White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as

Question

White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as a result of a recessive trait that rarely occurs in the wild. In the 1950s many zoos deliberately and indiscriminately bred white tigers, but more recently, concerns about the desirability of preserving a trait that presumably hinders tigers` to survive in the wild, and recognition that inbreeding could lead to genetic defects, have caused most zoos to such practices. However, some zoo managers argue that the popularity of white tigers provides income important to the survival of zoo sponsored scientific and conservation programs.  They also point out that most of the white tigers captured in the wild were adults, proving that their coloration does not hinder their survival ability.

Opponents of white-tiger breeding programs  argue that white tigers are merely Indian tigers-a subspecies well represented in both zoos and the wild-and that zoos should focus their tiger management efforts on preserving subspecies whose existence is threatened, thus preventing the Chinese and Indochinese tiger subspecies from joining the Javan, Balinese, and Caspian subspecies in extinction. Alternatively, zoos could mingle the subspecies and manage all tigers in captivity as one species. Although subspecies differences would be lost, this strategy would be advantageous because fewer animals would be necessary to maintain the genetic diversity of tigers in captivity, making scarce zoo resources available for housing other endangered felines.   1 
 Q1 The passage suggests that, compared with other tiger subspecies, the Indian tiger is

A less threatened by extinction
B less readily bred in captivity less
C likely to survive in the wild
D more likely to be bred indiscriminately
E more popular with 200 visitors

2 
 Q2 The "Opponents of white-tiger breeding programs" mentioned in the highlighted text advocate that zoos use their resources to

A promote public awareness of environmental threats to tiger habitats
B allow zoos to house enough tigers to ensure genetic diversity among Indian tigers
C study ways to increase the survival rates of white tigers in the wild
D investigate ways of maintaining the white tigers already in zoos
E preserve tiger subspecies that may be endangered

3 
 Q3 The author of the passage suggests that if all tigers in captivity were managed as one species, then zoos would be able to

A use their resources to preserve a variety of other felines
B increase public interest in tigers and thus attract more visitors and income
C provide better habitats for tigers than they currently do
D prevent the extinction of existing tiger subspecies
E continue breeding white tigers

4 
 Q4 Which of the following best describes the function of the last sentence in the first paragraph of the passage (see highlighted text)?

A To emphasize the importance of white tigers as source of zoo income
B To point out the advantages to white tigers of living in the wild
C To provide evidence counter to an argument against the breeding of white tigers
D To suggest that white tigers living in the wild are less to face extinction than tigers fiving in zoos
E To suggest that white tigers are not endangered

ID 00098

dave13 · Accepted Answer

vasuca10 hi there

the first para of the passage BRIEFLY: many zoos deliberately and indiscriminately bred white tigers. this practice raised concern that doing so will endanger the tigers` surving skills in the wilde jungle

BUT zoo managers claim that it is is not true by providing evidence - and this evidence is that they caught adult tigers in the wild - which means that tigers surving skills were not impared by deliberate and indiscriminate breeding. Hence highlighted potion provides evidence counter to an argument against the breeding of white tigers. E is not correct, because they are NOT suggesting , BUT they are providing E V I D E N C E

'White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as a result of a recessive trait that rarely occurs in the wild. In the 1950s many zoos deliberately and indiscriminately bred white tigers , but more recently, concerns about the desirability of preserving a trait that presumably hinders tigers` to survive in the wild, and recognition that inbreeding could lead to genetic defects, have caused most zoos to such practices. However, some zoo managers argue that the popularity of white tigers provides income important to the survival of zoo sponsored scientific and conservation programs. They also point out that most of the white tigers captured in the wild were adults, proving that their coloration does not hinder their survival ability. " let me know if it helps or not

cheers D

vasuca10 · Answer

Hi  dave13  Please explain Q4 why not the answer is Option E?

gmatexam439 · Answer

vasuca10

SOLVING BY LOGIC

Zoos deliberately bred white tigers earlier (no reason is given for older times) BUT now they breed because of 2 reasons:
 1. concerns about the desirability of preserving a trait that presumably hinders tigers` to survive in the wild  -- according to the zoo officials "being white" causes the tigers to NOT survive in the wild
 2. recognition that inbreeding could lead to genetic defects  -- interbreeding could cause genetic defects so they want to confine them

Remember that the 'Tone' is changing.

1. the popularity of white tigers provides income  -- A new reason for keeping white tigers in zoo
 2. most of the white tigers captured in the wild were adults, proving that their coloration does not hinder their survival ability  -- they are contradicting the point #1 above. That means we can they are contradicting the previously mentioned reasons for keeping tigers in zoo -- interbreeding one.

Thus C is out answer.

SOLVING BY POE

Q4 Which of the following best describes the function of the last sentence in the first paragraph of the passage (see highlighted text)?

A To emphasize the importance of white tigers as source of zoo income -  This is one of the reasons for keeping white tigers in zoo. The highlighted text is NOT related to this 
B To point out the advantages to white tigers of living in the wild -  The text is not an advantage. It is just a statement that "the captured white tigers are adults SO THEY CAN SURVIVE". 
C To provide evidence counter to an argument against the breeding of white tigers -  Looks good. Hold 
D To suggest that white tigers living in the wild are less to face extinction than tigers fiving in zoos -  There is no such comparison 
E To suggest that white tigers are not endangered -  point about "endangered" is in para #2. The last line refutes an assumption present in the 1st para itself.

Hence, answer must be C

aragonn · Answer

faltan  - Please refer following lines in P2.

white tigers are merely Indian tigers-a subspecies well represented in both zoos and the wild-and that zoos should focus their tiger management efforts on preserving subspecies whose existence is threatened.

devavrat · Answer

Could not understand the 2nd question.

The "Opponents of white-tiger breeding programs" mentioned in the highlighted text advocate that zoos use their resources to

A promote public awareness of environmental threats to tiger habitats
B allow zoos to house enough tigers to ensure genetic diversity among Indian tigers
C study ways to increase the survival rates of white tigers in the wild
D investigate ways of maintaining the white tigers already in zoos
E preserve tiger subspecies that may be endangered

How can E be the answer? Don't the zoos use their resources to maintain the white tigers already in the zoo?

Someone pls explain

Posted from my mobile device

SonGoku · Answer

"Q1 The passage suggests that, compared with other tiger subspecies, the Indian tiger is

A less threatened by extinction
B less readily bred in captivity less
C likely to survive in the wild
D more likely to be bred indiscriminately
E more popular with 200 visitors"

Can some one explain What is the difference between Option A and Option C ?
Less threatened by extinction Vs Likely to survive in the wild?

Indian tigers-a subspecies well represented in both zoos and the wild-and that zoos should focus their tiger management efforts on preserving subspecies whose existence is threatened

It was given that zoos must focus on subspecies whose existence is threatened.From that I can infer that sub species (Indian tiger) is more likely to be threatened.So the remaining option is C that is Likely to survive in the wild.
on top of that It was mentioned that Indian tiger a sub species is well represented in both zoo and wild.
Please resolve my issue.
  workout ,  SajjadAhmad ,  u1983 ,  GMATNinja ,  GMATNinjaTwo ,  Gnpth

GMATNinja · Answer

The question asks what opponents of white-tiger breeding are advocating.

The purpose of paragraph 2 in the passage is to explain what these opponents argue and advocate for. And our answer to the question lies here:

The endangered subspecies that opponents advocate for are not the white tigers, but the Chinese and Indochinese tiger subspecies. I hope this clarifies why (E) is a good answer choice!

GMATNinja · Answer

Sorry, I'm not sure that I follow your reasoning here.

Here is the full text of the statement that you've bolded:

In this statement, the opponents are NOT arguing that Indian tigers are more likely to be threatened. They point out that Indian tigers are well represented in order to call attention to  other subspecies (Chinese and Indochinese tigers)  that are at greater risk of extinction.

This is why choice (A) is worth keeping; by presenting the opponents' arguments, the passage suggests that the Indian tiger is less threatened by extinction than other subspecies (namely, Chinese and Indochinese tigers).

Now let's consider choice (C):

The passage suggests that, compared with other subspecies, the Indian tiger is (C) likely to survive in the wild.

This one's shaky. The passage definitely suggests that Indian tigers are "well represented" in the wild, but "well represented" is a current measurement of the quantity (whether absolute or proportional) of Indian tigers. This is NOT the same a prediction of whether Indian tigers are going to continue to be well represented in the future, or that they're more likely to survive in comparison to other subspecies. It's entirely possible that Indian tigers are equally or less likely to survive than other subspecies, even if there are many more of them in the wild at the moment.

Now, in paragraph 1, the author does cite an opinion held by zoo managers, that the coloration of Indian tigers does not hinder their survival ability. But doesn't suggest anything about the likelihood of survival when compared with other subspecies — and that comparison of subspecies is what the question is asking us to check within the passage.

(A) is much more of a direct reflection of the passage than (C), and that's why it's our best choice.

Unknown_ · Answer

The very next segment of the line you shared in your comment is ".., thus preventing the Chinese and Indochinese tiger subspecies from joining the Javan, Balinese, and Caspian subspecies in extinction." This implies that the sub-species listed in this segment are the ones under more threat in comparison to the Indian Tiger.

Hence, the answer (A).

Hope this helps.

PrashantK0099 · Answer

bm2201  
In Q4 , why D is elminated because it says that ,    They also point out that most of the white tigers captured in the wild were adults, proving that their coloration does not hinder their survival ability.

Q4 Which of the following best describes the function of the last sentence in the first paragraph of the passage (see highlighted text)?

A To emphasize the importance of white tigers as source of zoo income
B To point out the advantages to white tigers of living in the wild
C To provide evidence counter to an argument against the breeding of white tigers
D To suggest that white tigers living in the wild are less to face extinction than tigers fiving in zoos
E To suggest that white tigers are not endangered

bM22 · Answer

Hi  PrashantK0099 ,

Option D is eliminated because its not related to what's asked in the question and completely unrelated to what the highlighted lines are trying to prove.
"......that their coloration does not hindering survival ability" doesn't necessarily mean less/more extinction. Hindrance to survival ability could lead to a decrease in number but we cannot conclude with certainty if it would cause extinction altogether. Wild tigers could also become extinct due to a number of reasons. Thus D is too vague, and is not what the author is trying to prove.

For this question we need consider the lines at the start of the passage: "'White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as a result of a recessive trait that rarely occurs in the wild. In the 1950s many zoos deliberately and indiscriminately bred white tigers, but more recently, concerns about the desirability of preserving a trait that presumably hinders tigers`". These lines imply that breeding white tigers in captivity raised concerns of their survival in the wild. Now this is countered by evidence that the tigers captured in the wild were adults, implying that the survival skills of the tigers were not affected.

This mostly leads to option C.

Hope This Helps.
Thanks.

PrashantK0099 · Answer

Thanks for the efforts for explaining so beutifully . Thanks a ton

Raman109 · Answer

Q3 - The author of the passage suggests that if all tigers in captivity were managed as one species, then zoos would be able to

A use their resources to preserve a variety of other felines - ok
D prevent the extinction of existing tiger subspecies - In the last sentence, the author clearly brings this contrast: "Although subspecies differences would be lost," so this is the opposite.

philzhang87 · Answer

I chose A for Question 1 but, I found it relatively hard to eliminate D but, I felt overall A was a safer answer choice since, we did not get much input on whether other animals were bred indiscriminately and i'm not sure if we can assume that the opponents are correct in stating that white tigers are merely indian tigers. But would like to hear some individuals inputs on how they eliminated option D for this specific question.

Q1 The passage suggests that, compared with other tiger subspecies, the Indian tiger is:

A less threatened by extinction
B less readily bred in captivity less
C likely to survive in the wild
D more likely to be bred indiscriminately
E more popular with 200 visitors"

geogtro · Answer

Mentors,I have a question. Is this passage omitting a word like "protest" between "to" and "such concern" in "have caused most zoos to such practices"?
If not, it would make no sense🤔
Looking forward to your kind replies.

geogtro · Answer

Hello,sir.

I think there are several typos in this passage cracked from Prep12 cause some confusion, including this.

Choice C is in fact "LESS likely to survive in the wild". The "less" in the end of choice B (less readily bred in captivity less) should be "less readily bred in captivity", and the less in the last place should be given to choice C.

One evidence for this speculation is that the official explanation for choice C is " The passage states that Indian tigers are well represented in the wild, which suggests that they are more to survive there than are other tiger subspecies. "

Apparently, from an official perspective, Choice C is something other than " they are more to survive there than are other tiger subspecies"

By the way, how can I tag or  somebody  to let him or her know I am replying to him or her?

I intend to reply to  GMATNinja (GMATNinja) and  Tridhipal

Is @ working? I see names are blue now  GMATNinja   Tridhipal

GMATNinja · Answer

geogtro , thanks for letting us know, and yes, your tags worked!

The "less" at the end of (B) does seem as though it belongs at the beginning of (C), but it's unclear whether this is actually an official GMATPrep test question. Do you have access to the original source? If so, could you provide a screenshot?

agrasan · Answer

Hi experts  KarishmaB   GMATNinja   MartyMurray   DmitryFarber

I wanted to confirm my approach that I used for question 4 option C.
First passage-1 starts with opposition against breeding and then "however" which is a contrast to the point of view mentioned earlier comes in the argument, and lines after "however" provides evidence by giving facts. This led me to choose option C and I also eliminated other options.

My question is - does close attention on words like "however", etc. play an important role to pick up the option by understanding change in tone/direction of the passage if we are confused between last two choices?

Please let me know if there is any fatal flaw in my process above to choose option C.

KarishmaB · Answer

Close attention to transition words helps us in our comprehension of what is given. It does help us note the change in tone/direction of the passage. But, we cannot base our answer on transition words in the passage, since all other words in the passage, in the question stem and in the answer options together help us take a call on that. Focus on some specific words could derail your thought process in that case.
In question 4, there is no close option. Which other option did you think could be the possible answer?

White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as

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White tigers are neither a species nor a subspecies, but appear as

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