Self-study
The official listing of an animal species as endangered triggers the enforcement of legal safeguards designed to protect endangered species, such as tighter animal export and trade restrictions and stronger antipoaching laws. █████████████ █████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ █████ ███ ███████ ██ ███ ████ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ ███████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why have some animal species declined faster in the wild after being listed as endangered, even though this status is meant to provide legal protection?
Objective
The correct answer will be a hypothesis that explains how listing a species as endangered can lead to an increase in the rate of population decline. It will highlight an unaddressed consequence of listing a species as endangered that outweighs the benefit of the intended legal protections and leads to an overall increase in population decline.
3.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██████
a
The process of ██████████ ███████ █ ███████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ████ ██████
This doesn’t provide a consequence of listing a species as endangered that causes an increase in population decline. (A) might explain why decline continues after the listing (maybe it's too late to help), but it doesn’t explain why the decline worsens right after the listing.
b
Public campaigns to ████ ██████████ ██████ ███████ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ████████ ██████████
We don’t know whether public campaigns and public affection are connected to an increase in population decline, so (B) doesn’t highlight a consequence of listing a species as endangered.
c
The number of ██████ ███████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ █████████████
There may be more endangered species than ever, but we still don’t know why population decline increases after a species is listed as endangered. We need a consequence of the listing that contributes to an increase in population decline.
d
Animals are more █████████ ██ ██████████ ████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ██ █████
This provides a consequence of listing a species as endangered that could outweigh intended legal protections and increase population decline. Perceived rarity makes endangered species more attractive to collectors, who may illegally capture them and worsen population decline.
e
Poachers find it █████████████ ████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ █ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████████
This addresses population decline, but it doesn’t connect it to listing a species as endangered. We need a consequence of listing a species as endangered that could lead to an overall increase in population decline, despite intended legal protections.