How Scientists Watch the Young: teacher key

Baby Animals, grade 9 edition, written for 9th grade. Silver threads, nest boxes and a duckling that followed a scientist. See how researchers learn how young animals grow up and which ones survive.

Read the book. Print this page for the key.

Questions and answers

1. Who is probably the first person to band birds in North America?
   • Konrad Lorenz
   • John James Audubon (answer)
   • David Lack
2. Why did scientists choose great tits for the Wytham study?
   • They nest far apart
   • They readily use nest boxes and cope well with being watched (answer)
   • They never leave the woods
3. What did Konrad Lorenz call a duckling's early following response?
   • Banding
   • Imprinting (answer)
   • Weaning
4. What may help explain why giant panda cubs are born so small?
   • The mother's bamboo diet, which has few nutrients (answer)
   • The mother's long nap
   • A cold winter
5. What happens to most of the eggs a frog lays?
   • Only a small percentage survive to adulthood (answer)
   • All of them become frogs
   • They become tadpoles in a day
6. What does conservation mean here?
   • Protecting nature (answer)
   • Counting eggs
   • Tying a thread

Words

• imprinting: early following
• precocial: ready at birth
• incubator: egg warmer
• monotremes: egg-laying mammals
• conservation: protecting nature