The number of wild tigers living in india dropped from an estimated 40

The number of wild tigers living in India dropped from an estimated 40,000 at the turn of the century to 2,000 in 1970. Although determined cons ervation efforts have halted the precipitous decline, the survival of the wild tiger in India is uncertain even now. Still, it is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in India.

The statements above, if true, support which of the following?

There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in India.

There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of India.

If tigers fail to survive in the wild in India, the species will become extinct.

It is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild.

The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered.
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why E?
read this text: Still, it is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india.------------> the FACT that "if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india" THEN you got to ask yourself as the chance is best OUT OF WHAT? india has obviously BEST chance when compared to rest of the world ------>this implies that "The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than india is also endangered."

Premise: The number of wild tigers living in India dropped from an estimated 40,000 at the turn of the century to 2,000 in 1970. Although determined conservation efforts have
halted the precipitous decline, the survival of the wild tiger in India is uncertain even now.
Conclusion: Still, it is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in India.

"The statements above, if true, support which of the following?"
Question Type : Assumption, answers may include new information and one can apply modified negation.
Prephase: Look for words/ statements which refer to survival/ comparison with India.

○○ There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in India. - Premise, does not influence the conclusion.
○○ There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of India. - Premise, does not influence the conclusion.
○○ If tigers fail to survive in the wild in India, the species will become extinct. - Does refer to survival but does not clarify why the tigers best chance of survival is in india.
○○ It is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild. - Premise, does not influence the conclusion.
○○ The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered. - refers to to both survival and comparison.
If you negate - The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is not endangered - dissolves the conclusion.


ashwini86 - hope this resolves your query. Feel free to revert in case of any doubts.

Good luck
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The number of wild tigers living in India dropped from an estimated 40,000 at the turn of the century to 2,000 in 1970. Although determined conservation efforts have halted the precipitous decline, the survival of the wild tiger in India is uncertain even now. Still, it is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in India.

The statements above, if true, support which of the following?

A. There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in India.
B. There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of India.
C. If tigers fail to survive in the wild in India, the species will become extinct.
D. It is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to lifein the wild.
E. The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered.

Thank you, GDT, for tagging me. I spent a moment debating the relative merits of (C) and (E) before choosing (E), and for the same reason you indicated above. Choice (B), on the other hand, was one that I ripped right through. Why? Because it puts a specific number on the population of wild tigers outside of India, and the passage does not give us enough information to lean on to make such an assessment. Maybe there are pockets of several hundred animals in various parts of the world, but India simply has the largest population within its borders. It would make perfect sense that if countries A through E had, say, 600 down to 200 wild tigers, respectively--a total of exactly 2,000 such animals--the best chance for the survival of the animal in its natural habitat would be the place with the largest population. Thus, we cannot say with certainty that (B) is true.

I hope that helps. Please ask if you have further questions.

- Andrew
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Yes, nowhere does the passage indicate that wild tigers will certainly become extinct if they fail to thrive in India, just that, once again, the best chance for survival for the animal is in India. Look at the exact phrasing of the conditional statement in the passage:

if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india [sic]

Here, best chance does not equate to only chance. Simply put, India has the largest population of wild tigers, according to the passage, so that is the country in which the animal has the greatest probability of surviving in the wild.

- Andrew
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In 1970, there were 2000 tigers (down from 40k) in the wild in India.
Efforts have halted the decline (so now, the number of tigers is not decreasing. Exactly how many are there is not known)
Still, survival in the wild is uncertain.
It is beyond doubt that if the tiger is to survive in the wild at all, its best chance is in india.

(A) There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in india.

We don't know how many are surviving in the wild now. The decline has halted now. But exactly at what number the decline halted, we don't know.

(B) There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of india.

Not necessary. Across the world, 100 tigers could be surviving at each of 10 different places.

(C) If tigers fail to survive in the wild in india, the species will become extinct.

Incorrect. The species may not become extinct. The question clearly talks about "tigers in the wild". They may still survive in captivity.

(D) IT is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild.

Nothing in the argument implies that.

(E) The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than india is also endangered.

Correct. Since India has the best chance of survival in the wild, other countries apparently are even more poorly placed. Hence the survival must be endangered everywhere.

Answer (E)

OA is E indeed. But how. Survival of tigers in other countries is never discussed in passage.

Found my mistake!
I really need to read the question as well as the answer choices carefully!

A major clue is hidden in one of the other answer choices: IT is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild
This choice tells us that the tigers will not be extinct: they would simply be in captivity, if not in the wild.

In option E, we are told that its survival in "the wild" in other countries is also endangered --> So, one of its best chances of survival in the wild could be in India.

The above conclusion prompted me to select this one:

(E) The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered.



-- Edit with explanation:

I’m looking for an inference based on the argument:

(A) There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in India. — There were 2,000 tigers in 1970, but it doesn’t have to hold true today for the species to survive. There could be 10; there could be 10,000 — the species still survives.

(B) There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of India. — Same as above.

(C) If tigers fail to survive in the wild in India, the species will become extinct. — Not necessarily. Its best chance to survive is in India, not the only chance.

(D) It is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life in the wild. — Irrelevant?

-> (E) The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered. — This is a reasonable inference as this species may be less likely to survive in the wild in other countries.

○○ There are now more than 2,000 wild tigers surviving in India. Question stem says that the decline reduced, but we don't know weather there are more or less than 2,000 wild tigers.

○○ There are fewer than 2,000 wild tigers living in the wild outside of India. Same as in option A.

○○ If tigers fail to survive in the wild in India, the species will become extinct. Tigers are best survived in wild does not mean that if they fail to survive in wild, they will become extinct.

○○ It is impossible for a tiger raised in captivity to ever successfully adapt to life
in the wild. This is not discussed in question stem

○○ The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than India is also endangered. Survival in wild in India is best but endangered. That means in other countries, it is definitely endangered.

E is the answer.

Feel free to ask if you have any doubts.
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Hi rhine29388,

The key to deciding between C and E is found in the final sentence, which states that the “best chance” for the tiger's survival is in India. The combination of information that the tiger's survival is still uncertain in India (from the previous sentence) with the claim that the best chance for the tiger's survival is in India leads to the deduction that the tiger's survival is uncertain outside of India as well. This supports answer choice E. However, the claim that India is the best chance for the tiger's survival does not mean that India is the tiger's only chance for survival. Therefore, we cannot conclude that failure to survive in India will definitely lead to extinction, as answer choice C claims.

Best,
Jennifer Kindy
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Hi @JenifferAtKaplan

I'm not sure whether E is correct. I hope you would agree that "Must Be True" questions don't support new information brought in by any correct options. Option E says that Wild Tigers who live outside India are also endangered. This kind of "affirms" that wild tigers also live at least somewhere outside India, and this is not provided by the stimulus. I would have straightaway selected this option if it said the following:

The survival of the wild tigers, if any, in countries other than India is also endangered.

But since that is not the case, I did not choose this one. I do agree that C is incorrect in that it fails to differentiate between only chance and best chance, but provided all that I've said, I chose C.

Please help out. Comments of other Experts are also welcome

Hi ShashankDave ,

The conclusion of the sentence is saying the best environment for these tigers is in India.

In the previous statements, the author is saying these tigers are getting endangered.

It means if they are getting endangered in India and we are still saying it is best in India, it means the situation outside India is even worse.

Let's consider a similar example:

Let's say Ram got failed in Maths after scoring 40 marks. Now, if I am saying Ram's score was best in the class, it means other students were also failed.

Did you get what I am trying to convey?

Hence, E is the correct answer.
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VeritasKarishma MentorTutoring
I narrowed down to B & E but since E was difficult to eliminate I chose it. Still somehow B also seemed to be around since, it said that there are fewer than 2000 wild tigers outside India which can be thought of as a better chance for wild tigers to survive is perhaps in India. It would be very helpful of you if you could provide a better basis to eliminate B

E seems only reasonable: The survival of the wild tiger in countries other than india is also endangered.
confirm the answer so as i may explain

If the best chance is in India, and if tigers fail to survive in India, then it should be certain that the species will become extinct. Hence, I chose (C)
Experts, please explain the fallacies in my thought process

Even I chose C.
Can anyone explain why it is wrong?

My reasoning was:

Meaning, if it does not survive in India, it will not survive anywhere else --> The tiger will become extinct.

I have some confusion between Choices C and E, because both appear to be correct and choosing between them is confusing.What info am i missing
Experts pls help