Q2 - The Common Loon is a migratory bird that

by **ohthatpatrick** Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:02 pm

Question Type:
Explain/Resolve

Stimulus Breakdown:
Loons claim a lake when they want to mate. They either find an empty one or chase away the current tenants of an occupied one. About half the time, they chase away the current tenants, even when there's a good vacant lake nearby.

Answer Anticipation:
GIVEN THAT there are good vacant lakes nearby, WHY ARE these loons frequently chasing away the residents of occupied lakes?

We don't try super hard to predict answers for these types of questions, but my first two reactions were:
1. Maybe the loons don't realize there are vacant lakes nearby.
2. Maybe ousting away current residents is some form of mating foreplay. (I know it won't be that, but I like to dream).

Correct Answer:
D

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) This exacerbates the paradox by underscoring the idea that there are great options that don't involve ousting fellow loons.

(B) We don't care who initiates. We just care why the new couple chooses to chase away the couple already there

(C) We don't care about their success rate. We want to know why they're even attempting to oust, when they could just inhabit an open lake.

(D) YES, this is similar to my #1 prediction. They don't realize there are perfectly suitable breeding territories nearby that are vacant, because they use the presence of other loons to ascertain that a lake is suitable.

(E) We don't need more info on what makes a lake suitable. That doesn't explain why they're evicting loons instead of moving into a vacant area.

Takeaway/Pattern: Kind of a jerk move, Loons. Rather than doing your own research on "good hotels in Paris", you're just finding some happy honeymooners, surmising that they would only stay at a good hotel, and then booting them out of their suite? As long as we went to the answers with the question in our heads of, "Why are loon couples ousting other loon couples rather than just claiming an open spot?" we should find that only (D) gives us a 'why' for that behavior.

#officialexplanation