Self-study
Wild cheetahs live in the African grasslands. ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ ██ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███████ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ ██████ ███ ███ ███████ ██████████ ██████ █████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███████ █ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████ ███████████
Summary
Cheetahs live in African grasslands. Previous estimates of the cheetah population size necessary to survive a natural disaster were too low. The current population of cheetahs barely meets the previous estimates. Currently, there is not enough African grassland to support a cheetah population larger than the current one.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
Currently, the cheetah population will be unable to survive a natural disaster.
Without additional grassland, the cheetah population cannot reach the necessary size to be resilient to natural disasters.
17.
The statements above, if true, ████ ████████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ████████████
a
Previous estimates of ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ███████████
This answer is unsupported. It’s not that the estimate of the size of the cheetah population was inaccurate. Rather, it was the estimate of the population needed to survive a natural disaster that was inaccurate.
b
The cheetah's natural ███████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ██ █ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ███████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus whether the cheetah population or their natural habitat is decreasing in size. We only know that the current habitat is incapable of supporting a larger cheetah population than the current one.
c
The principal threat ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ██ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ███ █ ███████ █████████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus what the principle threat against the cheetah population is. We know that a natural disaster is a threat, but we don’t know if a natural disaster is the principle threat.
d
In the short █████ ███ ████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ █████████ ██ █████████ █ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████████
This answer is strongly supported. If the current habitat cannot support a cheetah population larger than the current one, and the cheetah population is too low to survive a natural disaster, then the current cheetah population cannot survive a natural disaster.
e
In regions where ████ ██ ████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ████ ███████ █████████ ███ ████████ ██ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████
This answer is unsupported. We don’t know from the stimulus where natural disasters are expected to occur, if any disasters are expected to occur at all.