Inherited Traits Quiz

What characteristics are passed from parents to their offspring?

• behavior

• environmental

• inherited traits

• learned traits

Answer explanation

Which is NOT an example of an inherited trait?

• eye color

• height

• tongue rolling

• speaking multiple languages

Answer explanation

Observing adult prairie dogs, young prairie dogs quickly become watchful for predators. They recognize the warning call of adult prairie dogs and dive into the safety of their burrow when danger is near? This is an inherited trait.

• True

• False

Answer explanation

Behavior is anything an animal does involving action and/or a response to a stimulus. Blinking, eating, walking, flying, vocalizing and huddling are all examples of behaviors. Behavior is broadly defined as the way an animal acts. Swimming is an example of behavior.

Passing down of traits from parents to offspring is called _.

• Heredity
• Punnett Square

• Recessive Trait

• Environmental Trait

Answer explanation

Heredity is the passing on of physical or mental characteristics genetically from one generation to another.

Eye color, height, the color of a flower, or the fur color of your cat: these are all examples of heredity! Remember that these are examples of a phenotype, the expressed trait. The genotype is the genes that code for these features.

Which statement best explains why a child may look like his father, but not be able to play basketball as well as him?

• The child chooses to look like his father, but he does not choose to play basketball.

• Physical characteristics are inherited, but the ability to shoot a basketball is not.

• The ability to shoot a basketball is inherited but physical characteristics are not.

• The child does not like basketball.

Answer explanation

Physical Traits are inherited.

Behavioral traits are learned.

Keisha’s pet cat had kittens. Six of the kittens had black fur, and two had white fur. The father cat was black. The mother cat was white. Keisha and her friends wondered why the kittens were different colors. These were their ideas:

Rico: Babies inherit more traits from their fathers than their mothers, so more are black.

Marcus: The kittens got half their traits from their father and half from their mother, so some are black, and some are white. Fatima: The black kittens are probably male, and the white kittens are probably female.

Which friend has the most accurate explanation? Explain your thinking.

Evaluate responses using AI:

OFF

Answer explanation

To get 2 points you must indicate that Marcus had the correct explanation and explained their thinking.

Notes: Correct answer should include all or some of the following: Baby organisms, including kittens, receive one allele for each gene from their mother and one allele from their father, meaning that they receive half of the alleles from the mother and half from the father. Since the mother is white and the father is black, some of the kittens have the same trait as their mother (white fur) and some of the kittens have the same trait as their father (black fur).

Which fish in Tank 2 is most likely the offspring of the two-parent fish in Tank 1?

• Fish A

• Fish B

• Fish C

• Fish D

What is the term for a trait that is hidden when the dominant trait is present?

• Dominant Trait

• Recessive Trait

• Phenotype

• Genotype

Which of the following is an example of a learned behavior, not an inherited trait?

• Ability to swim

• Eye color

• Blood type

• Hair color