When a parent herring gull arrives at the nest with food, a chick will orient to and peck at the red spot on the parent's bill. The parent will then regurgitate the food into the chick's open mouth and the chick swallows it. What is this set of behaviors an example of?

Question

A.  sign stimulus
B.  fixed action pattern
C.  innate releasing mechanism
D.  taxis
E.  stimulus-response chain


Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
What type of thinking is required?


Gather Content:
What do you already know about animal behaviors, specifically feeding behaviors in herring gulls? What other information is related to the question?

Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?


Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?

Answer 1

E.  stimulus-response chain

Clarify question:
What is the key concept addressed by the question?
The question is about feeding behaviors in herring gulls.

What type of thinking is required?
This is an apply level question. You are being presented with a situation. Using what you know about the different behavioral terminology, you can explain the gull’s behaviors.


Gather Content:
What do you already know about animal behaviors, specifically feeding behaviors in herring gulls? What other information is related to the question?
This question comes from the section of the textbook that covers the basics of animal behaviors. There are two animals that are involved in this interaction. The chick sees the red spot on the parent’s bill (stimulus), it pecks at the spot (fixed action pattern in response to the stimulus). The pecking acts as a stimulus to the parent; the parent responds (fixed action pattern) buy regurgitating food. 


Choose Answer:
Given what you now know, what information is most likely to produce the correct answer?
This series of linked behaviors is a stimulus-response chain.


Reflection on Process:
Did your problem-solving process lead you to the correct answer? If not, where did the process break down or lead you astray? How can you revise your approach to produce a more desirable result?
Were you able to get the correct answer? You needed to take what you know about animal behavior and apply it to this situation to come up with the answer. You needed to breakdown the series of behaviors and look at each part.