Self-study
Few animals brave the midday heat of the Sahara desert. ██ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ ██ ███ ██ █████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███ █████ █████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████████ ████████ ████ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ███████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why does the silver ant leave its nest to scavenge at midday, when it is vulnerable to the heat?
Objective
The correct answer must present an unsatisfactory hypothesis, one that fails to explain why the silver ant leaves its nest at midday. Every wrong answer, meanwhile, will identify a difference between midday and other times of day that implies midday is a safer or more effective time for the ants to scavenge.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██████
a
The chief predators ██ ███ ██████ ███ ████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ███ ██████ ███████
This is a reason for silver ants to risk the midday heat. The ants’ predators are hiding, so midday is safer than other times of day, despite the heat.
b
The cues that ██████ ████ ███ ██ ████████ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ███ █████████ ███████████
This is a reason for silver ants to risk the midday heat. If the ants’ navigation becomes less reliable later in the day, they have an incentive to scavenge earlier.
c
Other scavengers remove ███ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███████████ ██████ ██ ████ ██ ███ ██████████
This is a reason for silver ants to risk the midday heat. Their food will be taken by other scavengers in the afternoon, so the ants cannot wait for temperatures to drop before scavenging.
d
The temperature inside ███ ██████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ███ ████
This is a reason for silver ants to risk the midday heat. If the ants’ nest is warmer than the surface near midday, then they actually escape the heat by leaving.
e
Silver ants cool ██████████ ██ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ██████████ ██ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ █████ ████████
This does not explain why the ants choose midday for scavenging. It identifies a mechanism the ants use to cool down, but states nothing about midday that explains the ants’ scavenging schedule.