Animals & Nature · Unit 12

Animal Behaviour

Instinct, learning, communication, tools and animal minds

Behaviour is the hardest thing to study in animals because you can observe what they do and never what they intend, and the temptation to fill the gap with human motives is constant.

The unit covers instinct and learning, communication, courtship and territory, living in groups, and tool use and problem solving - where the evidence for genuine animal intelligence is strongest.

This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 121 questions, starting at difficulty 2 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 20
Questions: 121
Difficulty: 2-4

What this unit covers

Living in Groups
Courtship and Territory
Instinct and Learning
Tool Use and Problem Solving
Animal Communication

Where this fits

Best after the class units. Connects to Psychology's Learning and Habits.

Where people slip

Anthropomorphism cuts both ways. Assuming an animal feels what a person would is a mistake, and assuming it feels nothing is also a claim requiring evidence.

How the unit is structured

Animal Behaviour runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 2 and climb to 4 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 20 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 121 in the unit altogether.

Animal Communication

Picture questionLevel 2
1. 🐋 Which animal is famous for singing long, complex songs underwater?
- The whalecorrect
- The crab
- The jellyfish
- The starfish
Humpback whales sing songs that can last for many minutes.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
2. Which ways do animals send messages? Pick all that apply.
- Sounds and callscorrect
- Scent markscorrect
- Body movementscorrect
- Writing letters
Sound, smell, movement and colour are all used.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
3. Which are honest signals of quality? Pick all that apply.
- Large antlerscorrect
- Bright, well-kept plumage
- Loud sustained songcorrect
- Hiding silently
Costly displays such as heavy antlers, bright plumage or loud song are hard to fake.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
4. What do vervet monkey alarm calls do that is unusual?
- Different calls signal different predatorscorrect
- All calls mean the same thing
- They are silent when threatened
- Only adults hear them
They use different calls for different predators, and the group responds differently to each.
True or falseLevel 3
5. Sounds below the range of human hearing are called infrasound.
Answer: True
True. Elephants and whales both use infrasound.
Type the answerLevel 4
6. What is the term for a costly signal that is hard to fake?
Answer: handicap
Handicap signals are reliable precisely because they are expensive.

Courtship and Territory

Build the sentenceLevel 2
7. Build a sentence about animal behaviour.
Answer: Animals communicate with sounds and smells
Animals communicate with sounds and smells.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
8. Why do some male birds build decorated structures?
- To impress femalescorrect
- To store food for winter
- To hide from rain
- To trap insects
Bowerbirds build and decorate bowers to impress females.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
9. Which are consequences of sexual selection? Pick all that apply.
- Elaborate ornamentscorrect
- Weapons such as antlerscorrect
- Size differences between the sexescorrect
- Identical appearance in both sexes always
Ornaments, weapons, size differences and elaborate displays all result.
Fact or fibLevel 3
10. Bright ornaments can signal that a male is healthy and well fed.
Answer: True
True. Maintaining a costly display is difficult for a weak animal.
Put in orderLevel 3
11. Put these stages of a behavioural study in order.
Answer: Observe behaviour in the field -> Form a hypothesis -> Make a testable prediction -> Run the experiment -> Draw a conclusion
Observation leads to hypothesis, prediction, testing and conclusion.
Sort into groupsLevel 3
12. Sort each behaviour as mainly instinct or mainly learned.
Answer: A spider spinning its first web = Instinct; A turtle heading to the sea = Instinct; A chimp fishing for termites = Learned; A dog responding to a command = Learned
Both kinds of behaviour appear across the animal kingdom.

Instinct and Learning

Multiple choiceLevel 2
13. What is learned behaviour?
- Behaviour gained from experiencecorrect
- Behaviour present at birth
- A body shape
- A kind of habitat
Learned behaviour comes from experience, practice or watching others.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
14. Which of these are instincts? Pick all that apply.
- A newborn mammal sucklingcorrect
- Blinking when something comes near the eyecorrect
- Fleeing from a sudden shadowcorrect
- A dolphin performing a trained trick
Suckling, blinking and reflex fleeing happen without teaching.
True or falseLevel 3
15. Ethology is the study of animal behaviour in natural conditions.
Answer: True
True, and it complements laboratory behavioural science.
Type the answerLevel 3
16. What is the early sensitive window for imprinting called?
Answer: critical period
A critical period is a limited time when learning happens most readily.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
17. Why is habituation useful?
- It saves energy on meaningless alarmscorrect
- It makes animals sleep
- It attracts mates
- It has no use
It stops animals wasting energy reacting to things that never turn out to matter.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
18. Which methods do behavioural scientists use? Pick all that apply.
- Focal animal samplingcorrect
- Playback of recorded callscorrect
- GPS trackingcorrect
- Guessing from memory
Focal sampling, playback experiments, tracking and controlled trials are all standard.

Living in Groups

Choose all that applyLevel 2
19. Which are group names for animals? Pick all that apply.
- Herdcorrect
- Flockcorrect
- Podcorrect
- Engine
Herd, flock and pod are all group names.
Match the pairsLevel 2
20. Match each animal to its group name.
Answer: Wolves = Pack; Sheep = Flock; Dolphins = Pod; Lions = Pride
Different animals have different collective names.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
21. What is a group of wolves called?
- A packcorrect
- A flock
- A school
- A swarm
Wolves live and hunt in packs, usually a family group.
True or falseLevel 3
22. Grooming in primates helps build and maintain social bonds.
Answer: True
True. It is about relationships as much as cleanliness.
Type the answerLevel 3
23. What term describes helping another animal at a cost to yourself?
Answer: altruism
Altruism is a central puzzle in behavioural biology.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
24. Which are costs of living in a group? Pick all that apply.
- Competition for foodcorrect
- Faster spread of diseasecorrect
- Being easier for predators to spotcorrect
- Improved vigilance
Competition, disease spread and conspicuousness are all costs.

Tool Use and Problem Solving

Multiple choiceLevel 2
25. How does a sea otter open a hard shell?
- It uses a stonecorrect
- It bites through with teeth alone
- It waits for the shell to open
- It swallows it whole
It uses a stone as a hammer or anvil while floating on its back.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
26. Which animals are known to use tools? Pick all that apply.
- Chimpanzeecorrect
- Crowcorrect
- Sea ottercorrect
- Earthworm
Chimpanzees, crows and sea otters all use objects to get food.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
27. How do chimpanzees fish for termites?
- They dip a stem into the moundcorrect
- They dig with their feet
- They pour water in
- They wait for rain
They poke a stripped stem into a termite mound and pull out the insects clinging to it.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
28. Which suggest advanced cognition in animals? Pick all that apply.
- Making a tool for a specific taskcorrect
- Planning for a future needcorrect
- Recognising itself in a mirrorcorrect
- Sleeping regularly
Tool making, planning, mirror self-recognition and problem solving all suggest complex minds.
True or falseLevel 3
29. Some corvids cache food and later re-hide it if they were watched.
Answer: True
True, which suggests they track what others have seen.
Type the answerLevel 4
30. What is the ability to attribute knowledge to others called?
Answer: theory of mind
Theory of mind is debated in non-human animals.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Picture question
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Animal Behaviour

121 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Animal Behaviour

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

More units in Animals & Nature

See all 18 units in Animals & Nature →