The coat patterns of large cat species correspond to the habitats in which those species live and hunt. Species with ...

shunhe on June 15, 2020

Hi @mkesh,

Thanks for the question! So let’s first take a look at what this stimulus is telling us. We’re told that coat patterns of large cats depend on where they live and hunt. Spotted coat cats live in trees and dappled forests; plain coat cats live in open plains. Except for the cheetah, which is a spotted cat that lives in the open savannah.

Now we’er asked to find something to help explain the above anomaly. Well, pre-phrasing this, there’s a number of possibilities, but it’s not going to be the easiest to come up with the exact answer. Just think of one or two possibilities and then move on.

(A) tells us that unlike other cat species, cheetahs hunt based on speed, not on stealth. Well, that would help explain it. Other animals need to blend in with their surroundings if they hunt based on stealth so they can sneak up on their prey. But cheetahs don’t care, since they’re just going to rush at their prey super quickly and expect to be faster. So they don’t need to have evolved plain coats.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions that you might have.

christophergogo on June 3, 2022

That logic explains also why C would also be correct. Other animals would need fully retractable claws and smaller paws to climb trees. Since Cheetahs don't have that, they do not live in a surround with trees.

Can you help me understand why C is incorrect?

Emil-Kunkin on October 3, 2022

C would explain a different paradox, but not this one. The passage tells us that cheats live in an area without trees, so how would their ability, or lack thereof, to climb trees impact them at all?