GRE Reading Comprehension
Home > GRE Test > GRE Reading Comprehension Questions
Next steps
- Use your browser's back button to return to your test results.
- Do more GRE Reading Comprehension Questions.
Source: 1995
One explanation for the tendency of animals to be more vigilant in smaller groups than in larger ones assumes that the vigilant behavior—looking up, for example—is aimed at predators. If individuals on the edge of a group are more vigilant because they are at greater risk of being captured, then individuals on aver- age would have to be more vigilant in smaller groups, because the animals on the periphery of a group form a greater proportion of the whole group as the size of the group diminishes
. However, a different explanation is necessary in cases where the vigilant behavior is not directed at predators. J. Krebs has discovered that great blue herons look up more often when in smaller flocks than when in larger ones, solely as a consequence of poor feeding conditions. Krebs hypothesizes that the herons in smaller flocks are watching for herons that they might follow to better feeding pools, which usually attract larger numbers of the birds.
Which of the following best describes the relationship of the second paragraph to the first?
- A he second paragraph relies on different evidence in drawing a conclusion similar to that expressed in the first paragraph.
- B The second paragraph provides further elaboration on why an assertion made at the end of the first paragraph proves to be true in most cases.
- C The second paragraph provides additional information in support of a hypothesis stated in the first paragraph.
- D The second paragraph provides an example of a case in which the assumption described in the first paragraph is unwarranted.
- E The second paragraph describes a phenomenon that has the same cause as the phenomenon described in the first paragraph.