its web
-Human babies crying to express pain, distress,
and hunger; grasping response with hands by
human babies exploring the surrounding.
-Search for food by an animal in response to
hunger
(b) State the benefits of each of the above forms of behavior to animals.
(i) Habituation.
 Animals avoid wasting time; and energy; responding to harmless stimulus
that do not threaten their survival and reproduction;
 Filters large amounts of information from the environment; allowing animal’s nervous
system to focus on stimulus that signal food, mates, or real danger, beneficial for its
survival;

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ii) Imprinting.
 Allows migratory salmon fish trace their way back to fresh water streams
to spawn.
 Effective communication between parents and the young.
 Young rapidly acquire survival skills form their parents.
 Prevents breeding between different species.
 Allows the young animals avoid predators as they tend to avoid those not
imprinted to.
 Offers parental protection to the young during early stages of life. e.g.
shortly after birth, a mother goat is sensitive to the smell of its kid.
 Song development in birds.
iii) Instinctive behavior.
 Protection of the young
 Promotes survival of organisms having short life cycles; because it
provides the organism with readily made set of behavior response.
 Allows animals to fight to be in charge.
 Allows animals choose mates.
 Allows animals form groups for protection from danger.
2. (a) (i) Distinguish between territoriality and a territory as used in behavior.
Territoriality is the defense of an area of a habitat occupied by an animal or group of
animals from others of the same species; while a territory is an area of a habitat(portion
of a home range) that an animal or group of animals defend from others of the same species.
(ii) Give two examples of animals that commonly display territorial behavior.
Antelopes; agama lizard; birds; monkey; lions; dogs.
(b) Territoriality in most animal species is accompanied by acts of aggression or signals.
Outline how signals are used by different animal species in territoriality.
 Threat postures in male robins
 Croaking in toads;
 Roaring in bull alligators;
 Use of solid wastes in hippopotamuses;
 Urination in cats;
 Waving claws in fiddler crabs;
 Singing in many bird species;
 Release of pheromones in insects;
(c) What are the advantages and disadvantages of territorial behaviour?
Advantages
 Optimum utilization of the habitat, as it ensures that each mating pair of
organisms and their offspring are adequately spaced to receive a share of the
available resources e.g. food and breeding space.
 Actual fighting between organisms which would be detrimental to the species
is rare and replaced by mere threats, gestures and postures.
 Reduces over aggression between a community of the same species.
 Strengthens and maintains bond pairs by associating the animals within a
territory.
 Reduces spread of diseases as contact between animals within a territory and
outside population is reduced.
 Guarantees food to the young by keeping off all other animals that would feed
on it.
 Limits mating to only fit individuals; thus genes from the more fit individuals
are passed to the off springs; increasing on overall fitness of the population.
 Permits improved defense of nests, nestlings, and adults.
 Reduces intraspecific competition for available resources e.g. food and space.
 Associated with intraspecific competition; thus acting as a means of regulation
population size;

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Disadvantages
 Weak members fail to mate;
 Encourage less hybrid vigor by encouraging inbreeding;
 Associated with aggression and conflict;
 Territorial defense consumes time; and energy;
 Territorial defense interferes with breeding, courtship, mating and rearing of
young ones;
 Members guarding a territory are at risk of predation, when using visual or vocal
communication;
 Extra vigilance is required at certain time of the year e.g. breeding season;
 Difficult for smaller animals to hold territory i.e. more likely to be attacked than
animals;
3. (a) What is meant by the following;
(i) Learning
An adaptive change in an organism’s behaviour resulting from past experience;
(ii) Generalisation
Phenomenon in which an animal habituated to a particular stimulus, usually treats
another stimulus in the same way;
e.g. A horse habituated to one particular noise tends to habituate to a new noise more
quickly;
(b) Distinguish between learnt and instinctive behavior.

Learnt behavior Instinctive behavior

Acquired during an animal’s life time. Inborn /inherited and not acquired during an
animal’s life time
Easily and rapidly adapted to suit changing Fixed and not adaptable
circumstances
Vary considerably among different members Similar among members of the same species.
of the same species.
Intelligent; and the animal appreciates the Unintelligent; and there is no appreciation of
function of particular action functions of behavior
No fixed sequence of actions; i.e. completion of Fixed sequence of actions i.e. completion of one
one does not affect the one that follows triggers the next.
Short lived and temporary Permanent with minor modification
Ranges from simple taxes or imprinting to Same for all organisms
complex forms of intelligence and reasoning
(c) Outline two factors that influence instinctive behavior.
 Genetic control/ heredity;
 Interaction with the environment/environmental factors;
(d) Give two ways in which animals avoid predation.
 Mechanical protection e.g. shells in tortoise and snails; spines to prick predators e.g. porcupines.
 Group protection e.g. school of fish, herd of antelope, flock of birds.
 Visual protection e.g. mimicry, camouflage.
 Chemical defenses e.g. secretion of poisonous and repellant substances by scorpions, some
grasshoppers; caterpillars.
 Alarm signals and calls e.g. by small birds; mammals, various fish and ants.
 Development of high sense of sight or smell alerting the presence of predators.
 Production of high voltage discharge by cat fish that shock any predator that makes contact with
it.
 Puffing up and spreading of wings by pea cocks.
 Ability to run, fly and swim faster.
 Distraction displays e.g. autotomy/self-amputation; e.g. tail of lizard breaks to elude predators
or to distract the predators and thereby allowing escape.

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4. (a) Using examples distinguish between displacement activity and vacuum activity.
Displacement activity Vacuum activity
Is when an organism in stress or state of Is when an organism in stress or state of
frustration; e.g. during conflict situation or frustration performs a normal response but not
courtship and mating, perform an action trivial and directed towards the normal object.
irrelevant to the situation; (i). A girl jumping in air imagining netball
For example, (ii)A bird snaps at imaginary insects in the air to
(i). Fighting birds may suddenly press their just exercise instinctive action pattern.
feathers. (iii) A cock deprived of a mate displays to an
(ii). Fist clenching in humans inanimate object such as a bucket;
(iii). Fist banging (iv) Bird going through nest building even if there is
(iv)Nail biting no nest material available;
(v)Straightening clothes NB. Vaccum activity provides a means of
(vi)One of the pair birds involved in territorial reducing frustration.
conflict begin nest building activities e.g. pulling
grass.
(b)What is the importance of associative learning/conditioning.
Animals associate experience with reward or punishment; predators learn quickly to associate certain
kinds of prey with unpleasant taste or smell; consequently, they are conditioned to avoid them; thus
essential for survival of the predators as the prey may be poisonous;
(c) Distinguish between operant conditioning and classical conditioning
Operant conditioning/ trial and error Classical conditioning/conditioned
learning/instructional conditioning reflex/Pavlonian condtioning
Animal learns to associate a particular act with a Animal learns to associate a particular stimulus
reinforce with reinforcer /unconditioned stimulus
Animal behavior determines whether or not a Delivery of reward or punishment is controlled by
reward appears a person
Removal of cerebral cortex does not cause loss of Removal of cerebral cortex cause loss of response
response
Association is less easily removed Association is more easily removed
5. (a)Describe a type of behavior that appears to be a combination of genes and environment.
Instinctive/innate behavior; human babies are born with ability to speak; but the language spoken
depends on the environment in which they grow; for example, a Japanese baby grown in Japan will
speak Japanese but one raised by a German will learn German language;
(b) Suggest how instructional conditioning could be used in dog training.
Instructional conditioning could be used to reward; or punish specific behaviors of the dog. E.g. a dog
could be given a biscuit and each time it offered a paw to its owner/trainer; it would learn to perform this
behavior to receive biscuit.
6. (a) Define operant conditioning.
Is a form of associative learning; which through trial and error; an animal learns to associate one of its
own behaviors with a reward or punishment and then tends to repeat or avoid that behavior. E.g.
(i) cockroaches learning to run through a simple maze to find food. (ii) In the skinner’s box, a rat learning to
press a lever in order to obtain food.
(b). During an experimental trial, a cat was placed inside the puzzle box. If the cat pulled the loop with
its mouth or a paw, the door opened and it could escape. The time taken for the cat to escape was
recorded. The experiment was then repeated several times with the same cat. The figure below shows a
graph of the time taken for the cat to escape from the puzzle box during repeated trials. Study it
carefully and use it to the answer the questions that follow.
(i)Account for the changes in the time spent
by cat in box at different trial numbers.
Time spent by cat is highest at first trial;
because it had not learnt how to
escape/environment was new; and still so
complex;
Time spent in the box decreased as number
of trials increased; because of learning;
Time spent in the box rapidly decreases for
the first 6 trials; because greatest change in
response occurs; cat is highly motivated;
food(reward), appears; thus positive
reinforcement; improving performance;
From trials 6 to 20; time spent in the box decreases gradually; because it learnt rapidly to associate escape with the
reward; pools loop sooner due to ease to remember; sufficient acclimatization period; repetition enabled learning to
occur.
(ii). What evidence shown by the figure shows that learning took place?
Errors reduced with time; Time spent in the box decreases with increase in the number of trials;
(iii). State three factors that could affect the learning of a new situation like a puzzle box in animals.
 Size of rewards or punishments;
 State of brain development;
 State of development of sense organs;
 Complexity of the puzzle box;
(iv)How could the time needed by the cat to escape out of the puzzle box be reduced?
 Reducing the complexity of the puzzle box;
 Reducing the number of trials per day to enable learning;
 On making a wrong choice, it is punished;
 Giving food/rat meat at the end of right attempt;
(c)Discuss the characteristics of reflexes.
 Instinctive/innate(Unlearned);
 Carried out by all individuals in a species;
 Stereotyped/fixed (Responses to the same stimulus are always similar);
 Inborn; passed on from parent to off springs;
 Automatic, thus do not require learning/conscious thought;
 Conditioned;
 Can be modified, following exposure to new stimulus;
 rapid; and short lived;
 Many are protective;
(d) Distinguish between a reflex action and a Fixed action pattern.
In a reflex action, a particular stimulus evokes the same response; while in a fixed action pattern, response to a
particular stimulus can be modified by experience; or the precise conditions in which the stimulus is presented;
7.In a series of experiments on ducklings, the effectiveness of imprinting was measured at various times after
hatching. In each of these experiments, the ducklings had the opportunity to follow a model duck. The graph in
the figure below represents the percentage of ducklings at a particular age which followed the model.
Study it carefully and answer the questions that follow.

(a) State the conclusions that can be drawn from the

results shown in the graph above
Effectiveness of imprinting/percentage of ducks following
model is highest/peaks in ducklings 13-16hours after
hatching;
After 16hours from hatching, effectiveness of
imprinting/percentage of ducks following model,
decreases rapidly;
From 1 -12hours after hatching, effectiveness of
imprinting/percentage of ducks following model increases
gradually;
(b) Explain the change in the percentage of ducklings
that followed the model between 1-12hours after
hatching.
From 1 -12hours after hatching, effectiveness of
imprinting/percentage of ducks following model increases
gradually; because ducklings are particularly receptive to
stimuli/model duck; that cause imprinting for only a
shorter period after hatching;

(c)What would be the likely consequences on the ducklings hatched if no adult is available to be imprinted on?
Imprint on larger moving objects on first sight; and if it’s a predator; ducklings will be preyed upon; due to lack of
parental protection; and lack of survival skills passed to them by the adult;
Social dysfunctionality in adult life;
8. (a) What is meant by the term social behaviour?
Form of behaviour involving adaptive interactions between two or more animals of the same species;
Highly evidenced in animals that organize themselves into highly structured social groups, societies;
(b) Explain the advantages and disadvantages to animals of living in societies.
Advantages
 Better protection against predators; because some watch as others do other tasks;
 Increased feeding efficiency; due to group feeding/sharing of meals;
 Better use of and defence of limited resources; due to collective attack of enemies;
 Increased survival rates of offsprings ; through communal feeding and protection;
 Saving energy by endotherms especially the young by staying close together/huddling; e.g. penguins;
 Faster learning of the young; because the young are close to adults;
 Establishment of hierarchies increases chances of survival minimizing aggression;
 Enables individual do tasks; they could not do alone; e.g. building beehives;
 Greater success in catching larger preys; when hunting in groups than when alone;
 Increased reproductive (breeding)efficiency; only the fittest are allowed to breed leading to better quality
offspings;
 Saving energy by moving animals e.g. fish and birds; by taking advantage of whirling movements in water
and air created by other group members;
Disadvantages
 Increased intraspecific competition for water, space, food, mates and other resources;
 Increased susceptibility to diseases and parasites;
 Higher risks of predation on the young by cannibalistic neighbors;
 Higher risks of being harvested by humans e.g. the insects;
(c) The ability to communicate is an essential ingredient of social behaviour.
(i) With a suitable example in each case, give the different modes of animal communication.
Mode(mechanism) of
communication Example(s)
(i) Visual signals/displays; (i) Head up posture by the female stickle back fish initiating courtship;
Observed in animals during (ii) Threat postures e.g. standing erect, baring their teeth and snaring by
displays of aggressive wolves and dogs;
aggression(agonistic behavior) (iii) Red breasts in male Robins elicit threat in other males;
and during courtship preceding (iv) Appeasement display e.g. lowering tails and lying on backs by wolves
reproduction signaling submissiveness;
(ii) Tactile/Haptic; (i) Wolves greet the dominant male in the pack by licking his muzzle;
Involves physical (ii) Grooming in primates e.g. chimpanzees;
contact/touch among animals; (iii) Mother tiger lick and muzzle their babies;
occurs during social bonding, (iv) Holding, frequently cuddling and comforting the young by female
infant care, grooming and primates;
mating; (v) A nip(sharp bite or pinch) signaling playing;
(iii) Vocal/Acoustic/auditory (i) Songs of male birds provide for species recognition; a display to attract
Involves sounds; mates; and warning to other males of territorial boundaries;
Used over long distances, (ii) Calls of male frogs and male crickets ward off male rivals, attract
through water and at night; females; and function in species recognition;
(iii) Use of infrasound(below the audible range of humans) by herd of
related female elephants for greeting; and communicating danger;
(iv) Chemical (Olfactory and (i)Secretion of a chemical substance from the surface of body of unmated
taste); female cockroaches to stimulate males into courtship;
Chemicals elicit responses (ii) secretion of a pheromone by dead ant stimulating other ants to throw it
when they are either smelled out of the nest;
or tasted; (iii) Worker ants secrete a (releaser) pheromone to mark trails that guide
NB Chemical substances other workers to food;
secreted by one organism and (iv) Reproductively receptive female moths attract male moths by secreting
stimulates a physiological or (releaser) pheromone in the air;
behavioral response in (v) Queen bees secrete (primer) pheromone/ ‘queen substance’, oxodecanoic
another organism of the same acid from its mandibular glands smearing it over its body which when
species are called licked by workers; prevents building of queen cells to rear new queen;
pheromones; (vi)Spraying urine by many male mammals around borders of territory to
warn other animals of the same species to keep off;
 (ii) Outline three benefits and two disadvantages of pheromone communication.
Benefits
 Little energy is expended in synthesis of pheromones;
 Pheromones last for several hours/longer;
 Allows communication in the dark;
Disadvantages
 Limited information content;
 Slow transmission;
9. In an investigation on the ability of rats to learn the route of a maze, three groups of rats were treated as
follows.
Group A: Placed in a maze, given one pellet of food when it finds its way out.
Group B: Placed in a maze, given 16 pellets of food when it finds its way out.
Group C: Placed in a maze, given 50 pellets of food when it finds its way out.
Each rat in the three groups was put through the maze 20times, and the time taken for each rat to get
through the maze was measured and the mean speed for each group calculated.
The results are shown in the figure below. Study it carefully and answer the questions that follow.

(a) Describe one piece of evidence that

the rats were able to learn their way
through the maze.
The more times the rats navigated the
maze, the faster they got at finding their
way out;
(b) Explain the difference in the mean
speed of group C and group A rats.
Mean speed of group C rats is higher than
that of group A rats /group C rats were
faster in getting their way out of the maze
than group A rats throughout the 20
trials; because larger amounts of food
pellets/reward in group C rats increased

/reinforced their association of reward with movement through the maze than in group A rats/provided more
motivation than in group A rats;
(c) Suggest and explain the type learning behaviour demonstrated in the experiment above.
Operant conditioning/ trial and error learning/instructional conditioning/instrumental conditioning; trial motor
activities gave responses which were reinforced by a reward; association of the outcome of response in terms of
reward increased future responses; Associative learning efficiency increased with repetition/trials;
(d) Why is periodic reinforcement more preferable to continuous reinforcement during conditioning?
More effective than continuous reinforcement; as with continuous reinforcement, habituation occurs;
subsequently diminishing an operant response/extinction occurs;
10.(a) In the study of behaviour, outline three types of stimuli.
 Motivational stimuli;
 Releasing stimuli/ Releasers;
 Terminating stimuli;
(b) State two examples of each of the stimuli in (a) above.
Stimuli Examples
Motivational Are those determining (i) Depleted food stores in the body during hibernation results in
an animal’s state of responsiveness, awakening and food seeking;
by providing a drive for a behavioral (ii) Smell of food makes an animal more conscious of being hungry;
response)
Releasers(Are those which elicit (i) Herring gull chicks pecking at the red spot of the parent’s bill to
particular behavioral responses release food(fish) into their beak;
when the animal encounters them) (ii) Red breast in male Robin elicit threat in other males;
(iii) Female stickleback’s swollen abdomen elicit a male’s zig-zag
courtship dance;
(iv) Red belly in male stickleback elicit threat in other males;
Terminating (Are those that bring the (i)Satiety accompanying ejaculation in the males terminates copulation;
act of behaviour to an end) (ii)Increased abdominal blood pressure in Rhodnius to a certain critical
level stops the action of muscular abdominal pump, and sucking ceases;
(c) State three biological significances of pheromones in organisms.
 Control of pests e.g. gypsy moths by luring males to traps baited with synthetic analogs of the female
pheromone;
 Sex attractant in many species of insects, birds, fish and mammals;
 Sex recognition;
 Marking out territories;
11. Two groups of rats were run through a maze every day for 10days. Group A always received food on reaching
the end of the maze. Group B only received food for the last three days and not for the first seven days.
The average number of errors made by the rats in each group while finding their way through the maze is shown
in the table below.
Study it carefully and answer the questions that follow.
Average number of errors made by rats
Time (days) Group A Group B
1 9.8 10.2
2 8.3 9.1
3 7.5 8.2
4 6.2 8.0
5 5.9 8.0
6 4.0 7.0
7 3.9 6.6
8 3.8 6.1
9 3.7 3.8
10 2.9 3.0
(a) Represent the information in the tale on a suitable graph
(b) State the type of behaviour is
being investigated in the above
experiment.
Learned behaviour;
(c) Explain the difference in the
results obtained on day five in the
two groups of rats.
Average number of errors made by
group A rats is lower than by group
B rats; because provision of
food/reward to group A rats on
reaching at end of maze, increased
/reinforced their association of
reward with movement through the
maze than in group B
Time in days rats/provided more motivation than
in group B rats
(d) Explain the period of greatest change in the results.
Between day 6 and day 9; average number of errors made by group A rats were decreasing gradually/remained
almost constant; because without change in nature/amount of reward; habituation occurs; subsequently
diminishing an operant response/extinction occurs;
In the last three days of the experiment/Between day 8 and day 10; group B rats made less errors owing to their
behaviour being reinforced with a reward; subsequently improving their performance;
(e) Describe the role of the hypothalamus in controlling behaviour.
Controls pituitary gland secretions; which in turn control the endocrine system;
Hormones secreted under the control of hypothalamus influence behaviour by,
 Affecting growth of nervous connection in the brain;
 Altering sensitivity of peripheral receptors e.g. male hormones in rats raises sensitivity of the penis;
subsequently enhancing sexual behaviour;
 Affecting performance of effects; either by enhancing or suppressing them;
 Affecting nerve cells and synapses within the central nervous system; resulting into inhibitory or excitatory
postsynaptic potential;
12 (a) What is meant by motivation.
Internal state of an organism which must precede a specific act of behaviour; OR
State within an organism that drive behaviour towards some goal;
Thus modify the nature and extent of any behaviour.
Example. A hungry organism on given food, feelings of hunger diminishes;
(b) Give the significance of motivation in animals.
 Balances the organism’s immediate needs with the ultimate purpose of ensuring survival;
 Ensures that mating coincides with the optimum time for fertilization; thus ensuring production of
offsprings at the most favorable time of the year for their survival;
 Preserves the species gene pool; e.g. most birds forego feeding to ensure successful hatching of young
ensuring continuity of life;
(c) Distinguish between the following terms, giving an example in each case.
(i) Circadian rhythm and circannual rhythm
Circadian rhythms circannual rhythms
Patterns of behaviour that recur in an approximately Pattern of behaviour that recur in an
24-hour interval; approximately one-year interval;
e.g. (i) Small desert mammals hiding in burrows e.g.
during the heat of the day; and gathering food at night (i) Breeding;
when environmental temperatures are lower; (ii) Bird migration;
(ii) Mammalian predators eat during day; and resting (iii) Hibernation;
in the night;
(iii) Feeding behaviour in polychaete worm living in
burrows on muddy shores. (Kent page 238)
(iv) Fruit fly emerge from the pupa at dawn;
(v) Changes in body temperatures; i.e. lowest in early
hours of morning, and peaking in late afternoon.
(ii) Endogenous cues and Exogenous cues
Endogenous cues are internal mechanisms that drive the behavioral cycles in organisms; e.g. hormonal
changes; while exogenous cycles are external/environmental factors driving behavioral cycles in organisms;
e.g. water availability, light intensity and temperature;
(d) Of what significances are biorhythms?
 Synchronises feeding in predators to time when prey is more vulnerable to capture;
 Ensures proper timing of courtship and mating to season of highest food availability to the nursing parent
and the growing young ones;
 Enables migratory organisms to timely avoid unfavourable seasonal conditions; and meet favourable ones
on migration;
 Synchronises feeding activity with time of adequate food availability;
13. (a) Distinguish between dispersion and migration as used in animal movement.
Dispersion Migration
Spreading of individuals away from others; e.g. Long distance seasonal movement; e.g. locust swarms,
movement of mammals away from their social bird migration;
group.
Occurs in different directions Occurs in definite directions
Not confined to a definite season/Irregular Confined to a definite season/Regular
Limited to certain members of the population Involves entire population
(b) Outline five ways how birds find their way on immense journeys.
 Use of distinctive smells;
 Wind direction;
 Topography;
 Position of the sun by daytime-migrants;
 Position of the moon and star by night-migrants;
 Use of earth’s magnetic field by most birds;
 Young birds e.g. geese follow ways shown by older ones;
 Cloud patterns e.g. Whooper swans land on the seas in darkness when there is heavy cloud and no moon;
(c) What are the causes of migration in different animals?
 Seasonal availability of food in different habitats;
 Degradation of environmental conditions such as temperature; Many bird species migrate to warmer
areas during winter in escape of extreme cold conditions;
  Breeding purposes; e.g. Reproductively mature salmon migrate back to fresh water streams to breed;
(d) State the main advantages of seasonal migrations.
 Ensures adequate food supply at all times; Main
 Enables migrants avoid seasonal bad weather; advantages
 Reduced risks of predation;
 Allows maximum utilization of food/prey in parts where organisms may not be able to live permanently;
 Avails opportunity for different members of the population to meet; and subsequently greater breeding
variety;
14. (a) What is meant by the following;
Form of behaviour Meaning Example(s)
(i) Insight. Highest form of learning; involving immediate -Stacking boxes on top of each other
comprehension and response to a new situation; by chimpanzees to allow it access
without trial-and-error; bananas previously beyond reach;
Involves mental reasoning or intelligence to solve -A child using stones to hit at
detour problems; mango fruits high on the tree;
(ii) Latent/Exploratory Form of behaviour in which an animal explores its -A rat recognizing a hole/burrow in
learning. environment; stores information about it to be used its habitat to be used when in
later in life; trouble to escape;
(iii)Altruism/Altruistic Form of social behavior where an organism(donor) -Alarm calls by ground squirrels
behaviour. puts itself at risk or personal disadvantage for the warning others of the approach of
benefit of others of the same species(recipients) predators;
-Female baboons protects and cares
for its offsprings for almost 6years;
-Female monkeys caring for the
young ones of others;
(iv)Aggression/agonistic Group of behavioral activities including rituals, - Threat postures e.g. standing
behaviour. threat postures, and occasionally physical attacks erect, baring their teeth and snaring
on other organisms other those associated with by aggressive wolves and dogs;
predation usually to members of same sex and weaker rival cowers, exposing sides
species; of its neck,
-Its highly ritualized(symbolic, with no harm) and - Red belly in male stickleback elicit
rarely results into injury; threat in other males
-Raising feathers by birds
-Raising fur in cats;
(v)Dominance/social Form of animal social structure in which a linear or -Peck order in chicken
hierarchies. nearly linear ranking exists; which each animal
dominant over those below it; but submissive to
those above it in the rank;
(b) Explain the adaptive significances of following patterns of behaviour.
(i) Courtship and mating behavior
 Stimulates organisms to sexual activity;
 Synchronizes gonad development; enabling gametes mature at the same time; to ensure fertilization
occurs; when mating takes place.
 Suppresses negative tendencies like avoidance of body contact; escape behavior and cannibalism.
 Tightens pair bond between mating pair
 Leads to rise in the levels of reproductive hormones and maturation of the gonads.
 Induces mating of the individuals of the same species who accept each other.
 Synchronizes time to produce off springs with availability of food.
 Provides protection to courting individuals.
 Highly species specific; ensuring that breeding only takes place between members of the same species.
 In some species, it reduces the natural aggressiveness of the female enabling the male to approach and
mate with her.
(ii) Dominance hierarchies
 Gives opportunity to the strongest/dominant individuals pass on their genes;
 Ensures that resources are distributed with minimum fuss;
 Reduces on unnecessary expenditure of energy for continually competing with group members for
resources;
 Decreases the amount of individual aggression associated with feeding, mate selection and breeding
site selection
(iii) Agonistic behaviour
 Eliminates unfit individuals from the population;
 Basis of selection of mates for courtship and mating;
 Establishment of higher rank in a pecking order;
 Keeping off predators and competitors;
 Resolves conspecific conflicts
 Protection of territories by members of a species;
(iv) Altruism
 Ensures protection; and survival of the weak and the young ones;
 Increases allele frequency of a particular organism;
 Ensures continuity of species of organisms;
 Ensures continuous food supply for the young ones; and other members of the group;
 Leads to increased population size;
15. In an investigation of habituation to touch by a group of Peacock worms, Sabella pavonia, groups of
worms were tested by brushing their protruding crown of tentacles.
Two separate experiments were carried out.
Experiment A: Worms were stimulated so gently that they jerked slowly in their tubes.
Experiment B: Stimuli were sufficiently strong to evoke a rapid response from the worms.
Results of the experiment are as shown in graph in the figure 1 below.

(a) Describe the effect of frequency of stimulation on the responses of the group of worms in experiments A
and B
At 0.4 stimulation, highest number of worms responding is attained in both experiments A and B;
Increase in number of stimulation from 22 to 28, has no effect on the number of worms responding in
experiment B; with number of worms responding remaining constant in experiment A;
Increase in number of stimulations from 8 to 20, causes number of worms responding to fluctuate in both
experiments A and B;
Increase in number of stimulations from 20 to 22; gradually decreases number of worms responding in
experiment A;
Increase in number of stimulations from 0.4 to 8; decreases number of worms responding in both experiments A
and B;
(b) Explain the;
(i) difference in the effects of intensity of stimulation on the number of worms responding in both
experiments A and B.
Gentle/weak stimulation causes a higher number of worms responding; because low frequency impulses are
generated; in the receptors and synapses; few receptors in few worms adapt/fatique; allowing more worms to
continue responding;
Strong stimulation lowers the number of worms responding; because high frequency impulses are generated; in
the touch receptors and synapses; many receptors easily adapt/fatique in many worms; impulse transmission
is inhibited; subsequently lowering number of worms responding;
 (ii) responses of group of worms in both experiments A and B beyond 22 number of stimulation.
From 22 to 28 number of stimulation, number of worms responding is low; and remained constant in both
experiments A and B; because higher number of stimulation generate high frequency impulses; few sodium ions
diffuse into touch receptor cell; and also inhibit release of neurotransmitter substance at the synapse;
threshold is not reached; no action potential generated; subsequently no further response by the worms;
(c) Of what significance is the behaviour of touch receptors of worms in both experiments A and B beyond 22
number of stimulation to living organisms?
Beyond 22 number of stimulation, touch receptors are adapted; thus
 Allows organisms ignore unchanging background information; concentrating on monitoring aspects of the
environment which have more survival value;
 Prevents overloading of the central nervous system with irrelevant and unmanageable information;
increasing the efficiency of nervous system;
 Provides organisms with precise information about changes in its environment;
Activity
16. (a) Courtship and mating in fruit flies can occur equally well in the light or dark. Explain why fruit flies
which mate in the dark are much more likely to produce offsprings than those which mate in the light.
(b) The figure below shows the courtship sequence of males from two closely related species of fruitfly
(species A and species B). The numbers show the probability of one courtship element following from another.
(i) Once a male of
species A has
orientated to the
female, what is the
probability that he will
perform each courtship
element once only and
then attempt to mate?
(ii) Suggest how the
courtship sequences
provide evidence to
support the claim that
the two species are;
 Closely related
 Separate species
(iii) During courtship,
vibration of the wings
creates a sound.
The sound is different in the two species of fruitfly. Explain how this prevents mating between members of
different species.
17.(a) The theory of classical conditioning is based on Pavlov’s work on the control of salivation in dogs. In
Pavlov’s experiment, what was the;
(i) unconditioned stimulus?
(ii) conditioned stimulu?
(iii) response to the conditioned stimulus?
(b) The main part of the dog’s diet is normally meat. Suggest why increased salivation would not be expected to
help in the digestion of this component of the diet.

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