Q26 - Fossilized Teeth

[ericshin7]

Hey all.
I was able to narrow down this question to B and C and I have no idea how answer choice b would be an assumption to the conclusion of the apes' diet of only those plants if B is saying that thep lants of every type eaten by the apes left phytoliths?

[timmydoeslsat]

Hey all.
I was able to narrow down this question to B and C and I have no idea how answer choice b would be an assumption to the conclusion of the apes' diet of only those plants if B is saying that thep lants of every type eaten by the apes left phytoliths?

Good question.

The argument's core can be seen as:

Fossilized teeth of an extinct species of herbivorous ape had phytolith remains on it
+
Phytoliths are remains of certain types of plants
---> Diet consisted of only those certain types of plants


Can you see the gap?

What if there were certain species of plants that did not leave remains on teeth? That is, that did not leave phytoliths on teeth.

B is absolutely necessary for the arguer to conclude that the ancient species herbivorous ape had a diet that consisted of only those types of plants.

Negation of B:

Plants of every type eaten by apes did not leave phytoliths on their teeth.

That would then ruin the conclusion because it would not allow the arguer to conclude what the diet was since no evidence was left on the teeth.