Cowonga lion cubs in the wild often engage in aggressive and

I completely agree with those who assert that it's A that is the right answer. Indeed. if lions raised in captivity were able to hunt successfully this would mean that THEY DO NOT NEED aggressive behavior to learn hunting skills. But the fact that they can't hunt well if they are raised in captivity supports the paragraph best.

The argument says that agressive play is unneccessary in captivity.
The argument also says that agressive play is unneccessarry because hunting skills are not required in captivity.
The argument can be strengthened by demonstrating that agressive play is needed only for the purpose of developing hunting skills, which according to the argument are not needed in captivity. I think B is the best answer.

(B) the skills developed from aggressive play are similar to those used for hunting in the wild.

(A) Cowonga lions raised in captivity are unable to hunt successfully in the wild.

A is correct because it supports the conclusion. In other words, if we add this to the passage, the conclusion would be better supported.

(B) the skills developed from aggressive play are similar to those used for hunting in the wild.

B somewhat restates part of the conclusion: "Zoologists have concluded that this form of play teaches the young lions the aggressive skills necessary for successful hunting in the wild." However, is does not support the rest of the conclusion "and that such play is not instigated in captivity because the development of hunting skills is unnecessary there.

Here is the OE given by Kaplan and I agree with them too as I too selected the answer A based on the same reasoning. Really good and tricky question by Kaplan. Hope the OE helps

Predict the Answer:

The author implies a cause and effect here. The zoologists believe that the play teaches hunting skills. Where there is need of the effect (hunting skills), there is the cause (play); where there is no need of the effect, the cause is lacking. That’s a correlation, but the key issue remains: Does the play cause the hunting skills? An answer that shows that lions raised in captivity, without aggressive play, can’t hunt tells us that without the alleged cause, there is no effect, thus strengthening the conclusion.

Evaluate the Choices:

Choice (A) is a perfect match for our prediction, telling us that Cowonga lions raised in captivity are unable to hunt.

The fact that the play and hunting are similar, as described in choice (B), does little to show that the former leads to the latter; both could be effects of something more basic and instinctive. The behavior of other animals from choice (C) is beyond the scope of the zoologists’ argument. Presumably the parents raised in captivity, as seen in choice (D), are raising their young in captivity, so this adds nothing new. And the fact that wild lions learn to hunt, in choice (E), has no effect on the hypothesis; the question is how they learned to hunt.

Cowonga lion cubs in the wild often engage in aggressive and even violent play with their siblings.
This activity is apparently instigated by the parent lions.
Cowonga lion cubs born in captivity, however, rarely engage in aggressive play.
Zoologists have concluded that this form of play teaches the young lions the aggressive skills necessary for successful hunting in the wild, and that such play is not instigated in captivity because the development of hunting skills is unnecessary there.

The zoologists' conclusion would be most strengthened by demonstrating that

A) Cowonga lions raised in captivity are unable to hunt successfully in the wild
(This supports the conclusion and also serves as Assumption since if lions raised in captivity are able to hunt successfully in the wild then zoologists conclusion that aggressive skills are necessary for hunting fall apart.)
B) the skills developed from aggressive play are similar to those used for hunting in the wild
(whether skills are similar or a little bit different are not important since zoologists only concluded that aggressive skills are necessary their similarity is not discussed.)
C) the young of other types of predatory animals also engage in aggressive play
(Behavior of other predatory animals is unnecessary or OFS)
D) parent lions that were raised in captivity do not instigate this play in their young
(We are discussing only cubs raised in captivity. This is not a must required or anything that could support the conclusion.)
E) none of the Cowonga lions raised in the wild is incapable of hunting successfully
(none is an extreme word and since we define a general behavior in this argument it is possible that most or major number of cubs do hunt successfully and few do not)

The argument concludes that the lion cubs born in captivity do not indulge in aggressive play,hence do not inculcate the aggressive skills needed for hunting in the wild. Hence "A" which clearly states that these cubs are incapable of hunting in the wild strengthens the conclusion. "E" kind of restates the fact. It has already been stated that cubs raised in wild indulge in aggressive play,hence inculcate aggressive skills necessary for hunting in the wild. Hence "E" does not provide any additional information.
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Cowonga lion cubs in the wild often engage in aggressive and even violent play with their siblings. This activity is apparently instigated by the parent lions. Cowonga lion cubs born in captivity,however,rarely engage in aggressive play. Zoologists have concluded that this form of play teaches the young lions the aggressive skills necessary for successful hunting in the wild and that such play is not instigated in captivity because the development of hunting skills is unnecessary there.

Boil it down - Aggressive play teaches the young ones the aggressive skills necessary for successful hunting in the wild and such play is not instigated in captivity because the development of hunting skills is unnecessary there.

The zoologists' conclusion would be most strengthened by demonstrating that

(A) Cowonga lions raised in captivity are unable to hunt successfully in the wild. - We are told that aggressive play teaches aggressive skills NECESSARY for successful hunting; so aggressive skill is the necessary condition

(B) the skills developed from aggressive play are similar to those used for hunting in the wild. - Even this looks okay to me

(C) the young of other types of predatory animals also engage in aggressive play. - Irrelevant

(D) parent lions that were raised in captivity do not instigate this play in their young. - Irrelevant

(E) none of the Cowonga lions raised in the wild is incapable of hunting successfully. - incorrect - just because a skill is taught, it DOES not guarantee that everyone will be successful

AjiteshArun , GMATNinja , MagooshExpert , GMATGuruNY , VeritasKarishma , DmitryFarber , ChiranjeevSingh , RonPurewal , VeritasPrepBrian , MartyMurray - To me both A and B looked correct. Please provide your advice.
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I was going to say that A looks better than B, because A provides pretty solid evidence that, without the aggressive play, the lions can't hunt, but the truth is that there could be many reasons other than lack of aggressive play why a lion raised in captivity would not be able to hunt successfully. So, we could argue that A is not a particularly strong strengthener.

At the same time, B does not say that the skills learned through aggressive play are the same as those used for hunting, but rather, that they are similar. So, we could argue that B does not clearly indicate that the skills learned through aggressive play are the same as those used in hunting. However, we can't rule out B as a strengthener.

So, what's the upshot here?

Here's the thing. This question has two answer choices, A and B, that provide information that at least to a degree strengthens the argument. We could argue that A is better, but B is still arguably a strengthener. So, this question is unlike any well written official question. In a well written official Strengthen question (and almost all of them are well written) only one choice will be a strengthener, and all of the other choices will provide information that does not strengthen the argument AT ALL. It may appear to when you first read a trap choice, but, in reality, it doesn't. So, this question is flawed and, therefore, should not be taken as an example of the type of challenge one would see on the GMAT.
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I don't think they aim for a particular number of weaken options in a strengthen question, but they (the people who make the questions) do get a very specific list of areas that the GMAC wants to test. They then create questions to test those skills. Every question is then put through a thorough review process. This review process also involves inclusion in the actual GMAT exam (as an experimental question). On the basis of this review process, any changes that may be needed are made, and the revised question is again put through review.
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Thank you AjiteshArun for your feedback. Did you miss anything in your comments? I've edited my comments. So could you check the question again, please?
Thanks_
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I missed the parts that I don't know about

I don't think there is any template like this. So maybe you'll have one strengthen option, or maybe two (if there are two I would expect a big "gap" between them). Maybe there will be one weaken option and three options that are irrelevant. Or maybe you'll see four weaken options. It's hard to say.
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Yes, there is a question mark here on (B) but I would pick (A) without looking twice at (B). Here is why:

Conclusion says: Play teaches skills necessary for hunting.

(B) says: Play teaches skills "similar" to those used for hunting
First and foremost, I am unable to make sense of the word "similar" here. It seems to contradict what the conclusion says "those skills are needed" vs "those skills are similar to skills that are used". Also, the conclusion brings in the necessary angle. Those skills are necessary. (B) doesn't cater to that.

Premises:
Cubs born in wild engage in aggressive play. Parents instigate aggressive play.
Cubs born in activity do not engage in aggressive play (so apparently parents don't instigate it)

Conclusion: Aggressive play teaches skills necessary for hunting in wild (and hence not needed in captivity)

(A) Cowonga lions raised in captivity are unable to hunt successfully in the wild.

This shows that the lack of skills taught by aggressive play actually could be the reason for not being able to hunt. So it goes on to strengthen that those skills are necessary for hunting.

(B) the skills developed from aggressive play are similar to those used for hunting in the wild.

Eliminated. Explained above.

(C) the young of other types of predatory animals also engage in aggressive play.

Irrelevant. We don't know anything about wild vs captivity.

(D) parent lions that were raised in captivity do not instigate this play in their young.

We are trying to figure out the reason they do not instigate this play. Doesn't show that aggressive play is necessary for hunting later.

(E) none of the Cowonga lions raised in the wild is incapable of hunting successfully.

We don't need all lions raised in the wild to be successful. Aggressive play is necessary as per our argument. We don't need it to be sufficient. Even if all cubs in wild are able to hunt, we don't know whether cubs raised in captivity are able to hunt. It could very well be a natural trait and not an acquired skill. Hence "aggressive play leading to successful hunting" link is not established.

Answer (A)
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Hi bb, and Bunuel,
It seems that this question has been discussed in another place. So, better if you merge the following one with this one.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/cowonga-lion ... fl=similar

Thanks_
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Merged topics. Thank you.
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You're most welcome...
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I personally feel these type of questions insult the human capacity to reason. How can anyone possibly identify the right option for such complex options in less than 2 minutes time? Not only do you have to deconstruct the argument but also sort out the similar options and spot the right one in no time. We are not computers, are we? GMAT is all about luck when you get to the harder questions.

hi expert,

Although I choose correctly, sorry I don't think A can strengthen the zoologists' conclusion but looks like an inference of the whole argument. The zoologists' conclusion is "hunting skills is unnecessary in captivity", while A means lions captivity don't develop hunting skills but shows nothing about "unnecessary".

Any expert would like to share your view? Thanks

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