Q3 - In 1860 Bavarian quarry workers discovered the

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QUESTION TYPE & PT: NA 1.4.3

CONTEXT:

Discovery of feather impression dating to the Mesozoic era.

Previously assumed birds developed only after the Mesozoic era, and after the disappearance of pterosaurs, the species of the Mesozoic era.

CONCLUSION:

Must be the feather of the earliest bird, or the earliest found to date.

REASONING:

Feather in limestone found from the Mesozoic era.

ANALYSIS:

It looks like there were indeed birds in the Mesozoic era that scientists didn’t know about, based on this feather evidence.

Essentially we need to back up this argument, so there can’t be another alternative NEGATED explanation as to what this feather is.

This is a necessary assumption question. We’re looking for an answer choice that destroys the argument when negated.

Answer A: NO. Negated: Feather does NOT belong to pterosaurs. This doesn’t hurt the argument, it helps it.

Answer B: NO. This is just giving us information. Doesn’t do anything to the argument negated or not.

Answer C: YES. Negated: In the Mesozoic era, creatures other than birds HAVE feathers. This would lead us to believe that these feathers may have belonged to something else that wasn’t a bird, which would destroy this argument. With this, we can't conclude that this was a bird feather.

Answer D: NO. When negated it’s saying that the feather did NOT belong to a creature which was in between a pterosaur or bird. Could still have belonged to a bird. This helps the argument.

Answer E: NO. Whether or not the earliest bird flew properly or not, doesn't matter.