PrepTest 146

Incorrect. The stimulus states that dunnarts have poor control over their respiratory muscles, not that they're undeveloped. Outside of that, this answer doesn't explain how they would survive without thick skin.

Incorrect. The thick skin helps to maintain body temperature, so the starting point is just where the animal should stay.

Incorrect. First, this answer is about adult dunnarts, not newborn dunnarts. That said, if anything, this makes the discrepancy worse, suggesting that newborn dunnarts are particularly at risk of temperature swings and water loss with thin skin.

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
Newborn dunnart's breath through their skin while protected in their mom's pouches. All other warm-blooded animals rely on thick skin to protect from temperature changes and water loss.

Answer Anticipation:
The question stem asks us to explain how the dunnarts can survive despite their thin skins. We know that other animals rely on thick skins for two purposes: maintaining body temperature and reducing water loss. So the newborn dunnarts must achieve these goals through some other means. We're also told that these newborn dunnarts mature inside its mother's pouch, where its skin thickens. Thus, it's likely that the mother's pouch protects the newborn dunnarts from what other warm-blooded animals' thick skin protects them from.

Answer Explanation:
This answer choice suggests an alternative means for the dunnart to maintain body temperature and reduce water loss without thick skin, thus explaining how they survive before developing it.

Key Takeaway:
When a Paradox question presents a requirement that's achieved through a certain means, and it raises a scenario where the requirement can't be met through those means, look for an answer with another means of achieving the same thing.

Incorrect. But how do they survive these conditions? This answer doesn't explain how, so it's incorrect.