Henry's conclusion is "There must therefore be some other explanation for the honeybees' dance." Why? Because though some scientists explain the dance of honeybees as the means by which honeybees communicate the location of whatever food source they have just visited to other members of the hive, they can just leave a scent trail from the food source they have just visited, which isn't as complicated of a mechanism as the dance.
Winifred responds saying, "Not necessarily," explaining that most animals have many ways of accomplishing a task. As evidence for this claim, she gives the example of bees being able to navigate either by using the Sun or by the memory of landmarks.
The question stem is asking us to identify the role this statement about how some bees navigate plays in Winifred's response. Since this statement is used to support Winifred's general claim that "Most animals have several ways of accomplishing critical tasks," answer choice (B) is correct.
Answer choice (A) on the other hand is incorrect because Winifred's statements do not address an ambiguity in Henry's use of the expression "communicate the location." There is nothing ambiguous about these words. Winifred responds by saying just because there is a simpler way that bees can communicate the location of where they found food doesn't necessarily mean the bees' dance cannot have that same function.
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BApril 21, 2016
What is the general claim of this argument?
MehranApril 21, 2016
@B the general claim of Winifred's argument is that "Most animals have several ways of accomplishing critical tasks."
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