AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Shrill calls are a way by which interspecies communication is achieved. Squirrels produce this shrill alarm in order to make their companions privy to the threat because of the predator. Hence that is critical for them to get away from the predator. Thus, Option D is correct.

Detailed explanation-2: -Belding’s ground squirrel is a species whose females produce a shrill alarm call when predators are close by. The ground squirrels that sound this call are more likely to be eaten by those predators than those who do not sound alarm calls.

Detailed explanation-3: -Beldings ground squirrels give alarm calls when a terrestrial predator is sighted, with females being much more likely to emit such calls than males. The reason for this sex difference in alarm calling is tied to the demography and genetics of Beldings ground squirrels.

Detailed explanation-4: -This leaves us with the Parental care and Altruism hypotheses, both of which predict that females would be more likely than males to give risky alarm calls. This is because female Belding’s ground squirrels tend to be sedentary, causing most females to live with her daughters and relatives.

Detailed explanation-5: -A visual alarm signal, common in mammals, is “flagging, ” the lifting of the tail to reveal its white undersurface. The white fur shows only in fright situations when the animal raises its tail as it bounds away. Biologists do not agree about the exact meaning of this common mammalian alarm response.