Logical ReasoningDifficulty: Easy

PT153 S2 Q2 Explanation

Biologist: Some small animals

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

TopicsParadox

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Stimulus

Biologist: Some small animals will instinctively go limp, “playing dead” when caught by a predator. But it is hard to see how playing dead can have survival value in this situation. The predator means same, whether or not it plays dead.

What this question is testing

Paradox

Your task

Break the argument into its conclusion and evidence, then do exactly what the question stem asks with that structure.

Common trap

Answers that sound relevant to the topic but don't connect to the argument's actual reasoning.

Winning move

Predict what a right answer must do, then test each choice against the conclusion-evidence gap.

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

The question
2.

Which one of the following, if true, would most help to resolve the apparent paradox described

Answer choices

  1. No Impact4% picked this

    Many small animal species will play dead when surprised by a loud noise

    This doesn't help us understand how "playing dead" helps a small animal being chased by a predator. This is talking about a small animal playing dead in response to a loud noise or sudden movement (not in response to a predator).

  2. Correct92% picked this

    Predators often leave their food in a hiding place rather than

    Why this is right

    This helps us understand how "playing dead" helps a small animal being chased by a predator. A wolf catches up with a rabbit, and the rabbit plays dead. The wolf now carries the rabbit's limp, seemingly-lifeless body over to the wolf's hidey-hole, plops the rabbit in there for later, and then goes back out to continue the night's hunt. When the wolf comes back later to have it's delicious rabbit dessert, it realizes that the rabbit has run away! Wolf: "Hoodwinked! It wasn't really dead. It was just playing dead, and then it ran away as soon as I left the area. You rascally rabbit."

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

  3. No Impact1% picked this

    A small animal is more likely to play dead when caught by a predator if the predator species

    This doesn't help us understand how "playing dead" helps a small animal being chased by a predator. This just tells us about conditions in which the animal is more likely to be play dead, but we still don't know why playing dead would be helpful in those conditions.

  4. No Impact1% picked this

    Most predators prey upon a variety of species, not all of which play

    This doesn't help us understand how "playing dead" helps a small animal being chased by a predator. It just tells us that some of a predator's prey don't play dead. But that doesn't tell us how the prey that do play dead get any survival value out of it.

  5. No Impact2% picked this

    Many small animal species that do not play dead are capable of

    This doesn't help us understand how "playing dead" helps a small animal being chased by a predator. It's not talking about small animals who play dead.

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