June 1998 LSAT Section 4 Question 6

The male sage grouse has air sacs that, when not inflated, lie hidden beneath the grouse's neck feathers. During its...

Tyler808 on July 11, 2022

What does Prone mean?

Doesn't that mean like you are more likely to get? For example, injury prone means you are more likely to get injured again. In this context, you are likely to attract parasites? How does this strengthen?

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Emil-Kunkin on July 11, 2022

Hi Tyler808,

You're completely correct in your interpretation of the word prone here. I don't think that we know if the parasites enter the grouse by the air sacs- but from the passage, we know that the author thinks that showing the air sacs helps females to select a healthy mate. If it is true that, as D says, there is a parasite one of whose symptoms is visible on the air sacs, then this would explain why female grouses want to see them as part of a mating ritual. If a female can see that a male is not infected by looking at its air sacs, this supports the idea that showing the air sacs helps females select a healthy mate.