Belding’s ground squirrels are hypothesised to give alarm calls when they see a predator because:
a) the alarm scares the predator away
b) alarm calls trigger the individuals fight and flight hormones
c) it improves the survival of close relatives by alerting them to the approach ofdanger
c) it causes all other ground squirrels to panic which confuses the predator
e) the calls benefit all neighbouring ground squirrels which are typically nonrelatives

Question

Belding’s ground squirrels are hypothesised to give alarm calls when they see a predator because:
a) the alarm scares the predator away
b) alarm calls trigger the individuals fight and flight hormones
c) it improves the survival of close relatives by alerting them to the approach ofdanger
c) it causes all other ground squirrels to panic which confuses the predator
e) the calls benefit all neighbouring ground squirrels which are typically nonrelatives

anonymous · Answer

I know that it has been shown that the alarm call doen't really have any cost on the caller (as the animal sees the enemy first so is the first to react/hide). So would the answer to this be 'C' as this would have been hypothesised before the later research showed otherwise? Please help.

anonymous · Answer

It probably is C. Ground squirrels are often given as an example of animals that take risks to protect relatives, thus increasing the odds of their genes being passed on. Whether that's true or not may be debatable, but.... that seems to be the answer that they want you to give, and it's the only one that really makes sense here anyway.

anonymous · Answer

This Is C