How living in groups helps animals survive

Grade 9 Science Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Two minnow schools (model data)

   school	minnows	visits a day	minnows lost per visit
   school X	10	2	1
   school Y	40	2	1

2. 1.

   Ari reads the model card. Each visit takes one minnow, picked at random. Which statement compares one minnow's chance of being lost in a day?

   • The same in both: each school loses 2 minnows a day
   • Higher in school Y: 40 minnows make a bigger target for each visit
   • Lower in school Y: 2 of 40 is 5%, against 2 of 10, or 20%, in school X
   • Lower in school Y, since a bigger school finds more food

3. Flocks of different sizes (model data)

   flock size	seconds one bird scans per minute	seconds until the flock spots a threat
   1	40	12
   4	30	6
   16	20	3

4. 2.

   Bo reads model data on flocks. Which statement does the table support?

   • Each bird scans more in a bigger flock, since more birds share the work
   • Each bird scans less in a bigger flock, yet the flock spots a threat sooner
   • A bigger flock spots a threat later, since each bird scans fewer seconds in a minute
   • Flock size changes how much food the birds find, not the scanning
5. 3.

   Jun reads the graph. During which days did the alone minnows fall fastest, and by how many?

   • Days 5 to 6: the alone line ends at 9, its lowest point
   • Days 0 to 1: the alone line falls from 20 to 16, a loss of 4 minnows
   • Days 1 to 2: the alone line falls from 16 to 13, a loss of 3 minnows
   • Days 0 to 1: the school line falls from 20 to 19, a loss of 1 minnow
6. 4.

   Kira reads the graph. Which statement is right about adding minnows to a group?

   • Survival rises 20 points between 10 and 20 minnows, so doubling the group doubles how many survive
   • Survival keeps rising, but each added minnow helps less: 10 points from 5 to 10, 4 from 15 to 20
   • Survival will reach 100% in a big enough group, so a group has no cost
   • Survival rises by the same amount for each minnow added
7. 5.

   Luz reads the model graph of huddled birds that touch their neighbors. A bird alone loses 100 units. Which reason best fits the graph?

   • Huddling helps the birds find food, so they lose less heat
   • Each bird makes more heat when more birds crowd in, so the loss keeps falling at the same rate
   • The birds in the middle save heat; the edge birds still lose 100 units
   • Touching birds expose less body surface to the cold, and each added bird saves less

8. Waggle dance card (model data)

   dance	waggle run (s)	angle clockwise from vertical (°)	sun's compass bearing (°)
   dance 1	2.0	40	180

9. 6.

   Milo uses the model rule: bearing to the resource = sun's bearing + dance angle; 1 s of run = 400 m. Where do nestmates fly?

   • Bearing 140°, about 800 m
   • Bearing 2°, about 16,000 m
   • Bearing 220°, about 800 m
   • Bearing 40°, about 800 m

10. Two waggle dances (model data)

    dance	waggle run (s)	angle clockwise from vertical (°)
    dance P	1.0	70
    dance Q	3.0	70

11. 7.

    Noah reads two dances from one hive at the same time. Distance grows in proportion to run length. Which statement does the card support?

    • Same direction; Q's place is three times as far as P's
    • Same distance; Q's place lies in a different direction
    • Different kinds of resource, since the runs differ
    • Same direction; Q's place is two times as far as P's

12. Waggle dance card (1 s of run = 400 m; a bee flies 8 m each second) (model data)

    dance	waggle run (s)
    dance 3	2.5

13. 8.

    Pia decodes the dance. About how long does the one-way flight to the resource take?

    • About 250 s: 2,000 m for the round trip ÷ 8
    • About 125 s: 2.5 × 400 = 1,000 m, and 1,000 ÷ 8 = 125
    • About 2.5 s, the same number as the run
    • About 8,000 s: 1,000 m × 8 m each second

14. Use the table

    Emperor penguin huddles in the Antarctic winter (data: Gilbert et al. 2006)

    measure	value
    average outside temperature	−17 °C
    temperature the birds felt in huddles	above 0 °C
    warmest temperature in a huddle	37.5 °C
    penguins fitted with data loggers	8

15. 9.

    Ren reads the table. By at least how much did huddling raise the temperature the birds felt?

    • About 54.5 °C, from −17 °C to 37.5 °C
    • 37.5 °C, the warmest huddle reading
    • More than 17 °C, from −17 °C to above 0 °C
    • Less than 17 °C, since the outside air was already cold
16. 10.

    Zee reads the table. Which claim about who got warm does the table support?

    • Huddles stayed above 20 °C for all of the huddling time
    • Only the birds in the middle got warm
    • Every bird had equal access to warmth, though huddles were uneven
    • Huddling helped the birds find food in winter