For the first few weeks

Answer choices

1. A

   Restates Paradox2% picked this

   The dunnart’s respiratory muscles begin to develop a few days

   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%
2. B

   Cheats Paradox3% picked this

   The dunnart's body temperature is higher than that of many other

   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%
3. C

   No Impact Thin Ice0% picked this

   Adult dunnarts experience more heat and water loss through their skin than other

   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%
4. D

   Correct95% picked this

   Its mother's pouch keeps a newborn dunnart warm and reduces water loss

   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%
5. E

   Cheats Paradox0% picked this

   Some dunnarts live where daytime temperatures are high and the climate

   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%