Animal Behavior Teaching ResourcesLink – https://youtu.be/JrzenOfcmBo?si=sKygkAAXPNgIFw31
Video segment from BBC Earth special “Life in the freezer” showing male elephant seals competing for access to mates.
Course content area – Sexual Selection
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
Link: https://youtu.be/xW6qZNcTGwU?si=wCx70HYAErMbbYc2
Video on youtube describing how researchers discovered why rough-skinned newts evolved to be the most toxic.
Video is also available from PBS with edited captions: https://cptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.evo.toxicnewts/toxic-newts/
Course content area – Natural Selection
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
Video Game: https://www.embodied-games.com/games/natural-selection-catch-a-mimic/play-catch-a-mimic/
Teaching Materials: https://www.embodied-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/teacher-lecture-Catch-A-Mimic-uploaded_Final_2019.pdf
Embodied-Games.com. (2019). Natural Selection: Catch a Mimic. Embodied Games. https://www.embodied-games.com/games/natural-selection-catch-a-mimic/play-catch-a-mimic/
House, B. & Johnson-Glenberg, M. (2019). Lesson Plan For “Catch a Mimic: Natural Selection.” Embodied Games. https://www.embodied-games.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/teacher-lecture-Catch-A-Mimic-uploaded_Final_2019.pdf
A video game simulation which can help students actively engage in learning how certain species evolve over many generations via natural selection and appear to “mimic” or copy the appearance of other animals. The game emphasizes that this evolutionary process takes many generations (a long time) in order for this mimicry to occur through natural selection to help address the common misunderstanding that the organism intends to change their traits. The teaching materials provide a guide for content to highlight before and after students use this video game and potential lesson structures.
Course content area – Mimicry & Evolution by Natural Selection – Variability in traits, phenotype, fitness, mimicry, addressing misconceptions about evolution and intention, timeline for evolution (generations)
Course – Ethology: Animal Behavior (200 level)
Campus – Hunter College
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/bottlenecks-and-founder-effects/
Very brief reading about bottleneck and founder effect with examples. Webpage is part of the Understanding Evolution website from UC Museum of Paleontology. Webpage is available in Spanish.
Used as a pre-class reading to prepare for a class covering genetic drift and other mechanisms of evolution.
Course content area – Population Genetics & Mechanisms of Evolution – Genetic drift, mutation, gene flow, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
https://evolution.berkeley.edu/dna-and-mutations/
A series of webpages covering how DNA is the molecular basis of evolution and the role of mutations in evolution. Webpages are part of the Understanding Evolution website from UC Museum of Paleontology.
Assigned as a pre-class reading for a class on Raw Material – DNA, genes, variation, inheritance, epigenetics
Course content area – Raw Material – DNA, genes, variation, inheritance, epigenetics
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/04/06/1091086672/animal-human-emotions
NPR podcast, or article, by Jon Hamilton covering the work of David Anderson and other researchers who are exploring the neurological basis of emotions in non-human animals like fruit flies.
Given as an optional reading to support class material on Emotions
Course content area – Emotions
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
Article by Travis Dixon, IB Psychology webpage, describing the Sweaty T-shirt study and the role of MHC genes. Includes references and critical thinking questions.
Assigned to support material covered in a Sexual Selection class. Assigned along with For gay men, an attraction to a different kind of scent
Course content area – Sexual Selection or Human Evolution & Behavior
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
New York Times article, by Nicholas Wade, describes research that is looking at patterns of brain activity when queer individuals smell pheromones of males and females.
I assign this article along with the famous t-shirt sniff article in which heterosexual females sniff the t-shirts of males and rate their attractiveness – Key Study: “The Sweaty T-shirt Study” (Wedekind et al. 1995)
Course content area – Sexual Selection or Human Evolution & Behavior
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
Link to open access version – https://med.fsu.edu/sites/default/files/news-publications/print/Gene%20switches%20make%20prairie%20voles%20fall%20in%20love%2C%20Nature.pdf
CUNY Library Permalink https://cuny-hc.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01CUNY_HC/9p6vcd/cdi_crossref_primary_10_1038_nature_2013_13112
Cormier, Z. (2013). Gene switches make prairie voles fall in love. Nature (London) https://doi-org.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/10.1038/nature.2013.13112
Nature News article by Zoe Cormier describes a study by Wang et al.(2013 – reference below) who found evidence that mating behavior activates epigenetic changes in the brain which then affects behavior.
Assigned as a pre-class article for a class on Tinbergen’s 4 questions.
Course content area – Explaining Behavior – Tinbergen’s 4 Questions
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
Wang, H., Duclot, F., & Liu, Y. et al. (2013). Histone deacetylase inhibitors facilitate partner preference formation in female prairie voles. Nat Neurosci 16, 919–924 . https://doi-org.ezproxy.gc.cuny.edu/10.1038/nn.3420
https://www.britannica.com/science/animal-communication
Britannica encyclopedia section covering animal communication including – signal production, reception, and transmission, costs and benefits of communication, the evolution of signals, and honesty and deceit
Assigned as pre-class reading for class introducing animal communication.
Course content area – Communication
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
