A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first

In addition to what daagh mentions, I believe that "it" in A does not have a proper referent. Also, in hindsight it is easy to see that "captivity of that species" is incorrect; "captivity for that species" is correct.

A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

A) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it
B) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, and as the first birth of that species in captivity for more than a century, it is
C) A Sumatran rhinoceros recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, as the first birth for that species in captivity for over a century, is
D) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is
E) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros, as the first birth in over a century of that species in captivity, took place in a Cincinnati zoo,

Meaning : A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo. The birth of the rhinoceros is the first birth in over a century of that species, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

POE:
A) The first birth should point to a noun in the previous clause, but there is no noun in the previous clause – “A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo”.
B) makes the modifier as parallel entity and that changes the meaning.
C) “as the first birth for the species”. What as the first birth is not clear.
E) “as the first birth”. What as the first birth is not clear.

Option D) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.
I chose Option D) for the following reasons:
1) “the first birth” modifies the “recent birth” in the previous clause.
2) If I remove the modifier “, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century”, the original sentence alone makes perfect sense.

Doubts:
1) Is the option D) falls in the category of noun+noun modifier?
Normally I have seen the following structure for noun+noun modifier
clause,noun that/which modifier

Here there is no mention of “that/which” and gives an impression of noun modifier and as I know noun modifier can only modify only the close nouns.

Can sombody please clarify?

Hi @ kinjiGC,
Thank you for posting your detailed analysis of the question. I am so glad that you are applying the e-GMAT 3-step process so very well. The only thing that I would like to see is the sentence structure analysis. But I believe you are doing that in your head in order to arrive at the meaning of the sentence.
Now let's come to your doubt. I have presented the complete sentence with Choice D below:

The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

In this sentence the colored entities are noun modifiers. The former "blue" modifies "recent birth". The latter (the green one) modifies the "recent birth" as well. I am not sure why you felt that there is a noun + noun modifier in this choice.

I hope this clarifies your doubt. Do let me know if you have any other doubts about this.
Regards,
Payal

A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

At first glance we notice that the non-underlined portion of the sentence "a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal," can not emphasize the rhinoceros itself. It is the BIRTH of the rhino that is a landmark development. If you have any doubts notice if you remove the middle it states that

The rhino was born in the zoo, making it a landmark for the effort to save the animal. The rhino makes it possible to save the animal? Nope...

With this we can eliminate A, B, C

A) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it
B) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, and as the first birth of that species in captivity for more than a century, it is
C) A Sumatran rhinoceros recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, as the first birth for that species in captivity for over a century, is

We are left with D and E.

D) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is
E) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros, as the first birth in over a century of that species in captivity, took place in a Cincinnati zoo,

Reading E we notice it's incredibly wordy and phrased very awkwardly. We are left with D.

A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.

A) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it--it doesn't have a clear antecedent--also how can the rhino save its species?
B) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, and as the first birth of that species in captivity for more than a century, it is--the rhino is a landmark development--again, the wrong meaning is conveyed
C) A Sumatran rhinoceros recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, as the first birth for that species in captivity for over a century, is--again, the rhino is landmark effort to save itself? Maybe... but probably not
D) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is--yes, finally--the birth is the landmark development--this one looks good
E) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros, as the first birth in over a century of that species in captivity, took place in a Cincinnati zoo,--awkward construction and the sentence as a whole isn't really a sentence

Choice D

Hi Daagh

Doubt in this sentence::

A) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it

doesn't making it refer to the first birth in captivity -- or does it refer to the Sumatran Rhinocerous -- please can you explain?

Is it that the first birth is just a modifier and thus we ignore that sentence and thus making it refers to the Rhinocerious?

I thought the "making it" refers to the previous sentence

In the version created via the use of (A), the participial modifier "making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal" modifies the preceding clause, "A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo." "the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century," modifies that clause as well.

The agent of "making" is "A Sumatran rhinoceros." So, the modifier conveys that a Sumatran rhinoceros made something, "it," a landmark development. Whether that something is the birth of the rhinoceros or the rhinoceros itself is not clear, and, either way, the sentence does not make sense.

E has a working verb i.e "took place."

E is awkward because of this faulty construction i.e " comma + as " i.e " The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros, asthe first birth...".

Also " a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal." becomes the appositive for the "zoo" , making it nonsensical.

chetan2u GMATNinja VeritasKarishma

look at choice A. there are some errors in it.
a abstract noun can modify the preceding clause, but not a concrete noun. I think "first bith" is a concrete noun and, so, it can not modify "rhinoceros was born" logically. whether a noun is concrete or abstract is the matter of our sense of logic. this is first error
the second error is that
"the first bith..." is insert between the main clause and "making it...". so, "making it..." modify the main clause by jumping. this case is not good. this is second error
"it" in "making it..." is unclear. this is third error.

A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.


(A) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it
>> A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo - main sentence ( no important information)
the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century, making it a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.
Or
A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo , making it ( rhino) a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.- meaning wrong

the first birth in captivity of that species in more than a century,



(B) A Sumatran rhinoceros was recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, and as the first birth of that species in captivity for more than a century, it is
>>parallelism issue + meaning as xx..it ? it refers to rhinoceros.
Sumatran rhinoceros is a landmark- meaning distorted

(C) A Sumatran rhinoceros recently born in a Cincinnati zoo, as the first birth for that species in captivity for over a century, is
>>A Sumatran rhinoceros is a landmark- meaning distorted

(D) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century, is
>>the recent birth is a landmark development
Remove “, the first birth in captivity for that species in over a century”
Read The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros in a Cincinnati zoo is a landmark development for the effort to save the endangered animal.
Compare with A
The recent birth is a landmark development and recent birth is explained that it is a first birth in captivity for that species in over a century”


(E) The recent birth of a Sumatran rhinoceros, as the first birth in over a century of that species in captivity, took place in a Cincinnati zoo,
>>zoo is a landmark development- meaning distorted

Choice D is final answer

isnt making it modifying the first birth?

X, Y, Z
Z can modify X or Y. depending on context .
If meaning is not clear, that's ambiguity .

Dear
avigutman MartyTargetTestPrep and user
Can you please explain me how choice D is correct?
In Choice D -The recent birth........ is a landmark.
How come this part is correct?
This doesn't make sense.
"The birth" cannot be a landmark.

Thanks in advance

Hi. Taha1234.

Notice that, actually, (D) uses "landmark" as an adjective to say that the birth is a "landmark development."

Since the birth of a rhinoceros in a zoo can be considered a "development," (D) makes sense.

HI daagh

Will not this " as the first birth in over a century of that species in captivity" take like in place of as.

Bunuel, this one is asked in Official Mock. Please tag it.

__________________
Done. Thank you!