Reading Comprehension

Measuring more than five feet tall and ten feet long, the Javan rhinoceros is often called the rarest large mammal on earth. Though the habitat of the Javan rhino once extended across southern Asia, now there are fewer than one hundred of the animals in Indonesia and fewer than a dozen in Vietnam. The decline of the species may have progressed too far to be reversed. For centuries, farmers who wished to cultivate the rhino's habitat viewed the animals as crop-eating pests and shot them on sight; during the colonial period, hunters slaughtered thousands for their horns, as poachers still do today. The surviving Vietnamese herd has diminished to the point that it can no longer maintain the genetic variation necessary for long-term survival. The Indonesian herd cannot be used to supplement the Vietnamese population because, in the millions of years since Indonesia separated from the mainland, the two groups have evolved into separate sub-species. The Indonesian rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon peninsula, which is unsettled by humans, and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive. The lack of human disturbance, however, allows mature forests to replace the shrubby vegetation preferred by the animals. Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

According to the passage, one primary contrast between the Indonesian herd and the Vietnamese herd is that

A)the Vietnamese herd was ravaged more thoroughly by farmers and hunters
B)some protections have been put into place for the Indonesian herd
C)fewer Indonesian rhinos exist in the wild
D)the Indonesian herd may still have enough members to maintain genetic diversity
E)the Indonesian herd evolved into a separate sub-species

OA is D
Somewhere in the text you see that the author is saying:
"The decline of the species may have progressed too far to be reversed"
and somewhere else is saying that:
"The Indonesian rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon peninsula, which is unsettled by humans, and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive"
I think the text is extremely uncertain about choosing a pattern in its tone. If the question were to ask you about the author's tone what were you going to say?

Bests
Arash

I posted on this passage elsewhere (https://www.beatthegmat.com/mgmat-rc-que ... 74058.html), but here are my notes again. The first thing to do is to divide it up into manageable chunks:

Measuring more than five feet tall and ten feet long, the Javan rhinoceros is often called the rarest large mammal on earth. Though the habitat of the Javan rhino once extended across southern Asia, now there are fewer than one hundred of the animals in Indonesia and fewer than a dozen in Vietnam. The decline of the species may have progressed too far to be reversed.

For centuries, farmers who wished to cultivate the rhino’s habitat viewed the animals as crop-eating pests and shot them on sight; during the colonial period, hunters slaughtered thousands for their horns, as poachers still do today. The surviving Vietnamese herd has diminished to the point that it can no longer maintain the genetic variation necessary for long-term survival.

The Indonesian herd cannot be used to supplement the Vietnamese population because, in the millions of years since Indonesia separated from the mainland, the two groups have evolved into separate sub-species. The Indonesian rhinos are protected on the Ujung Kulon peninsula, which is unsettled by humans, and still thought to have sufficient genetic diversity to survive.

The lack of human disturbance, however, allows mature forests to replace the shrubby vegetation preferred by the animals. Human benevolence may prove little better for these rhinos than past human maltreatment.

PASSAGE MAP
Topic: Javan rhino
Scope: ability of rhino to survive
1st chunk: to introduce the endangered Rhino
2nd chunk: to explain why the rhino is endangered & that Viet herd can't survive
3rd chunk: to describe how 1 solution won't work (can't mix the Indo herd -- diff. sub-species)
4th chunk: to emphasize the Indo herd, though protected, might not survive (lack of food source)
Overall Purpose: to describe the causes of endangerment & challenges facing 2 rhino species

Even though the author says that the Indo rhinos "are protected", in the final sentence he REINFORCES his overall pessimistic tone but stating that it may prove "little better for these rhinos." The main idea here is that things are NOT GOOD for either rhino. [/b]