Self-study
Support When the ancient fossils of a primitive land mammal were unearthed in New Zealand, they provided the first concrete evidence that the island country had once had indigenous land mammals. █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ██████ ████ ████████ ███ █████████ ████ █████████ ███ ██████ ████ ███ █████████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ████ ████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that New Zealand’s rich and varied native bird population was not caused by the lack of competition from mammals. This is based on evidence that New Zealand once had indigenous land mammals.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the indigenous land mammals on New Zealand existed at the same time as New Zealand’s birds existed. The author also assumes that there were enough members of indigenous land mammal species to create competitive pressure with New Zealand’s birds.
2.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
The unearthed land ██████ ██ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███████ ████ ███████ ████ ████ ██████████ ██ ███ ████████
The number of different kinds of mammals doesn’t impact the significance of the evidence. And even if it did, (A) might strengthen by providing additional reason to think birds faced competition from mammals.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
The recently discovered ████ ██████ ██████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████████████
This undermines the assumption that the indigenous land mammal recently discovered actually competed with New Zealand’s birds. If it was extinct before the birds came around, it’s not evidence that birds faced competition from land mammals.
c
The site at █████ ███ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ █████████ ████ ████████ ███ ███████ ██ █████████ ███████ ███ ██████ ████████
The argument concerns competition between birds and land mammals. Reptiles and insects are not mammals and are therefore irrelevant.
d
Countries with rich ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ██████ ███████████ ██ ███ ████ ████ ███ ██████ ██████ ████ ████████████
We know NZ has a rich and varied bird population, which, in connection with (D), would imply that it doesn’t have a rich and varied population of land mammals. But this doesn’t affect anything concerning the recently discovered mammal and how it might have affected birds.
Illusory inconsistency
Illusory inconsistency
Answer is attractive because it seems to (but doesn't actually) contradict the premises or conclusion.
e
Some other island █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ██ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████
Whether other island countries also had indigenous land mammals doesn’t affect whether the recently discovered land mammal on New Zealand implies that birds had competition from land mammals.