The Evidence for Helpers: teacher key

Animal Families, grade 10 edition, written for 10th grade. Why do some animals help raise young that are not their own? Long studies of birds, wolves, meerkats, bats and orcas show what scientists have found and what they still ask.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What does a review of cooperative breeding in birds say about kin selection?
   • It plays no role
   • It undoubtedly played a central role (answer)
   • It is only about wolves
2. In the vampire bat study, who was fed more when they failed to find food?
   • The oldest bats
   • Only relatives
   • The most generous bats (answer)
3. Why is bat sharing described as an insurance policy?
   • A bat that misses two nightly meals in a row will starve (answer)
   • Bats collect money
   • Bats sleep together
4. What did the orca grandmother study suggest?
   • Grandmothers leave the pod
   • Grandmothers never help
   • Grandmothers who no longer breed give more support than ones still breeding (answer)
5. How have the Gombe researchers kept their records?
   • Only by camera
   • Detailed observations on paper (answer)
   • Only by satellite
6. What does eusocial mean here?
   • Fully cooperative (answer)
   • Solitary
   • Nocturnal

Words

• cooperatively: by working together
• eusocial: fully cooperative
• subordinate: lower-ranking
• apprenticeship: learning from experts
• fledge: learn to fly