Logical Reasoning

PT111 · S3 · Q16 Zoos have served both as educational

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Zoos have served both as educational resources and as entertainment.

Information

Zoos function both as education and entertainment.

Causal Chain Removing animals from natural habitats to stock the first zoos reduced the populations of those species, which then endangered the survival of some of those species.

Contrast Modern zoos get most of their animals not by removing them from natural habitats but by breeding new animals in captivity (i.e. at the zoo).

Causal Difference-Maker Maintaining breeding stocks for continued propagation of various species makes possible efforts to reestablish endangered species in the wild.

Evaluate / Goal

This is a pretty varied mix of claims with no obvious momentum for combining facts, so I would head to the answers. We're on guard against language that is Too Strong, makes an Unknown Comparison, goes Against the Passage, or just brings up something Out of Scope.

16.

Which one of the following statements is most strongly supported by the information above?

  1. Zoos have played an essential

    Too Strong: essential

    We actually don't know for sure that zoos have played any role in educating about endangered species. We know zoos have played some educational role. That's it. These statements don't allow us to derive something as strong as the claim that they've played an essential role.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    Some specimens of endangered species

    Why this is right

    This spells out the implicit logic in the Causal Difference-Maker language starting the final sentence: this makes possible If they're telling us that by breeding animals within the zoo (i.e. having two zoo pandas mate and breed so that the baby pandas can also grow up in the zoo) makes possible efforts to reestablish endangered species in the wild. If none of the animals being born and bred in zoos were endangered, then how would the zoos' practice of raising baby animals do anything to help reestablish endangered species in the wild? The implied idea in the last sentence is that at least some of the animals being born/bred in zoos are from endangered species, and once the babies are robust enough, the zoos will send those babies off into the wild, in an attempt to boost the numbers of an endangered species. If we were just rapidly guessing on this problem, we would definitely guess this answer because it has the weakest language. A) essential B) some C) No D) nearly all E) the main purpose

    Skill tested: Most Supported · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

    82% picked this

  3. No zoos exploit wild animals

    Out of Scope

    Out of Scope: Exploit Wild Animals Opposite We never talk about whether zoos are exploiting animals (and many of us would certainly say, "yes, they are!"). We're also told early on in the paragraph that the practice of snatching animals from natural habitats actually endangered the survival of some species. Even though those were the early zoos and "most" zoo animals today are obtained from captive breeding, there's still plenty of room for some zoo animals to be still snatched from the wild, potentially endangering their species. This answer is just so strongly worded "Not one zoo is exploiting any wild animal or endangering the survival of any species" that it would be incredibly hard to support.

    1% picked this

  4. Nearly all of the animals

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: "Nearly All" Obtained By Zoos vs. In Zoos We were told that most zoo animals nowadays are obtained through captive breeding programs. Most = more than 50%. 51% qualifies as most. Does 51% qualify as "nearly all"? If we said 51% of Senators voted for the bill, we can say most Senators voted for the bill, but we can't say nearly all the Senators voted for the bill. Nearly all doesn't have a precise definition but we're talking at least 80%. The other problem with this answer is that it's talking about the animals in zoos today, not the animals obtained by zoos today. Even though we know most zoo animals nowadays are obtained through captive breeding, that doesn't mean most animals in zoos were obtained through captive breeding. There could be tons of animals who were snatched from the wild a couple decades ago but are still alive in zoos.

    14% picked this

  5. The main purpose of zoos

    Too Strong

    Too Strong: Main Purpose Out of Scope: Shifted We can't comment on what the main purpose of zoos is, since we weren't given any language comparing the importance of purposes. We also have no reason to believe the emphasis, whatever it is, has shifted.

    1% picked this

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