Self-study
Biologist: Some small animals will instinctively go limp, "playing dead" when caught by a predator. ███ ██ ██ ████ ██ ███ ███ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████ ██ ███ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ██ ███ ██ █████ █████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Small animals sometimes play dead when caught by a predator, despite the predator intending to eat them either way.
Objective
The right answer will be a hypothesis that explains why small animals play dead. This explanation must make playing dead a rational thing for small animals to do when they’re caught by predators, likely by pointing out some survival advantage that the behavior affords them.
2.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████
a
Many small animal ███████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ █ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ █████████
This seems as irrational as the behavior described in the stimulus. Why would playing dead protect small animals from the predators that could make a loud noise or unexpected movement? We still don't know.
b
Predators often leave █████ ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ██████ ████ ██████ ██ ████████████
If the small animals tried to escape, predators would just kill them. But since predators think the small animals are dead, they store them in a hiding spot, which allows the small animals to escape. This explains the behavior.
c
A small animal ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ██ ███ █████
How common different predators are doesn't tell us how playing dead could possibly be useful for small animals. Without more information, this is just irrelevant.
d
Most predators prey ████ █ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ ███████
Sure, but why is this behavior useful for the small animals which do play dead? This still doesn't explain how the behavior could be beneficial.
e
Many small animal ███████ ████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████████ ███ ██████████
Information about animals that don't play dead isn't relevant to us. We need to know why the small animals in question do in fact play dead rather than struggle to get free.