Suppose that numerous okapis are discovered living in a remote forest region in northeastern central Africa that zool...

Ravi on March 13, 2019

@Shiyi-Zhang,

Happy to help.

The question says, "Suppose that numerous okapis are discovered living
in a remote forest region in northeastern central Africa that
zoologists had not previously explored. Based on their current views,
which one of the following would the zoologists be most likely to
conclude about this discovery?"

We're tasked with figuring out what the zoologists would believe here.
In the passage, there is information about where the okapi lived in
the second and fourth paragraphs. The second paragraph says that the
okapi live in forests in northeastern central Africa, surrounded by
savanna. The fourth paragraph gives us more information about why the
okapi choose to live where they do. Defense against predators,
competition with other animals outside of the forests, and sticking to
traditional forest boundaries are all potential reasons for their
behavior.

(A) says, "Okapis were pushed into this forest region by competition
with mammals in neighboring forests."

This is a tempting answer, but in lines 49 to 52 tell us that the
okapis' competition that pushed them into the forest were large,
hoofed animals that grazed on the edges of the forest, not in other,
neighboring forests. This is the reason that (A) is incorrect.

(E) says, "Okapis lived in this forest region when forestland in the
area was scarce."

(E) has text support in the fourth paragraph in lines 55-59. Adhering
to traditional boundaries is a possible answer for why okapi live in
the areas they do, so the zoologists would be likely to believe (E).
This is the correct answer.

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