#17 - Must Be True

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation
(See the complete passage discussion here: lsat/viewtopic.php?t=11555)

The correct answer choice is (D)

For this Specific Reference question, we should be sure that we know the context of the reference: There is skepticism about the theory of relict behavior, partly because it is so difficult to test due to the absence of a principal component. In the case of the pronghorn, this refers to the long extinct predators that may have led to the pronghorn’s speed and other relict behavior.

Answer choice (A): Since the behavior that persists is not absent, we can rule out this choice.

Answer choice (B): The principal component does not refer to the ancestor of the pronghorn, so this answer choice is incorrect.

Answer choice (C): This ability is not absent, so this answer choice must be wrong.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice, aligned with our prephrase. In the case of the pronghorn, the referenced environmental condition would be the extinct predators.

Answer choice (E): The passage does not talk about original behavior that is different from modern day behavior, so this answer choice should be eliminated.

[jenchiang4]

Hi,

I was stuck between answer choices D and E after eliminating A, B, and C. When it came down to evaluating the choices, I eliminated D and chose answer E as the correct answer choice. My reasoning is because on line 16 the author writes, "a behavior that persists though its only...." When I read this, I thought it clearly aligned with answer choice E as they both reference a behavior. The reason why I didn't choose answer choice D was because it referred to environmental conditions and while it could be implied that is what the author meant, I saw that it had also referenced behavior and that's why I thought it was clearly correct. What am I not seeing?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi Jen!

Try putting the answer choice into the context of the passage.

For answer choice E, it would read, "Most biologists distrust explanations positing relict behaviors, in part because testing these hypotheses is so difficult due to the extinction of an original behavior of an animal of which certain present-day behaviors are thought to be modifications." What's the original behavior here? The speed of the pronghorn. That original behavior is not extinct, so the content of answer choice E can't be comfortably "slotted into" the context of this sentence. One other issue is that the pronghorn's present-day speed is the same "behavior" as the original pronghorn's speed (fast running), so there isn't really any passage support for the idea in answer choice E that the present-day behavior is a "modification" of that original behavior.

What answer choice D is referring to is those "conditions" that have now become extinct (in the pronghorn's case, the predators like the American cheetah or long-legged hyena) that caused the pronghorn to develop its speed in the first place. Notice how that works well when you glance backward in the passage to see the other place the author has referred to something becoming "extinct," in line 17, the "long-extinct environmental conditions" that were the impetus for the behavior of the pronghorn.

The question really boils down to "what is the extinct thing?" It's not the pronghorn speed (the original behavior). Rather, it's the environmental spur (the extinct predators) for the original behavior.

I hope this helps!

Jeremy