Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Medium

PT13 S2 Q12 Explanation

Harris: Currently, hybrid animals are

A free, expert breakdown of this official LSAT Logical Reasoning question.

TopicsNecessary Assumption

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Stimulus

Harris: Currently, hybrid animals are not protected by international endangered‐species regulations. But new techniques in genetic research suggest that the red wolf, long thought to be an independent species, is a hybrid of the coyote and the gray wolf. Hence, since the should be changed to admit the protection of hybrids.

Vogel: Yet hybrids do not need protection. Since a breeding population that arises through hybridization descends from independent species, if any such population were to die out, it could easily be revived from which the hybrid is descended.

What this question is testing

Necessary Assumption

Your task

Find the assumption the argument requires in order for its conclusion to hold.

Common trap

Answers that would help the argument but aren't strictly required (sufficient, not necessary).

Winning move

Negate each choice — the right one breaks the argument when negated.

Reading along? Open the full official question in LawHub — we show a fragment here and keep the reasoning in our own words.

The question
12.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which Vogel’s

Answer choices

  1. Trap8% picked this

    The techniques currently being used to determine whether a population of animals is a hybrid of other species

  2. Trap5% picked this

    The international regulations that protect endangered species and subspecies are being

  3. Trap4% picked this

    The gray wolf has been successfully bred

  4. Correct77% picked this

    All hybrids are the descendants of species that are

    Why this is right

    Answer D is correct.

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

  5. Trap6% picked this

    The coyote and the red wolf are not

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