#24 - Ringtail opossums are an Australian wildlife species

[martinbeslu]

This is a strengthen question, so our job is to support the hypothesis that the reason the opossum population was endangered was because of non-native predator species rather than scarcity of food. Answer choice C strongly supports the predatory theory over the scarcity of food theory. If they were fed a diet in captivity similar to that which they eat in the wild and they survived on this diet then this would eliminate the alternate possible cause given for them being endangered.

I know there is something I'm missing. I just don't know what.

[Daniel Stern]

Hi Martin:

What answer choice C means when it refers to a diet similar to what they eat in the wild means the type of food or composition of the diet. I don't think a similar diet necessarily means a similar amount to what they'd eat in some scenario where there food source in the wild was scarce. So C, for me, does not eliminate the alternative cause of food scarcity being the reason for their population drop.

E, however, does eliminate the possibility that it was the being raised in captivity, rather than the efficiency of the foxes as predators, that caused the re-released animals to be killed off by the foxes.

I hope this helps. Good luck in your studies!

Dan Stern

[martinbeslu]

Ahhh, I see. Thanks Daniel. I assumed that they meant the same low calorie diet that they had in the wild. How did you know that they meant just the type of food but not quantity? I read the question again and I never would have guessed that was the meaning of the word they were intending to use unless you told me.

[Malila Robinson]

Hi Martin,
Scarcity would link to amount. But the stimulus said, "not by scarcity of food, ..., but by non-native predator..." So they since they are linking the data they gathered from opossums raised in captivity to the wild opossums, they are not endangered because of a lack of food, instead it is because they are being killed by predators. In answer choice E) if wild opposums were better able to defend themselves against these predators then it is possible that they should not be endangered, but they are, so there must be another reason, in this case the lack of food would work as a reason.
Hope that helps,
-Malila