A popular beach has long had a dolphin feeding program

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GMAT Hacker: Senior | Next Rank: 100 Posts; Posts: 48; Joined: Sun May 30, 2010 12:35 am; Thanked: 1 times

by GMAT Hacker » Sun May 30, 2010 10:33 pm

A popular beach has long had a dolphin feeding program in which fish
are given to dolphins several times a day; many dolphins get as much
as half of their food each day there. Although dolphins that first benefit from
the program as adults are healthy and long-lived, their offspring have a lower
life expectancy than offspring of dolphins that feed exclusively in the wild.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the lower life expectancy
of offspring of dolphins feeding at the beach compared to other young dolphins?

A. Sharks that prey on dolphins are less common in the open seas off the beach
than in many other areas of the open seas where dolphins congregate.

B. Many of the adult dolphins that feed at the beach are females that nurse their offspring there.

C. The fish given to the dolphins at the beach are the same types of fish that dolphins typically catch in the wild.

D. Many dolphins that feed at the beach with their offspring come to the beach only a few times a month.

E. Adult dolphins that feed at the beach spend much less time teaching their
offspring how to catch fish in the wild than do other adult dolphins.

Why not A is correct?

[spoiler]QA is E
[/spoiler]

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Source: Beat The GMAT — Critical Reasoning | Sun May 30, 2010 10:33 pm

liferocks: Legendary Member; Posts: 576; Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 8:31 pmFollowed by: 1 member; Thanked: 97 times

by liferocks » Sun May 30, 2010 11:55 pm

Here the statement is
if fishing habit of adult dolphin is changed--->offspring's life expectancy lowers

So the ans should show how the fishing habit is related to offspring's life expectancy.Only option E does that.

option 1 tells about different open sea areas other than open see off the beach but the argument is about the dolphins feed in popular beach area,so option A is wreaking the argument.

"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there."
Lewis Carroll

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diebeatsthegmat: Legendary Member; Posts: 1119; Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 8:50 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 29 times

by diebeatsthegmat » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:14 am

GMAT Hacker wrote:A popular beach has long had a dolphin feeding program in which fish
are given to dolphins several times a day; many dolphins get as much
as half of their food each day there. Although dolphins that first benefit from
the program as adults are healthy and long-lived, their offspring have a lower
life expectancy than offspring of dolphins that feed exclusively in the wild.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the lower life expectancy
of offspring of dolphins feeding at the beach compared to other young dolphins?

A. Sharks that prey on dolphins are less common in the open seas off the beach
than in many other areas of the open seas where dolphins congregate.

B. Many of the adult dolphins that feed at the beach are females that nurse their offspring there.

C. The fish given to the dolphins at the beach are the same types of fish that dolphins typically catch in the wild.

D. Many dolphins that feed at the beach with their offspring come to the beach only a few times a month.

E. Adult dolphins that feed at the beach spend much less time teaching their
offspring how to catch fish in the wild than do other adult dolphins.

Why not A is correct?

[spoiler]QA is E
[/spoiler]

this argument is quite interesting because i find it easy for me.
E is the answer because the adult dolphins fed never has enough experience to live in the wild thus they have no ability teach their babies how to catch fishes to feed themselves. its like birds, they need to teach how to fly and its like human, we need to teach how to write and read blah blah blah
and A is not correct because hunting is not mentioned in the argument. its out of scope

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diebeatsthegmat: Legendary Member; Posts: 1119; Joined: Fri May 07, 2010 8:50 amFollowed by: 3 members; Thanked: 29 times

by diebeatsthegmat » Wed Jun 02, 2010 12:17 am

GMAT Hacker wrote:A popular beach has long had a dolphin feeding program in which fish
are given to dolphins several times a day; many dolphins get as much
as half of their food each day there. Although dolphins that first benefit from
the program as adults are healthy and long-lived, their offspring have a lower
life expectancy than offspring of dolphins that feed exclusively in the wild.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the lower life expectancy
of offspring of dolphins feeding at the beach compared to other young dolphins?

A. Sharks that prey on dolphins are less common in the open seas off the beach
than in many other areas of the open seas where dolphins congregate.

B. Many of the adult dolphins that feed at the beach are females that nurse their offspring there.

C. The fish given to the dolphins at the beach are the same types of fish that dolphins typically catch in the wild.

D. Many dolphins that feed at the beach with their offspring come to the beach only a few times a month.

E. Adult dolphins that feed at the beach spend much less time teaching their
offspring how to catch fish in the wild than do other adult dolphins.

Why not A is correct?

[spoiler]QA is E
[/spoiler]

ouch, sorry, there are some grammar mistakes. i will rewrite what i thought.
this argument is quite interesting because i find it easy for me.
E is the answer because the adult dolphins fed never has enough experience to live in the wild thus they have no ability teach their babies how to catch fishes to feed themselves. its like birds, they need to be taught how to fly and its like human, we need to taught how to write and read when we were little kids blah blah blah
and A is not correct because hunting is not mentioned in the argument. its out of scope

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sanp_l: Master | Next Rank: 500 Posts; Posts: 160; Joined: Sun May 03, 2009 1:17 amFollowed by: 1 member; Location: Rourkela/Hyderabad; Thanked: 4 times

by sanp_l » Wed Jun 02, 2010 11:33 am

Life expectancy is lower for offspring at the beach according to the passage.

Lets assume that Option A (Sharks that prey on dolphins are less common in the open seas off the beach than in many other areas of the open seas where dolphins congregate) is correct. If this were true, the life expectancy in the wild would be less. So how can it be the correct one?

Option E explains a scenario wherein, the offspring might perish due to the inability to catch fish in the wild. Hence the lower life expectancy.

Sandy

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