Golden Jackals can double their numbers every year. They do

Golden Jackals can double their numbers every year. They do not do so, however, if the area in which they live is already full and the territory of each pack borders on the territory of other packs on all sides. Lone Golden Jackals, unable to establish a territory near their place of origin, disperse to a less desirable habitat and often are hunted by human beings.

Which of the following conclusions may be properly drawn from the information in the passage above?

We need to observe that the first two sentences state the rate of jackals reproduction is based on availability of territory. In case their territory is full and bordered by territories of other jackal packs then the rate of reprod is not double. But the last sentence says that lone jackals which dont have territory available move to less desirable habitat and often get killed. This occurs when the rate of reprod is not double as there is no territory. So we cannot conclude about the population density as even in case when the reprod rate is zero, the pop density may decrease as there may be lone jackals.

This leaves us B.

A. The number of Golden Jackals in any area suitable for Golden Jackals may be predicted to quadruple in two years. This may not be true for some may wander and get killed by humans.
B. Golden Jackals are ejected from the pack to wander singly as lone Jackals when the number of Jackals in the pack has doubled. Correct
C. The amount of territory suitable for Golden Jackals has been diminishing in recent years as a result of human encroachment, with a resulting diminution in the Golden Jackals population. nothing about the amount of territory can be concluded
D. Golden Jackals hunting can continue at a moderate rate on the fringes of a good habitat for Jackals without a decrease in the average yearly Jackals population in that territory. nothing about the hunting can be concluded
E. The Golden Jackals population density in a given area of Golden Jackals territory does not vary with the yearly rate of Golden Jackals reproduction.rate of reproduction is double per year. the population density not be doubled at the end of a year because some jackals may be ejected as being lone jackals


Wat is OA? is my explanation correct?

A. The number of Golden Jackals in any area suitable for Golden Jackals may be predicted to quadruple in two years. "any area" is wrong - if area is full, they cannot quadraple
B. Golden Jackals are ejected from the pack to wander singly as lone Jackals when the number of Jackals in the pack has doubled. lone jackals wonder when the area is full, not when the number of jackals in the pack is doubled. If they have sufficient area, the lone jackal can have his territory and pack
C. The amount of territory suitable for Golden Jackals has been diminishing in recent years as a result of human encroachment, with a resulting diminution in the Golden Jackals population. out of scope. nothing is mentioned about encroachment
D. Golden Jackals hunting can continue at a moderate rate on the fringes of a good habitat for Jackals without a decrease in the average yearly Jackals population in that territory. what is moderate rate ?
E. The Golden Jackals population density in a given area of Golden Jackals territory does not vary with the yearly rate of Golden Jackals reproduction.
seems right. if the area is sufficient, surplus jackals can get out of the current territory and establish their own territory. if the area is not sufficient, loner jackal can move out to less desirable habitat. Anyway, the population density remains same.

A. The number of Golden Jackals in any area suitable for Golden Jackals may be predicted to quadruple in two years.

Not necessarily. The rate of hunting and the population growth in the bordering territories would affect the growth rate

B. Golden Jackals are ejected from the pack to wander singly as lone Jackals when the number of Jackals in the pack has doubled.

Lone jackals disperse since they are unable to find territory of their own. Not necessarily ejected.

C. The amount of territory suitable for Golden Jackals has been diminishing in recent years as a result of human encroachment, with a resulting diminution in the Golden Jackals population.

New information. Nothing Given about encroachment.

D. Golden Jackals hunting can continue at a moderate rate on the fringes of a good habitat for Jackals without a decrease in the average yearly Jackals population in that territory.

As long as the rate of hunting is lesser than or equal to the rate of reproduction, the average yearly population will not decrease

E. The Golden Jackals population density in a given area of Golden Jackals territory does not vary with the yearly rate of Golden Jackals reproduction.

It definitely varies when in growth phase (Doubles every year till it hits max)

I too picked E. Not able to justify the OA.

complicated sentences made me to go for an educational guess and suddenly I got the correct answer.

IMO, D it is

golden jackals can double their number.

they are unable to do so when if the area in which they live is already full and the territory of each pack borders on the territory of other packs on all sides

we have to infer from this:
option D says:
Golden Jackals hunting can continue at a moderate rate on the fringes of a good habitatfor Jackals without a decrease in the average yearly Jackals population in that territory.

if you continue hunting at moderate rate when they are in good habitat==>then the poulation will decrease so it will no more be full.
so they can double their number==>end result there will be no decrease in the number of jackals population.

hope it helps

Thanks blueseas for the explanation.

Conclusion should cover both of these 2 premises:
1st premise : reproduction rate depends on population density in desirable habitat
2nd premise: lone GJ disperse to a less desirable habitat and gets hunted

A .- not supported by premises. New info
B. Close to 2nd premise, but could be wrong or could be true, not a conclusion anyway
C. Encroachment → less territory → diminished GJ population
Maybe true, but depends only to 1st premise, then why to mention 2nd premise? Usually there's no unnecessary info or unused premise in the stimulus of an argument.
D. Hunting should move to the borders of good habitats(not in less desirable habitats as in Premise 2) → moderate rate hunting is balanced with reproduction in those areas, while hunting in less desirable habitats are not reproduced Correct Answer
E. Kind of paraphrase of 1st premise only, does not cover 2nd premise.

+1 for D. What the ans choice is saying is that if moderate hunting of the Jackals is continued on the border (fringes) of the well occupied habitat then the population density of the Jackals will not go down -> since the Jackals can double up in number (first sentence)...HTH!

Took 5 mins.
Keyword "good habitat" is imp.
Even if hunting occurs in areas in which they live are full,Their population will not decrease.
Although "can" is ambiguous word here.

Golden Jackals can double their numbers every year. They do not do so, however, if the area in which they live is already full and the territory of each pack borders on the territory of other packs on all sides. Lone Golden Jackals, unable to establish a territory near their place of origin, disperse to a less desirable habitat and often are hunted by human beings.

Which of the following conclusions may be properly drawn from the information in the passage above?

A. The number of Golden Jackals in any area suitable for Golden Jackals may be predicted to quadruple in two years. We're only told that they *can* double. We don't have the means of predicting populations
B. Golden Jackals are ejected from the pack to wander singly as lone Jackals when the number of Jackals in the pack has doubled. The stimulus states that the Golden Jackals go to other territories when there is no space, not that they are ejected and not necessarily when the pack has doubled.
C. The amount of territory suitable for Golden Jackals has been diminishing in recent years as a result of human encroachment, with a resulting diminution in the Golden Jackals population. There's no information given to support this.
D. Golden Jackals hunting can continue at a moderate rate on the fringes of a good habitat for Jackals without a decrease in the average yearly Jackals population in that territory. Based upon the information provided, we can say that the jackals who wander to less desirable habitats (on the fringes) are the products of overpopulation in the home territory. Hunting jackals on the fringes wouldn't affect the home territory population
E. The Golden Jackals population density in a given area of Golden Jackals territory does not vary with the yearly rate of Golden Jackals reproduction. We're told that the population density increases based on high reproduction rates.

Hi ,
I selected the option E.Please explain how it is D.

I see how D is the correct answer, but D is not an assumption. D is another hypothetical scenario that touches on the two premises in the passage. This question was very poorly worded.

There seems to be confused about which is the right answer. Please help with proper reasoning

i see why there is confusion with the OA - people are treating it as an inference question rather than a conclusion question
D) is indeed the only option that justifies all the information provided in the paragraph to reach that conclusion that is - it is the conclusion that was meant to be reached through the information.
That being said although the question is good not sure if it is a GMAT like question an expert to shed light on that.