Zoologist: As part of an experiment, several mature elephants were led to three enclosures- one that contained a distressed calf from the elephant’s herd, one that contained a distressed calf from a different herd, and one that was empty. It was observed that in the majority of cases, the elephants spent more time at enclosures with the calf from their herd than they did at enclosures with the calf from a different herd. This suggests that elephants are more motivated to care for members of their herd than for other elephants. The zoologist's argument would be most strengthened if it were true that, in the experiment, the elephants led to the enclosures tended to spend more time at the enclosures when A. they were encouraged by a familiar zookeeper than when they were encouraged by an unfamiliar zookeeper B. the enclosure was empty than when the enclosure contained a distressed calf from a different herd C. a distressed calf from the elephants’ herd was in the enclosure than when a distressed calf from the elephants’ herd was visible but outside the enclosure D. a distressed calf in the enclosure appeared interested in the approaching elephants than when the calf ignored them E. a distressed calf from a different herd appeared friendly toward elephants than when a distressed calf from a different herd displayed hostility

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GMAT Club Olympics 2025 (Day 2): Zoologist: As part of an experiment,

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Rakshit25

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03 Jul 2025, 19:40

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thanks for this bb, it is pretty clear now

Hi. All good! You are on the right path and asking the right questions.

Yes, B eliminates an unrelated calf, so that's a positive. But unfortunately it could still mean Elephants just wanted to come to the enclosure and hang out there. So it is not really a strengthener, but a weakener as it gives us one less reason why they came to the cage but it does not say they came to the cage for the right reason and perhaps for the wrong reason.

B) the enclosure was empty than when the enclosure contained a distressed calf from a different herd

Rakshit25

Hi bb

Apologies if this might sound silly, but doesn't option two also act as a mild strengthener?

With option B, I can be certain that they would not care for an unrelated calf from the other enclosure. I agree it would not directly strengthen because there is no comparison between related and unrelated calf(so is option C), but at least it eliminates the possibility that elephants could go to the related calf because of other factors(maybe the baby seemingly cried more on seeing a related member which grabbed it's attention)

But option B kinda ensures that it the elephant makes an active choice of being with the related baby. I know there could be a huge gap in my reasoning, so thanks for helping me out:)