Q25 - Burying beetles do whatever

[toodusolu]

I don't quite understand why B isn't right, any insight would be greatly appreciated. thanks!

[bbirdwell]

First, we've got to isolate the contradictory information.

1. beetles destroy each others' eggs
2. beetles raise each others' young when the eggs hatch

Why on earth do they do this?

(A) doesn't tell us why they raise each others' young.
(B) seems to give us a reason why they raise each others' young, but if cooperation is so awesome, why do they kill each others' eggs? This is no help!
(C) ah-ha! They can't tell the difference between their larvae and their neighbor's larvae! That explains why they don't kill the larvae.
(D) is basically the same as (B) in that it points to one side of the issue but doesn't help us solve the riddle of why both sides are occurring.
(E) is no help at all in explaining why they raise each others' young.

Does that clarify things?

[toodusolu]

Thanks so much, that does help!

[griffin.811]

Hi Brian (or others),

Couldn't we make the same argument against C, as we do for B and D? C seems to explain one half (why they treat the larvae equally) but not the other part (why they try to minimize the broods of other beetles).

Thanks

[ttunden]

The problem with B is that it talks about adult burying beetles. It doesn't explain why adult beetles treat the larvae equally after trying to destroy them when they were eggs.

That was the main reason I eliminated B.
D I had marked as a contender but the issue with D is that it doesn't really resolve the paradox between destroying each other's eggs and then taking care of the larvae once they hatch.

D was just extraneous information. Now if D said " repelled only if burying beetles and their larvae cooperate in defending the breeding site" then it may have a basis for not being eliminated. It could explain why they do not attack the larvae once they hatch and treat them equally.

I chose C because it adequately resolved the paradox. It really explains why they treat all larvae equally upon hatching. It explains the drastic change in behavior of the beetles from destroying the eggs to taking care of the larvae.

[magic.imango]

First, we've got to isolate the contradictory information.

1. beetles destroy each others' eggs
2. beetles raise each others' young when the eggs hatch

Why on earth do they do this?

(A) doesn't tell us why they raise each others' young.
(B) seems to give us a reason why they raise each others' young, but if cooperation is so awesome, why do they kill each others' eggs? This is no help!
(C) ah-ha! They can't tell the difference between their larvae and their neighbor's larvae! That explains why they don't kill the larvae.
(D) is basically the same as (B) in that it points to one side of the issue but doesn't help us solve the riddle of why both sides are occurring.
(E) is no help at all in explaining why they raise each others' young.

Does that clarify things?

Answer choice (C) explains why they raise each other's young once they hatch but how does it explain why they off the larvae in the first place?

I had the same issue with answer choice (E). I felt like it explained why they killed off each other's larvae but didn't address why they raised each other's young.

Can you (or anyone else) please explain this? Thank you!

[jrnlsn.nelson]

I'll give this one a try as I think I may be able to clear up the confusion people are having with (C) and why it seemingly only explains one side of the contradictory situation outlined in the stimulus. Yet, I should note that I still see a logical gap that (C) does not resolve, so hopefully someone can help me out with this.

With Resolve the Paradox Questions you're supposed to choose the answer choice that will either explain how the given situation came into being or the answer choice that adds a piece of information that reveals how the two seemingly contradictory ideas or events can in fact coexist.

You can articulate plausible answers for why (B), (C), (D), and (E) are all correct. Yet, there seems to be inherent problems with (B), (D), and (E) related to the implied deductions that you have to be able to make. I'll explain:

(C), the correct answer, says:

"Burying beetles are unable to discriminate between their own larvae and the larvae of other burying beetles"

This answer choice adds a piece of information that does explain how the two seemingly contradictory events described in the stimulus can coexist. BUT, in order for this answer to be correct I believe you have to be able to deduce an implicit (i.e. unstated) proposition from the answer choice. I believe that the unstated proposition you have to be able to deduce is:

"Burying beetles are ABLE to discriminate between their own EGGS and the EGGS of other burying beetles."

Without this deduction (C) does not help to "explain burying beetles' apparently contradictory behavior" -- which is exactly what this question stem requires us to do.

If you deduce this unstated proposition from answer choice (C), then it does seem correct. Yet, the big problem I still have with (C) is that it still does not allow us to make a deduction as to WHY the burying beetles destroy the eggs and not the larvae. Of course, you can say "Yes it does! They destroy the eggs and not the larvae because they can discriminate between their own eggs and the eggs of other burying beetles (the unstated proposition) AND they are not able to discriminate between their own larvae and the larvae of other burying beetles (the stated proposition)."

Yet, a smart person and savvy LSAT test taker would say: "Well no, in fact that still does not explain why the burying beetles are destructive towards the eggs."

Can someone explain this?


Now, as to why (B), (D) and (E) are incorrect, well I believe they're incorrect because they do not allow you to make fairly clear cut implied deductions that explain the beetles' contradictory behavior. That is, these answer choices do not help to explain both sides of the beetles' behavior -- the destructive behavior towards the eggs and the benevolent behavior towards the larvae (if someone disputes this, please let me know).

I'll use (E) as an example to explain my reasoning (the same line of reasoning applies to (B) and (D) as well). (E) says:

"Most breeding sites for burying beetles can accommodate only a limited number of larvae."

Again, as with almost all Resolve the Paradox Questions, in order to see this as the correct answer you have to deduce an implied (i.e. unstated) proposition. Yet, you cannot make a clear cut deduction from this answer choice that helps to explain both sides (this is key) of the contradictory behavior (i.e. the destructive behavior towards the eggs on the one hand and the benevolent behavior towards the larvae on the other).

I'll even try to make an implied deduction to substantiate my point. You could say the implied deduction for (E) is this: "The burying beetles destroy the eggs in order to accommodate the larvae." Well yeah, that makes sense. But it still does not get at why the beetles treat all larvae benevolently, which is what the answer choice requires us to do. Whereas, answer choice (C) does help explain their benevolent behavior toward the larvae AND (kind of) explains their destructive behavior towards eggs. Yet, (C) only does this after you make the implied deduction and then there's still the gap that I previously mentioned.

Anyways, if you have feedback to share I'd love to hear it. Thanks.

[AviS649]

The reason for the first part of the contradiction is already given in the stimulus (refer to "this is why...")! We know they destroy each other's eggs to eliminate competition, but why do they care for the same eggs they didn't want around to begin with? C explains that. It's because they can't tell who's their kid and who's the competition.