Kin, Helpers and Long Studies: teacher key

Animal Families, grade 11 edition, written for 11th grade. From thirty years of meerkat watching to the Gombe chimpanzees, long studies show how animal families share the work of raising young, who stays, who leaves and what scientists still ask.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. What is delayed dispersal?
   • Young leave early
   • Adults move often
   • Young stay with their parents instead of leaving (answer)
2. What does habitat saturation suggest about young birds that stay and help?
   • Food is gone
   • The better territories are already filled (answer)
   • Eggs are rare
3. What did the vampire bat study find about generous bats?
   • They were fed more when they failed to find food (answer)
   • They lived longest
   • They slept least
4. Which animals gain from grandmothers who no longer breed, according to the orca study?
   • Their rivals
   • Their mates
   • Their grand-calves (answer)
5. Who has the babies in a naked mole-rat colony?
   • All workers
   • The queen, with a few breeding males (answer)
   • Only the oldest
6. What does apprenticeship mean in this book?
   • Learning from experts (answer)
   • Moving away
   • Sharing food

Words

• dispersal: moving away
• eusocial: fully cooperative
• subordinate: lower-ranking
• saturation: being full
• apprenticeship: learning from experts