Logical Reasoning

PT146 · S2 · Q1 For the first few weeks

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For the first few weeks after birth, the dunnart has such poor control over its respiratory muscles that it cannot use them to breathe.

Given that...

Warm-blooded animals need thick skin throughout their lives to maintain body temperature and reduce water loss.

How can it be that...

Unlike other warm-blooded animals, for the first few weeks after birth the dunnart breathes through its thin skin, which gradually thickens as the dunnart matures inside its mother's pouch.

Evaluate

As with many Paradox questions, this one involves a comparison. It compares newborn dunnarts, which have thin skin for the first few weeks after birth, with other warm-blooded animals which need thick skin to survive throughout their entire lives.

We're being asked to explain how newborn dunnarts manage to survive with such thin skin. It seems like there must be something unique about dunnarts. The stimulus does tell us that a dunnart lives inside its mother's pouch while its skin thickens. It's not too-far fetched to think that living in a pouch might help a thin-skinned newborn dunnart to maintain body temperature and reduce water loss.

Goal

A correct answer will describe something unique about dunnarts which allows the newborns to survive in spite of their thin skin. Expect an answer to involve living in the mother's pouch, but keep an open mind in case the correct answer brings in some new, unexpected detail which does a good job of explaining the situation. Beware of answers that seem relevant at first glance, but don't actually explain why newborn dunnarts are able to survive.

1.

Which one of the following, if true, most helps explain how newborn dunnarts manage to survive despite their thin skins?

  1. The dunnart’s respiratory muscles begin

    Restates Paradox

    This answer adds an additional detail to the story, but doesn't explain how a newborn dunnart maintains body temperature and reduces water loss with an unusually thin skin.

    2% picked this

  2. The dunnart's body temperature is

    Cheats Paradox

    This answer is trying to imply that the higher body temperature somehow helps keep the dunnart warm. But it doesn't explain how a newborn dunnart is able to maintain its body temperature without a thicker skin. Humans have higher body temperatures than snakes, but this doesn't mean that a human can survive outdoors in freezing temperatures wearing nothing but a bathing suit. Something has to help humans and dunnarts maintain their body temperature, whatever that temperature might be.

    3% picked this

  3. Adult dunnarts experience more heat

    No Impact Thin Ice

    This difference between adult dunnarts and other adult marsupials doesn't help explain how newborn dunnarts survive with such thin skin. This answer might seem appealing if we assume that the heat and water lost by a dunnart mother is absorbed by the newborn in the mother's pouch. But that's assuming a significant amount of detail that isn't supported by the stimulus or this answer choice. By comparison, the correct answer doesn't require this kind of assumption.

    0% picked this

  4. Correct

    Its mother's pouch keeps a

    Why this is right

    We were already told that dunnarts live inside their mothers' pouches during the time that their skin is thickening. This answer explains how the pouch thin-skinned newborn dunnarts survive.

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

    95% picked this

  5. Some dunnarts live where daytime

    Cheats Paradox

    High daytime temperatures could help explain how newborn dunnarts maintain their body temperature. But what happens at night? And this answer only states that some dunnarts live in this type of climate. What about the ones that don't? Even more significantly, an animal living in a dry climate has an even greater need to reduce water loss. This would mean an even bigger problem for newborn dunnarts. This answer might explain one small aspect of the situation, but leaves too many questions unanswered.

    0% picked this

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