PrepTest 136, Section 3, Question 18
Traditional theories of animal behavior assert that animal(454 more words not shown)
The passage suggests which one(12 more words not shown)
- AThey exhibit variations(21 more words not shown)
- BThey may confine(24 more words not shown)
- CThey exhibit variations(17 more words not shown)
- DThey are more(19 more words not shown)
- EThey are more(18 more words not shown)
Reading the passage
These spiders don't always settle disputes the same way. They can use displays, but fighting can also escalate into biting and shoving. The theory connects that escalation to whether the resource is worth the risk. If the reward is small and injury is a serious danger, limiting the contest to displays would fit the account.
Working the answers
- A
Site competition is one relevant factor, but we aren't told it is the primary cause of the variation. Opponent size, predation risk, and the prospects of another site matter too. Listing a factor doesn't rank it above the rest.
- BCorrect
The second paragraph says escalation may occur only when the resource is valuable enough to warrant the risk. It also makes clear that displays remain part of these spiders' behavior. Low value combined with high risk therefore supports the possibility that they stick to displays. May doesn't require them to do so in every such encounter.
- C
The spiders are introduced because their varied, sometimes escalated fighting doesn't fit the traditional model neatly. Nothing establishes that their pattern resembles the variation in most other species.
- D
Biting and shoving being common doesn't tell us they happen more often than displays. Escalation could occur regularly while still accounting for fewer than half the contests. We need a comparison of frequencies to reach D.
- E
The traditional model's description isn't a survey of most species' actual willingness to fight. This account of one spider species doesn't establish the broad species-to-species ranking E claims.
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