Animal Behavior Teaching ResourcesLink: 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
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
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
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
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
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT1-JQTiZGc
Video on youtube from BBC Earth showing an alternative mating strategy in cuttlefish.
Course content area – Sexual Selection
Course – Evolution & Behavior (100 level)
Campus – Hunter College
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
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
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
