PrepTest 158, Section 2, Question 5
On the plains where it lives, an individual(46 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(9 more words not shown)
- ABecause the vegetation(32 more words not shown)
- BZebras are able(30 more words not shown)
- CLions that hunt(52 more words not shown)
- DWhen lions hunt,(22 more words not shown)
- EWhen zebras run(28 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Standing out seems like a problem when lions are looking for you. Black-and-white stripes don't blend into green or brown grass, and these lions can see the stripes. So why aren't the markings a disaster for the zebras?
Maybe the zebras blend into one another.
Picture a group running away together. A lion might have no trouble seeing a mass of stripes but still have trouble following one particular zebra. Where does one animal end and the next begin? If the markings make an individual hard to track within the group, visibility against the grass wouldn't tell the whole story.
What we’re looking for
That's my guess for the question asking us to resolve the puzzle. We need a fact explaining how zebras survive despite their conspicuous markings. We don't have to bring in outside knowledge about animals, and we shouldn't deny what the passage says about the stripes being visible. Look for something that makes those facts fit together.
Working the answers
- A
Seasonal changes might explain why one fixed color wouldn't provide perfect camouflage all year. But the zebras aren't green for part of the year or brown for the rest; they're black and white. A doesn't show how they manage to survive while standing out in the surroundings described.
- B
Knowing which lions intend to hunt could help zebras notice danger. But B only tells us they can make that judgment and ignore lions that aren't hunting. It doesn't explain how they avoid being caught by the lions that are hunting, given how clearly those lions can see them. The central difficulty remains.
- C
This explains an advantage of the lions' coloring. They can blend into dry vegetation and get close enough to catch prey. That makes the zebras' survival seem harder to explain, not easier. We're looking for something that helps make sense of the prey's survival despite being conspicuous.
- D
What happens to the food after a successful hunt doesn't explain how zebras avoid becoming that food. Sharing a captured animal among the pride leaves the problem about visible prey untouched.
- ECorrect
This matches the group-blending prediction. Zebras generally run together when threatened, and the stripes make it difficult for a pursuing predator to distinguish one animal's outline. Seeing the group is different from tracking the individual the lion needs to catch.
The stripes can therefore stand out against the grass while making the zebras harder to pursue within a moving group. We can accept both facts at once. E gives the missing reason those vivid markings need not prevent survival.
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