When an osprey (a fish-eating hawk) returns from fishing to its nesting area with a fish like an alewife, a pollack, or a smelt, other ospreys will retrace its flight path in hopes of good fishing. There is seldom such a response if the first bird brings back a winter flounder. Yet ospreys feed on winter flounder just as readily as on any other fish.
Which of the following, if true, contributes most to an explanation of the fishing behavior of ospreys as it is described above?
(A) Ospreys are seldom able to catch alewives, pollack, or smelt.
(B) Alewives, pollack, and smelt move in schools, but winter flounder do not.
© Winter flounder prefer shallower waters than do alewives, pollack, or smelt.
(D) Winter flounder and pollack exhibit protective coloration, but alewives and smelt do not.
(E) Ospreys that live in nesting areas are especially successful fishers.
So this is a paradox, which means we need an answer choice that mentions both the conflicting facts and explain how it reconciles them.
Fact 1: Osprey #1 that returns with A, P, S fish will cause other Ospreys to go where Osprey #1 went fishing.
Fact 2: When Osprey #1 brings back flounder, the other Ospreys don’t bother going where Osprey #1 got that flounder, but Ospreys are known to eat flounder regularly.
What might explain and reconcile Fact 1 and Fact 2?
[A] Ospreys are seldom able to catch alewives, pollack, or smelt. This is off topic. It brings in half of fact 1 and doesn’t even mention fact 2.
[B] Alewives, pollack, and smelt move in schools, but winter flounder do not. I like this one. It mentioned fact 1 and fact 2, and provides an explanation: A, P, and S fish travel in schools. If Osprey #1 has recently caught some fish, then other Ospreys can also get fed! They’re going to want to retrace Osprey #1’s flight path to enjoy some fish! Since flounder do not move in schools, the Ospreys would be wasting their time if they retraced Osprey #1’s flight path because they aren’t as likely to get some dinner.
[C] Winter flounder prefer shallower waters than do alewives, pollack, or smelt. This might be a fun fact, but does it reconcile anything we know about fact 1 and fact 2? No.
[D] Winter flounder and pollack exhibit protective coloration, but alewives and smelt do not. This might’ve worked if the protective behavior only applied to flounder, but it also applies to pollack and we know that Ospreys will always retrace Osprey #1s flight path if it brings back pollack. So this doesn’t reconcile fact 1 and fact 2.
[E] Ospreys that live in nesting areas are especially successful fishers. Cool, another fun fact that doesn’t even mention the facts I care about. Next!