"How Smart are Animals?" Quiz

Why did Andrea Anderson need help from Villa, the Newfoundland dog, in “How Smart Are Animals?”

• She got lost on her way home.

• She twisted her ankle and could not walk.

• She was blown into a snowdrift during a blizzard.

• She wanted to study dogs to determine how intelligent they are.

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According to “How Smart Are Animals?” what was a common attitude toward animal intelligence up to the 1960s?

• Some species were thought to be smarter than others.

• Animals were thought to act on instinct, without any ability to think.

• Scientists thought that understanding animal intelligence would be an impossible task.

• The mental abilities of animals were thought to be similar to those of human beings.

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What is the “Clever Hans phenomenon” described in “How Smart Are Animals?”

• a situation that demonstrates why scientists cannot be fooled

• a study that demonstrates the intelligence of animals through a series of tests

• an incident in which an animal uses its problem-solving skills to help a human

• an experiment in which an animal seems intelligent but is merely responding to cues

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In “How Smart Are Animals?” C. G. Beer’s experiment on the “long calls” of laughing gulls proves which of the following ideas?

• Scientists can easily interpret animal communication.

• Birds communicate in a way that is similar to human speech.

• Laughing gulls make signals that are the same for each bird on all occasions.

• There are differences in the calls of birds that are hard for a human to notice.

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When a reader interprets a story, what is she doing?

• determining its meaning

• listing its main events in order

• reading it slowly and carefully

• creating a new story based on the same topic

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CCSS.RF.5.4A

CCSS.RF.5.4B

CCSS.RF.5.4C

CCSS.RI.6.10

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If you evaluate a situation properly, which of the following statements is true?

• You have many questions about it.

• You have gone with your first instinct.

• You have considered and judged it thoroughly.

• You have set up an experiment and collected data.

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Which of the following is the best description of a phenomenon?

• a scientific study

• a rare and interesting event

• a new way of understanding something

• an animal exhibiting intelligent behavior

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CCSS.L.6.4A

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According to “How Smart Are Animals?” what is one important reason that it is difficult to compare the intelligence of one animal species to another?

• Most animal species do not use tools.

• Some animal species may be lazier than others.

• Different animal species may not speak the same language.

• Different animal species may not be physically equipped to take the same tests.

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Which quotation from “How Smart Are Animals?” most clearly supports the idea that different animals many not be physically equipped to take the same tests?

• More advanced signs of intelligence are tool manufacture and use, symbolic communication, and ability to form mental concepts.

• When an animal can't perform well, we don't know if it really cannot solve the problems put to it or if it just doesn't want to.

• Animals are just too varied in their physical makeup and in their life styles.

• Variations of "intelligence" from one individual to the next can significantly affect the results.

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Which statement would the author of "How Smart Are Animals?" most likely agree with?

• Intelligence always involves using symbols, such as words.

• An animal that is hard to train cannot be intelligent.

• An animal that does well on a test must be intelligent.

• What counts as intelligence depends on what is important to an animal.

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CCSS.RI.6.6

CCSS.RI.6.9

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