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  3. Until recently, scientists did not know of a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism observed in eusocial inse

Until recently, scientists did not know of a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism observed in eusocial inse

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问题     Until recently, scientists did not know of a close vertebrate analogue to the extreme form of altruism observed in eusocial insects like ants and bees,  whereby individuals cooperate, sometimes even sacrificing their own opportunities to survive and reproduce, for the good of others. However, such a vertebrate society may exist among un- der ground colonies of the highly social rodent Heterocephalus glaber, the naked mole rat.
    A naked mole rat colony, like a beehive, wasp s nest, or termite mound, is ruled by its queen, or reproducing female. Other adult female mole rats neither ovulate nor breed. The queen is the largest member of the colony, and she maintains her breeding status through a mixture of behavioral and, presumably, chemical control. Queens have been long-lived in captivity, and when they die or are removed from a colony one sees violent fighting for breeding status among the larger remaining females, leading to a takeover by a new queen.
    Eusocial insect societies have rigid caste systems, each insects’ s role being defined by its behavior, body shape, and physiology. In naked mole rat societies, on the other hand, differences in behavior are related primarily to reproductive status(reproduction being limit- ed to the queen and a few males), body size, and perhaps age. Smaller non-breeding members, both male and female, seem to participate primarily in gathering food, transporting nest mate- rial, and tunneling. Larger nonreaders are active in defending the colony and perhaps in removing dirt from the tunnels. Jarvis’ work has suggested that differences in growth rates may influ- ence the length of time that an individual performs a task, regardless of its age. Cooperative breeding has evolved many times in vertebrates, but unlike naked mole rats, most cooperatively breeding vertebrates(except the wild dog, Lycaon pictus)are dominated by a pair of breeders rather than by a single breeding female. The division of labor within social groups is leas pronounced among other vertebrates than among naked mole rats, colony size is much smaller, and mating by subordinate females may not be totally suppressed, whereas in naked mole rat colonies sub- ordinate females are not sexually active, and many never breed.
The passage suggests that Jarvis’ work has called into question which of the following explanatory variables for naked mole rat behavior?
选项 A、Size.
B、Age.
C、Reproductive status.
D、Rate of growth.
E、Previously exhibited behavior.
答案B
解析 文中指出，Jarvis的研究对影响裸鼹鼠行为的哪项因素的作用提出疑问?见原文LA3—46，Jarvis的研究指出：鼹鼠发育速率可能比年龄更能影响个体做某一工作的长短。∴B正确，年龄。
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