The wild Mouflon sheep of the island of Corsica are direct descendants

PR1 : The wild Mouflon sheep of the island of Corsica are direct descendants of sheep that escaped from domestication on the island 8,000 years ago.

CONCLUTION: They therefore provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began.

providing pictures suffices for selcective breeding to get ddomesticated sheeps !! that means looks do matter

D is exactly what the passage assumes.

Since modren domesticated sheep are not similar to the Mouflon sheep and Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore bears of 8,000 years ago, the Mouflon sheep provides archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began.

(A) The domesticated sheep of 8,000 years ago were
quite dissimilar from the wild sheep of the
time. >> Weakens the conclusion. So not an assumption.

(B) There are no other existing breeds of sheep that
escaped from domestication at about the
same time as the forebears of the mouflon.
>> Not related to the passage. Passage talks only about Mouflon sheep.

(C) Modern domesticated sheep are direct descen-
dants of sheep that were wild 8,000 years ago.
>> This statement is incorrect as the passage indicates modern domesticated sheep are produced after deliberate selective breeding.
(D) Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore-
bears of 8,000 years ago than modern domes-
ticated sheep are to theirs.
>> This is the assumption that conclusion depends on. This assumption binds the following together
1. Wild Mouflon sheep --direct descendants AND 2. so mouflon sheep can provide picture of what their forebears look like.

(E) The climate of Corsica has not changed at all in
the last 8,000 years.
>> Passage does not talk about climate and this is not relevant for conclusion.

Conclusion: Just because they look like some early domesticated sheep, It has been inferred that they are direct descendants.
Pre-thinking:
1. Picture is perfect to recognize the similarity.
2. there is a correlation between ancient and current sheep.

(A) The domesticated sheep of 8,000 years ago were quite dissimilar from the wild sheep of the time.< Focus on word DISSIMILAR - opposite of conclusion.>

(B) There are no other existing breeds of sheep that escaped from domestication at about the same time as the forebears of the Mouflon.<I am not concerned with other existing breed - elephants are also there, do i care, no>

(C) Modern domesticated sheep are direct descendants of sheep that were wild 8,000 years ago.<this uses similar terms but does focus on wildness of the sheep, and also no new info, assumption must have new info.>

(D) Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore bears of 8,000 years ago than modern domesticated sheep are to theirs.<matches with my pre-thinking, so far, so good>

(E) The climate of Corsica has not changed at all in the last 8,000 years.<Yes climate has not changed. so, should i be happy, sad or do party?, trying to deceive me>

Hope this helps!

Choice D says

Mouflon sheep MORE || Forebears of 8,000 years ago

than

Modern domesticated sheep || Domesticated sheep of 8,000 years ago

So, since Mouflon sheep MORE || Forebears of 8,000 years ago, it can provide picture of how forebears of 8,000 years ago looked like. I don't understand how Mouflon sheep provides picture of how domesticated sheep of 8,000 years ago looked like. I don't see any link between Mouflon sheep and domesticated sheep of 8,000 years ago.

Your help will be appreciated by +1 Kudos.

Our conclusion is "Wild Mouflon sheeps therefore provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began."

'B' and 'D' are contenders.
If you negate 'B' --> "There are other existing breeds of sheep that escaped from domestication at about the same time as the forebears of the Mouflon." It does not weaken the argument. If there were other breeds of sheep also, then also Mouflon sheeps provide information about the domesticated sheeps.

Whereas if you negate 'D', it weakens the argument.

The conclusion states that: The descendants will give a picture of the how some early domesticated sheep looked like.
Option D is correct as - If you negate it, if the wild sheep are not very similar to their forefathers then how will the archaeologists get the correct picture.

AjiteshArun could you explain option A?

As per my understanding if the domesticated sheep were quite similar to the wild sheep 8000 years ago, then how can the mouflon sheep, which are apparently a part of the same domesticated sheep domain, could now give us a clear picture of the past? If both are same then the mouflon sheep could also give us a picture of how the wild sheep from the past looked like no?

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VeritasKarishma... Request your view on option B

Hi srikarkali
Option B is tricky but unrelated to conclusion.
What is conclusion here ?
The wild Mouflon sheep of the island of Corsica provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began.

Option B says"There are no other existing breeds of sheep that escaped from domestication at about the same time as the forebears of the Mouflon."
Ok suppose there were some breeds of sheep that escaped from domestication at same time.
Is it a necessary assumption ?
Even though some other breeds escaped, then also wild mouflon sheep provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like.

Hope this helps

Main Argument

They thereforeprovide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began.
now, we have to find assumption from the argument not from premise. Now,why the stimulus is emphasizing in providing a picture of the early sheeps = Mouflon sheep before Selective breeding that produced modern sheeps;bcz the mouflun and modern are different.

The argument above makes which of the following assumptions?


(D) Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore bears of 8,000 years ago than modern domesticated sheep are to theirs.

Exactly as our pre thinking, Hence D.

Posted from my mobile device

I agree with D4498 if I understand his/her answer correctly. The question is 'The argument above makes which of the following assumptions?'.
We are not looking for assumption. Actually we are looking for sth which can be inferred from the arugment provided.
There are some key words in the stimulus: deliberate, look like.
So the diff between the two pairs should be D.

If you thought this question is about looking for assumption, then you need to know M.Sheep is similar to forebear. However you don't need such assumption like D to the extent that you can compare the two paris.

Option E , the most tricky choice and probably a shell game answer is not correct because even if we negate and say that the climate changed totally since last 8000 years,we have to assume that this climate change had an impact on sheep in some way.

However option D bridges the gap stating that 'Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore bears of 8,000 years ago'. here we do not have to go one step ahead and assume anything .

D is correct answer here.

Similar to many OG ans that I think are wrong, this one is wrong, anyone can correct me if disagree.

The issue is between D and E. OG ans is D but my view is E.
(D) Mouflon sheep are more similar to their fore bears of 8,000 years ago than modern domesticated sheep are to theirs.
(E) The climate of Corsica has not changed at all in the last 8,000 years.

It is because we are here trying to argue - can we gather information about the domesticated sheep 8000 years ago based on the current wild sheep.

D compares degree of similarity of the current wild sheep (let' call it X) and current domesticated sheep (Y) with domesticated sheep 8000 years ago (Z). As long as X is similar to Z, a comparison or study can be made. Note the word "more similar" here, it does not require the current X to be more similar to Y and be a good candidate for the study - it is irrelevant to this argument, a study can still be made between X and Z just may be not as good. ans D is irrelevant assumption for the argument.

On the other hand, it is scientifically proven that 8000 years is a possible timeframe for evolution, say a structural change that require their hoof to change to pick berry on cliff after they are in the wild. A change in environment may possibly change the character of the sheep - which is the core of the study here (how they look like prior to selective breeding). ans E is a better answer, not because E is a great answer but all other ans A-D are not good enough.

GMATNinja, can you please explain why A is not correct?
MS is the descendant of ships that escaped domestication=wild ships. MS provides a picture of how domesticated ships looked like before the deliberate selective breeding began. I struggle to understand the linkage between being descendant of ships that escaped domestication, and providing archeologists with the picture of what early domesticated ships looked like.

Let's start by figuring out the structure of the argument.

The argument concludes that wild Mouflon sheep "provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began." This conclusion is supported by the fact that wild Mouflon sheep "are direct descendants of sheep that escaped from domestication on the island 8,000 years ago."

But how does this support the conclusion?

Well, today's Mouflon sheep are apparently descendants of early domesticated sheep. That is, they are the descendants of sheep that "escaped from domestication."

Put another way -- 8,000 years ago, some sheep escaped from domestication. In other words, they were domesticated, but then they escaped. Their descendants are today's wild Mouflon sheep. So wild Mouflon sheep are descended from sheep which were domesticated 8,000 years ago, but then escaped.

Let's now consider (A):


An assumption is a statement that strengthens an argument and that is necessary to draw the conclusion. So how does (A) affect the argument?

Notice that the argument doesn't have anything to do with the wild sheep of 8,000 years ago. Rather, we're trying to establish that today's wild Mouflon sheep are similar to the domesticated sheep that escaped 8,000 years ago. So (A) isn't relevant.

One side note -- notice the sheep which "escaped domestication" 8,000 years ago are different than the "wild sheep of the time" (i.e. the wild sheep from 8,000 years ago). Presumably, the "wild sheep of the time" were not domesticated at all, and never "escaped domestication." Rather, they were born wild.

Let's now consider (D):


Is this statement necessary to draw the conclusion?

Well, we're trying to conclude that Mouflon sheep "provide archaeologists with a picture of what some early domesticated sheep looked like, before the deliberate selective breeding that produced modern domesticated sheep began."

For this to make sense, Mouflon sheep would need to be similar to "early domesticated sheep." In fact, they'd need to be more similar to "early domesticated sheep" than "modern domesticated sheep" are. Otherwise, wild Mouflon sheep would NOT provide a picture of what early domesticated sheep looked like before selective breeding began.

From another angle -- what if (D) were NOT true? What if today's domesticated sheep were more similar to to early domesticated sheep than today's wild Mouflon sheep are?

Well, the argument would fall apart. Because in that case, modern domestic sheep would provide a better picture of early domestic sheep than wild Mouflon sheep would. And if that were the case, Mouflon sheep would NOT provide a picture of what "early domesticated sheep looked liked" before the selective breeding that produced modern sheep began. For that picture, we'd have to look at today's domesticated sheep.

So because the statement is necessary for the argument to hold, it's an assumption and (D) correct.

I hope that helps!

GMATNinja, thank you for providing a detailed explanation. It seems like I made a mistake in this argument because I did not understand the definition of ships who escaped domestication. How do we know from the argument that ships who escaped domestication are not wild ships, but rather ships who were domesticated and then escaped?