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

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

游客2025-02-25  8
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 Walker’s research indicated which of the following about australopithecine teeth?
选项 A、They had micro-wear characteristics indicating that fruit constituted only a small part of their diet.
B、They lacked micro-wear characteristics associated with seed eating and bone crunching.
C、They had micro-wear characteristics that differed in certain ways from the micro-wear patterns of chimpanzees and orangutans.
D、They had micro-wear characteristics suggesting that the diet of australopithecines varied from one region to another.
E、They lacked the micro-wear characteristics distinctive of modern frugivores.
答案 B
解析 Inference
According to the passage, Walker’s research focuses on micro-wear patterns on the teeth of australopithecines. He draws several conclusions on the basis of these patterns: first, that australopithecines did not eat hard seeds; next, that they did not crunch bones; and finally, that they ate fruit.
A The passage indicates that Walker’s observation of micro-wear patterns led him to conclude that australopithecines ate mostly fruit, not that fruit constituted only a small part of their diet.
B Correct. The first paragraph explains that Walker concluded from micro-wear patterns that australopithecines did not eat hard seeds and did not crunch bones; thus, his research must have indicated that they lacked micro-wear characteristics associated with such activities.
C According to the passage, the opposite is true: based on the observation that their micro-wear patterns were indistinguishable from those of chimpanzees and orangutans, Walker concluded that australopithecines ate fruit.
D The second paragraph of the passage complicates Walker’s view by suggesting that australopithecines’ diet might have varied from one region to another, but the passage says nothing about Walker’s research from which to infer that it indicated such variation.
E Chimpanzees and orangutans are assumed to be frugivores, according to the passage, and Walker’s research indicated that australopithecine teeth had micro-wear characteristics identical to theirs.
The correct answer is B.
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