Which one of the following strategies is most similar to Scheich's experimental strategy as it is described in the pa...

Ravi on March 1, 2019

@Shiyi-Zhang,

I'm happy to go over why (B) is incorrect and why (C) is correct.

The question says, "Which one of the following strategies is most
similar to Scheich’s experimental strategy as it is described in the
passage?"

Scheich's method is outlined in the second paragraph of the passage.
In Scheich's experiment, he used a battery in order to mimic the
electrical fields produced by freshwater shrimp. The correct answer
choice will likely be one that involves a simulated reproduction of
some sort of biological process in an animal.

(B) says, "To determine whether certain animals find their way by
listening for echoes to their cries, a biologist plays a tape of the
animals’ cries in their vicinity."

The issue with (B) is that Scheich never created tape recordings of
the platypus making noises, nor did he tape record the shrimp. In
order for (B) to have been the correct answer, we would have needed it
to say something like, "Scheich tape recorded the platypus to see if
it found its way by listening to echoes of its cries." This isn't
anywhere in the passage, and this is far different from the experiment
Scheich carried out, so (B) is out.

(C) says, "To determine whether an animal uses heat sensitivity to
detect prey, a biologist places a heat-generating object near the
animal’s home."

As noted above, the question is asking us to pick an answer choice
that shows an experimental strategy that mirrors the strategy that
Scheich used, which is described in the second paragraph of the
passage. Also as noted above, Scheich used a battery in order to mimic
the electrical fields produced by freshwater shrimp. The correct
answer choice will likely be one that involves a simulated/mechanical
reproduction of some sort of biological process in an animal. (C) does
this well, as the heat-generating object is analogous to the battery
Scheich used. Determining whether an animal uses heat sensitivity to
detect prey is analogous to Scheich determining whether or not a
sensory system based on electroreception similar to that found in
sharks exists in the platypus. (C) matches up really well, so it's the
correct choice.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any more questions!