PT108.S4.P1.Q3 > Analytics

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Naturalists have long studied the ability of North American forest birds to survive extremely cold overnight temperatures in winter. ███

Phenomenon · Birds can survive extremely cold winter night temperatures

Presumably, the question is how they can do this?

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Examples of Phenomenon and Explanation · Nuthatches, chickadees, and grosbeaks

Nuthatches sleep in cavities to retain heat; Chickadees induce torpor to save energy; Grosbeaks eat a lot of fatty seeds to power shivering.

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Unexplained Phenomenon · Kinglets

How do kinglets stay warm?

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1st Unexplained Aspect of Phenomenon · Tiny size

Kinglets' small size means they rapidly lose heat and hence should have to consume and burn more calories to maintain temperature.

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Partial Explanation · Insulating feathers

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2nd Unexplained Aspect of Phenomenon · Insect diet

We already know that kinglets are supposed to have to eat more food but they only eat insects that they catch during the short winter day. How can they be constantly catching and eating enough insects?

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Partial Explanation · Kinglets store fat well

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Remaining Unexplained Phenomenon · Fat stores only accounts for half the energy they need to survive

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Hypothesis · Perhaps they also induce torpor?

No evidence for this.

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Hypothesis · Perhaps they cluster together?

We know that other birds do this. Perhaps at night, kinglets cluster to retain heat.

Passage Style

Phenomenon-hypothesis (RC)

Single position

According to the passage, the ████████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███████ ███████ ████ ██ █████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████

Question Type

Implied

We’re told what kinglets must do to maintain their body temperature in the middle of P2: “According to the physical laws of heating and cooling, kinglets would lose heat at a rate about 75 percent faster than birds twice their mass—chickadees, for example—and so would have to consume and burn 75 percent more food per unit of body mass than the larger birds to maintain the same body temperature.”

consume more food ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ███ █████ ████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████

Not supported. Although they’d have to eat more food per unit of body mass than larger birds, this doesn’t imply that they have to eat more food per unit of mass than birds of comparable mass.

consume enough food ██ ████ █████ ████████ ████████████ ██████ ██ ████████

Not supported. We’re not told that th birds have to keep their stomachs continuously full.

consume more food ████ ██████ █████ ██

Not supported. Although they have to eat more per unit of body mass, that doesn’t imply they need to eat more food overall than larger birds.

12%

consume more food ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ████ ██

Supported.

79%

consume less food ███ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██

Not supported, because all we know is that the kinglets have to eat more per unit of body mass compared to larger birds.

PrepTest 108 - Section 4 - Passage 1 - Question 3

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