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Micro-wear patterns found on the teeth of long-extinct specimens of the primate

游客2024-01-12  16
问题 Micro-wear patterns found on the teeth of long-extinct specimens of the primate species australopithecine may provide evidence about their diets. For example, on the basis of tooth micro-wear patterns, Walker dismisses Jolly’s hypothesis that australopithecines ate hard seeds. He also disputes Szalay’s suggestion that the heavy enamel of australopithecine teeth is an adaptation to bone crunching, since both seed cracking and bone crunching produce distinctive micro-wear characteristics on teeth. His conclusion that australopithecines were frugivores (fruit eaters) is based upon his observation that the tooth micro-wear characteristics of east African australopithecine specimens are indistinguishable from those of chimpanzees and orangutans, which are commonly assumed to be frugivorous primates.
However, research on the diets of contemporary primates suggests that micro-wear studies may have limited utility in determining the foods that are actually eaten. For example, insect eating, which can cause distinct micro-wear patterns, would not cause much tooth abrasion in modern baboons, who eat only soft-bodied insects rather than hard-bodied insects. In addition, the diets of current omnivorous primates vary considerably depending on the environments that different groups within a primate species inhabit; if australopithecines were omnivores too, we might expect to find considerable population variation in their tooth micro-wear patterns. Thus, Walker’s description of possible australopithecine diets may need to be expanded to include a much more diverse diet. [br] The passage suggests that which of the following would be true of studies of tooth micro-wear patterns conducted on modern baboons?
选项 A、They would inaccurately suggest that some baboons eat more soft-bodied than hard-bodied insects.
B、They would suggest that insects constitute the largest part of some baboons’ diets.
C、They would reveal that there are no significant differences in tooth micro-wear patterns among baboon populations.
D、They would inadequately reflect the extent to which some baboons consume certain types of insects.
E、They would indicate that baboons in certain regions eat only soft-bodied insects, whereas baboons in other regions eat hard-bodied insects.
答案 D
解析 Inference
The second paragraph states that modern baboons eat only soft-bodied insects and so would not exhibit tooth abrasion to indicate that they were insectivores.Thus, it would be difficult to determine exactly which soft-bodied insects they ate.
A The passage states that baboons eat only soft-bodied insects—so it is in fact accurate to suggest that all baboons eat: more soft -bodied than hard-bodied insects.
B The passage says that baboons eat only soft-bodied insects. It also suggests that soft-bodied insects do not leave significant enough abrasions on baboons’ teeth to provide evidence of this aspect of their diet. Therefore, the tooth-wear patterns would give little or no information regarding what proportion of the baboons’ overall diet consists of insects.
C The passage does not provide grounds for inferring anything about the differences, or lack thereof, among baboon populations in terms of tooth micro-wear patterns.
D Correct. Because soft-bodied insects cause little tooth abrasion, micro-wear patterns would most likely not reflect the extent to which baboons consume soft-bodied insects.
E The passage states that baboons eat only soft-bodied insects. Nothing in the passage suggests that baboons in certain regions eat hard-bodied insects.
The correct answer is D.
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