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Pandas

by charu_mahajan » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:42 am
Tougher international restrictions on importing Panda Bears to zoos in the United States are not to blame for the recent shortage of Pandas on display in U.S. zoos. In fact, the real reason fewer zoos today have fewer Pandas on display than 10 years ago is that the reproduction rates of Pandas have decreased by 40% and the cost of upkeep of Pandas has increased by 30% over the same time period.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most effectively strengthen the conclusion presented above?

A. Over the past 10 years, no pandas have been imported to the United States.
B. Since there are fewer Pandas in the world today than 10 years ago, zookeepers have found it difficult to secure Pandas for their zoos, especially since the cost to secure and support the Panda is twice that of any other animal.
C. The recent drought in China and southeastern Asia has severely decreased the Bamboo shoots available for Pandas to eat throughout the world.
D. A recent study has concluded that the animal people most look forward to seeing the most at zoos in the Koala Bear.
E. An increase in the number of zoos throughout the United States has increased the demand for Pandas by medium and small sized zoos.

Source: Kaplan GMAT
Level: 500-600 (IMO)
OA: After discussion
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by challenger63 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 5:21 pm
This one is quite difficult. I am not sure in my answer B.

Tougher international restrictions on importing Panda Bears to zoos in the United States are not to blame for the recent shortage of Pandas on display in U.S. zoos. In fact, the real reason fewer zoos today have fewer Pandas on display than 10 years ago is that the reproduction rates of Pandas have decreased by 40% and the cost of upkeep of Pandas has increased by 30% over the same time period.

Which of the following statements, if true, would most effectively strengthen the conclusion presented above?

A. Over the past 10 years, no pandas have been imported to the United States.
>> It somehow weakens the conclusion that "tougher restrictions" damage the number of Pandas in the US.

B. Since there are fewer Pandas in the world today than 10 years ago, zookeepers have found it difficult to secure Pandas for their zoos, especially since the cost to secure and support the Panda is twice that of any other animal.
>> Perhaps, this is a right answer. This answer intensifies the idea of costs showing that 30% is really high and providing idea that in general now it is difficult to secure Pandas because of their shortage.

C. The recent drought in China and southeastern Asia has severely decreased the Bamboo shoots available for Pandas to eat throughout the world.
>> This one is tempting, but it doesn't directly attack the conclusion.
1) Pandas could be omnivorous, so it is easy to replace the Bamboo shoots with something else.
2) Drought could be the same 10 years ago. Nothing changed.

D. A recent study has concluded that the animal people most look forward to seeing the most at zoos in the Koala Bear.
>> But, it could be the same 10 years ago. Nothing changed.

E. An increase in the number of zoos throughout the United States has increased the demand for Pandas by medium and small sized zoos.

>> But, we don't know the ratio of small/medium zoos to big zoos. Perhaps, this increase is relatively small.
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by shenoydevika » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:03 pm
I think this is of a higher difficulty level than 500-600.

Anyway, IMO the answer is B

A. Over the past 10 years, no pandas have been imported to the United States.
This could be attributed to a number of reasons. In fact, it can be attributed more to the fact that there are tough international restrictions on importing Pandas to the US than to the fact the Panda population has decreased.

B. Since there are fewer Pandas in the world today than 10 years ago, zookeepers have found it difficult to secure Pandas for their zoos, especially since the cost to secure and support the Panda is twice that of any other animal.
This clearly supports the statement the conclusion. The reason fewer zoos have fewer Pandas is because there are fewer Pandas in the world today and they are super expensive. The tough import restrictions have nothing to do with it.

C. The recent drought in China and southeastern Asia has severely decreased the Bamboo shoots available for Pandas to eat throughout the world.
So? The Pandas have fewer bamboo shoots. Im sure they eat other stuff too.(Right?) Scarcity of bamboo shoots is too remote a reason for the low number of Pandas in US zoos.

D. A recent study has concluded that the animal people most look forward to seeing the most at zoos in the Koala Bear.
Ok people love the Koala bear the most. But do they hate the Panda? Maybe the Panda is the second favourite. Still not a good reason for the dismal number of Pandas in US zoos.

E. An increase in the number of zoos throughout the United States has increased the demand for Pandas by medium and small sized zoos.
This does not strengthen the conclusion at all. It just tells us there is demand for Pandas in certain zoos but doesn't explain why the demand has not been met.




OA???
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by charu_mahajan » Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:27 pm
Kudos Devika and challenger63. You have nailed it.

OA: B

Official Explanation:

For some reason there are fewer Pandas in zoos, according to the stimulus, than there were 10 years ago. The stimulus claims that the reason this has occurred is not because of international restriction on Panda importations but because reproduction rates of Pandas have decreased and the cost of caring for Pandas has increased. This passage assumes that there are no other factors (beyond birth rates and cost) that might prevent Pandas from being kept in zoos in the United States. Answer choice (B) strengthens the author's argument by strengthening the belief that reproduction rates and costs are influencing the choices of zookeepers to not bring Pandas into their zoos.

Answer choice (A) reinforces the idea that Pandas have become more scarce but in a subtle way actually weakens the argument, instead of strengthening it, by presenting a scenario where zookeepers cannot bring Pandas into the U.S. While the drought in China might explain why there are fewer pandas, choice (C) fails to strengthen the author's claim as to why there are fewer Pandas in zoos. Choice (D) is outside of scope because it addresses a different animal. Choice (E), like (C) presents a scenario where Pandas have increased in demand but fails to support the author's claim as to why fewer Pandas are available for all zoos, not just medium and small sized zoos.
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