Among small-to medium-sized marine mammals such as seals and Dolphins, the longer an animal can stay submerged during...

tomgbean on November 30, 2019

???

I don't understand this question at all or the explanation for why D is the correct answer. Please help.

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BenMingov on November 30, 2019

Hi Tomgbean, thanks for the question.

This is a fact set with the following facts.

1) The longer a small/medium sized water mammal can dive, the deeper it can dive
2) Dolphins can dive deeper than northern fur seals
3) Elephant seals can dive longer than Weddell seals

For this question, we need to understand that longer means deeper and vice-versa. This is going to be the only way we can compare the animals from the second and third facts presented considering the second fact gives information on who dive deeper and the third fact gives information on who can dive longer.

Based on this, answer choice D is incorrect because it says that northern fur seals can dive longer than elephant seals, which on its own is possible. But given this new comparison, this would mean that the order goes as follows:

D - NFS - ES - WS

However, the answer choice presents the following:

WS - D - NFS - ES, where we clearly were told in the facts presented that the order is actually ES - WS.

This is a rather confusing question, but I hope this has helped. Please let me know if you have any other questions!