#10 - Concept Reference, Must Be True

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[dystopia]

C is the correct answer, but the passage really didn't distinct between domesticated horses and domesticated horses that were ridden, so I am super confused to why C is the correct answer.

[Lukelee]

Stop confusing. Second passage summary;
1, if horses used for food only, early people kill off most young male, supposed to be tender than fully grown male, and leave female for milk.

2, but Botai site go against prehistoric pattern of herding, goat.

3. Olsen hypothesize skeleton remains maybe from wild horses

4. She rebutted herself that if hunted, proportion of adult male horse should be lower because they move as a group with one male and multi female.

5. Thus, bones of fully grown horse which is outnumbered female as a evidence that the botai people had ridden horses.

Q ask what if opposite bone patterns were found, then, it should indicate they just used for food. Don’t need fully grown strong male to ride on.

Luke

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi to you both,

Let's break this one down. How can we know what fully grown females and young male bones would suggest? Let's look back at the passage. From paragraph two, we learn that people who mostly used domesticated animals for milk/meat would have had killed off most of the males before adulthood. That suggests the exact pattern described in answer choice (C), the bones of mostly adult females and younger males.

Let's also look at why each of the other answer choices don't work.

Answer choice (A) talks about male hunting pods. We'd expect to see more fully grown male horse bones in that case, because if they were hunting male horses, the bones had to be somewhere.

Answer choice (B) talks about riding and training wild horses. It doesn't explain why we'd see the bones of mostly adult females.

Answer choice (C) is our correct answer, explained above.

Answer choice (D) is not discussed in the passage. It doesn't say what other sources of food they may or may not have had.

Answer choice (E) establishes that the horses were used for more than just meat, as described in the last paragraph, but it doesn't explain the male/female difference.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

[CPA2lawschool]

Hi to you both,

Let's break this one down. How can we know what fully grown females and young male bones would suggest? Let's look back at the passage. From paragraph two, we learn that people who mostly used domesticated animals for milk/meat would have had killed off most of the males before adulthood. That suggests the exact pattern described in answer choice (C), the bones of mostly adult females and younger males.

Let's also look at why each of the other answer choices don't work.

Answer choice (A) talks about male hunting pods. We'd expect to see more fully grown male horse bones in that case, because if they were hunting male horses, the bones had to be somewhere.

Answer choice (B) talks about riding and training wild horses. It doesn't explain why we'd see the bones of mostly adult females.

Answer choice (C) is our correct answer, explained above.

Answer choice (D) is not discussed in the passage. It doesn't say what other sources of food they may or may not have had.

Answer choice (E) establishes that the horses were used for more than just meat, as described in the last paragraph, but it doesn't explain the male/female difference.

Hope that helps!
Rachael

Thanks, Rachael!

Following up on A vs. C:

I think A may be wrong because of "targeted", specifically.

The passage distinguishes between wild "large animal species" and "horses", and then notes a second distinction between groups of wild horses. From this second distinction, the author draws an inference: "to maximize success in hunting horses, one would target the families."

The characteristics of "The families" ("one stallion, six or so adult females and their young") seem to line up with the characteristics noted in the question stem. Considered together with lines 36-38 "Thus, if the Botai had merely hunted horses, Olsen argues, the proportion of adult male bones should be lower.." I felt the hypothetical condition specified within the question stem wanted us to infer that the Botai hunted wild horses.

However, I think A goes slightly too far by stating that they "targeted" one of the wild groups instead of the other.


I eliminated C because I felt it was a "half wrong"-type answer choice. Specifically, I was unable to support, given the hypothetical condition within the question stem, that this would allow us to infer they "did not ride them."


Thanks!

[James Finch]

Hi CPA,

The major issue with (A) is that if the Botai were hunting the horses for meat, as opposed to domesticating them for meat or riding them, the bones would presumably be either single males (as "bachelor pods" are all males and scatter when attacked) or a single adult male along with several females and some young horses. Instead we're given a hypothetical of adult females and only ever young males, which corresponds with the way that goats and other domesticated livestock that are raised for their meat are kept; males are culled before becoming adults. And as we know from the passage, if they were riding the horses we would expect roughly equal numbers of adult males and females, as all would be kept to ride.

So in prephrasing this answer, we need to look for a situation that suggest they would be raising domesticated horses for meat, not riding. (C) isn't explicit about the meat part, but that is the other option given in the passage so we can still infer it, while (A) doesn't make sense given the question stem, as wild horses don't naturally live in groups like the one given.

Hope this clears things up!

[mluskey15]

I still don't understand how (C) is correct just because of the information in lines 19-21. I picked (A) given the information in lines 30-32. Could (C) be further supported by the information in lines 43-46? Just need some clarification. Thanks!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi mluskey15!

As mentioned above, if the Botai targeted male pods when hunting, we would expect there to be more adult males found among the bones, rather than primarily adult females and young males. Lines 30-35 tell us that targeting male pods is not a great strategy if you hunt horses because it is easier to target families. So they say that if the Botai were merely hunting horses, they would likely target families, meaning that they would have a low proportion of adult male bones. So if we actually have a low proportion of adult male bones (as the question stem tells us), that could suggest that they were targeting families while hunting, but NOT that they were targeting male pods.

Lines 19-21 tell us that herders of domesticated animals used for meat or milk typically kill off all but a few males before they are fully mature but not the females. This would fit with the observation in the question stem that the bones were primarily fully grown females and young males. Lines 43-46 could provide more support for this domestication of the horses option by eliminating the targeting families while hunting explanation as an option.

Basically, if the bones consist primarily of fully grown females and young males, there are two possible explanations: 1) they domesticated horses for meat or milk; and 2) they targeted families when hunting horses. Option 1 is the only answer choice that we are given so that's enough to make it the correct answer. But you could further try to eliminate option 2 with the information that the remains included full skeletons, which would be unlikely when hunting.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[abby1285]

Hi! I got this wrong originally by choosing D and then I correctly chose C in my BR. I was deciding between C and D but thought that D was stronger for two reasons. One, the line "Herders of domesticated animals used for meat or milk typically kill off all but a few males before they are fully mature" made me think that if in this hypothetical we have some young males (ie they haven't been killed) this might not be domestication. Second, I was thinking that if they found those horse skeletons, it indicated that they were not hunting male pods, which indicated to me that they have another source of food if they didn't need to hunt for horses. I understand now how this is a jump, but still unsure as to where the evidence is for C. Thanks!

[Poonam Agrawal]

Hi Abby,

The line that you've quoted is actually the strongest support for answer choice (C) in this passage. Let's break it down:

1. Herders of domesticated animals used for meat or milk = people who domesticated animals but did not ride them (used for food purposes)
2. Kill off all but a few males before they are fully mature = kill off the males before they become full grown adults (the young males are not fully mature, so they aren't necessarily killed immediately when they are born)

The hypothetical situation in the question tells us that there is evidence of fully grown female and young male bones. This means that the male horses were killed before they became fully mature/adults. This is exactly the situation described above, which means that this might be indicative of a group that domesticated horses for meat/milk but did not ride them, which is answer choice (C).

Always keep in mind that reading comprehension questions are in the form of Must Be True - we have to support our answers with compelling evidence from the passage. We have no information to support answer choice (D), so it is unlikely to be correct.

Let us know if you have any other questions!