Self-study
The coat patterns of large cat species correspond to the habitats in which those species live and hunt. ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ████████ █████ ███████ ██████ ██ ███ ████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █████ ██████ ███ ████ ███████ ██ ███ ████████ █ ███████ ███ ████ █████ ██ ███ ████ █████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
The cheetah breaks the correspondence with the environment that applies to all other large cats' coat patterns: even though the cheetah lives on the savannah, where we expect a plain coat, it has a spotted coat.
Objective
The correct answer will explain why the cheetah differs from all other large cat species in the relationship between its coat pattern and its environment. One way to do this would be by explaining that for the cheetah, having spots is somehow either advantageous or at least causes no disadvantage.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ █████████ ██████
a
Unlike all other █████ ███ ████████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ██████ ██████ ██ ██████
Large cats' coat patterns correspond to their living and hunting in certain environments. If cheetahs' hunting behavior differs from all other large cats, this suggests an explanation for why their coats don't follow the rule: they don't need their coats for the same reasons -- e.g., camouflage -- as other cats, because they hunt differently.
b
Of all the █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ████ █████ ████ █████ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ██████████
This answer choice gives us a potential consequence or disadvantage downstream of having spots. It doesn't explain why cheetahs have spots in the first place.
c
Because they have ████ ████ ████ ███████████████ ██████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ██████
The fact that cheetahs can't climb trees might help explain why they live on the savannah and not in forests. But we already know that cheetahs live on the savannah: we're still looking for an explanation of why, as savannah-dwellers, cheetahs have spots when we would expect a plain coat.
d
Unlike lions, cheetahs ███ █████████ ████████ ████████
This difference between cheetahs and one other species doesn't give us enough information to say why cheetahs differ from all other large cats. For all we know, all other large cats on the savannah, besides lions, could also hunt alone, which would deepen the mystery of why cheetahs' coats differ.
e
Unlike all other █████ ███ ████████ ████████ ███ ██████ ██ █████
This points out another anomaly that sets cheetahs apart from other large cats. But without additional information, roaring behavior doesn't clearly relate to coat pattern.