Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Blue carousel bird mating dance video

Link: https://youtu.be/1zxJPQlFFTI?si=4cBGnASasB4edoJY

Video segment from Our Planet documentary showing the blue carousel bird mating dance.

Course content area – Mating Systems/Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Elephant seals sexual selection video

Link – 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

Categories
Activities Assignments Teaching Materials

Mating Systems of Pinnipeds Worksheet

I use this worksheet after discussing the different factors that can affect the mating system of populations.

This assignment helps reinforce previously taught material from sexual selection (sexual dimorphism, operational sex ratio), as it requires the students to apply that knowledge to mating systems.

The goal of this assignment is for students to gain knowledge about the many characteristics of populations and individuals that can affect mating systems and get a sense that mating systems are not fixed.

Accompanying slides are available in the Animal Behavior Shared Class Resources Folder (for verified CUNY instructors).

Course content area – Mating Systems

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

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Assignments Teaching Materials

Before Class Discussion Board Prompts

This is a series of discussion board prompts that I use throughout the semester to encourage in-class discussion of the upcoming class material. These are low-stakes assignments that are graded as complete/incomplete.

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Categories
Educational Resources Readings

Key Study: “The Sweaty T-shirt Study” (Wedekind et al. 1995)

https://www.themantic-education.com/ibpsych/2019/11/19/key-study-the-sweaty-t-shirt-study-wedekind-et-al-1995/

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

Categories
Educational Resources Readings

For gay men, an attraction to a different kind of scent

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/10/science/for-gay-men-an-attractionto-a-different-kind-of-scent.html?smid=url-share

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

Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Cuttlefish Mimics Being Female To Mate | Blue Planet II | BBC Earth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1-JQTiZGc

Video on youtube from BBC Earth showing an alternative mating strategy in cuttlefish.

Auto-generated captions

Course content area – Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Vogelkop bowerbird decorates his bower with flowers video

https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/vogelkop-bowerbird-decorates-his-bower-with-flowers/

High-quality video with transcript and captions from The Cornell Lab – Bird Academy. The video shows a male bowerbird building his bower and a female assessing the bower.

Shown as an example in class when discussing different theories of mate choice while covering intersexual selection.

Course content area – Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Natural & Sexual selection: An illustrated introduction video

https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/natural-selection-sexual-selection-an-illustrated-introduction/

High-quality video with captions and transcript introducing sexual selection by The Cornell Lab – Bird Academy.

Assigned as a video to watch before a class on Sexual Selection.

Course content area – Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College

Categories
Educational Resources Videos

Tale of the peacock video

https://cptv.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.evo.peacock/tale-of-the-peacock/

PBS video segment from Evolution: Why sex? with Marion Petrie describing her work about mate choice and attraction in peafowl.

Assigned as a video to watch before a class on Sexual Selection.

Course content area – Sexual Selection

Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)

Campus – Hunter College