Reading Comprehension

PT104 · S3 · P3 · Q20 Homing Pigeons

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Homing pigeons can be taken from their lofts and transported hundreds of kilometers in covered cages to unfamiliar sites and yet, when released, be able to choose fairly accurate homeward bearings within a minute and fly home.

Topic

How homing pigeons are able to navigate back home from unfamiliar distant locations.

Framework

Answer / Explain

Main Point

Scientists have investigated several explanations for pigeons' homing ability, including tracking their own displacement (like bees) and having a "map sense" (possibly olfactory), but no theory has been definitively proven. *Most Valuable Sentence: (P3)*

P1: Two Main Theories for Homing Ability

Pigeons can navigate home over long distances, and researchers have proposed two main ideas to explain this: either pigeons track their journey step by step, or they have a kind of mental "map sense" that gives them their location relative to home.

P2: Challenges to the Displacement/Tracking Theory

The idea that pigeons keep track of their route (like with an "internal compass" or by sensing movement) doesn't hold up; experiments disrupting their senses don’t seem to affect their ability to find home, though the "ultimate" test combining all disruptions at once hasn't been done.

P3: Investigating the “Map Sense” Hypothesis

The "map sense" theory, especially the idea that it relies on smell, looks more promising—one scientist, Papi, showed that plugging pigeons’ nostrils seems to impair their homing.

20.

Which one of the following, if true, would most weaken Papi's theory regarding homing pigeons' homing ability?

Even pigeons that have been
Unrelated to Goal
This doesn't say anything that relates to sense of smell. It just reiterates that pigeons are good at finding their way home (but gives us no clues as to how they do that).
1% picked this
Pigeons whose sense of smell
Strengthens
If smell is their means of getting home, as Papi believes, then impairing their sense of smell should impair their ability to get home. That's exactly what this answer choice is saying.
4% picked this
Even pigeons that have been
Unclear Impact
This doesn't say anything that clearly relates to sense of smell. In order for this answer to perform the function we need it to, we'd have to be thinking, "if they were really finding their way home by smell, then they would all take the same route home". That's not a common sense expectation. If you're trying to figure out your way home, starting from a random unfamiliar spot, you're likely to use a little trial and error early on to get your bearings. So it wouldn't be surprising if different pigeons, using the same method, end up taking somewhat different routes.
5% picked this
Correct
Even pigeons that have been
Why this is right
This has the most weakening strength, because it makes Papi's theory sound deeply implausible. If pigeons can still make their way home, even when it's impossible to smell their way home, then we would assume that "smelling their way home" is not their usual means of getting home. It defies common sense that they would have two different methods for finding their way home, i.e. 1. use the smell map, if we're still in range of the smell map 2. use method B, if we're off the grid Since the pigeons in this answer choice are clearly not using a smell map (it would be impossible for them to do so, since they're beyond the range of their map), then it's very unlikely that pigeons more broadly find their way home using a smell map.
Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
73% picked this
Pigeons’ sense of smell is
Weaker Impact
This hurts the plausibility of Papi's theory a little bit. It feels like pigeon's sense of smell is "nothing special". Meanwhile, Papi is saying the pigeon's smell map explains their "remarkable" ability to find their way home. It's not very plausible that a "nothing special" sense of smell would result in a "remarkable ability" to find the way home. But it's not strongly undermining the theory. To make a smell map, you don't necessarily need an exceptionally detailed sense of smell. You just need a special ability to keep track of smells in some directional way. Our reaction to this answer is like, "Hmmm. If pigeons did have a better sense of smell than animals that don't have this homing ability, it would probably make me more inclined to believe they use a smell map to find their way home. So hearing that their sense of smell is normal, makes it feel a little less likely." Meanwhile, our reaction to (D) is like, "Oh, sorry, Papi, you're wrong about the whole smell map thing."
17% picked this

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