"Surprising" Phenomenon
How have some black-and-white prey species survived despite the fact that they have few or no adaptations to counteract predation and their coloration seems unlikely to provide effective camouflage?
Objective
The right answer will describe some factor that has allowed the black-and-white species to endure for a long time, despite their apparent survival shortcomings. This might take the form of explaining how the coloration actually does benefit the species despite what we may think, adding some additional survival information about these species, or showing some weakness in the species’ predators.
A
Most species with black-and-white coloration are more populous than the species that prey upon them.
This doesn’t matter. We expect that predators eat more than one animal throughout their lives, so the prey species being more populous doesn’t explain their survival. This answer also doesn’t say how much more populous the prey are—it could be that there’s only one more of them!
B
No form of camouflage is completely effective against all kinds of predators.
This doesn’t help. The black-and-white species in question seem not to have any camouflage at all, so general information about camouflage effectiveness isn’t relevant or useful.
C
Animals of many predatory species do not perceive color or pattern in the same manner as humans do.
This explains how the black-and-white coloration that humans don’t see as effective camouflage might in fact function as such against predator species. Maybe these predators see the world in black-and-white or perceive patterns that match the prey’s coloration!
D
Conspicuous black-and-white areas help animals of the same species avoid encounters with one another.
This isn’t helpful. We need information about how these black-and-white animals evade predator species in order to survive, not how they avoid one another.
E
Black-and-white coloration is not as great a liability against predators at night as it is during the day.
This doesn’t matter. This answer choice suggests that black-and-white coloration is a liability against predators, even if that liability is less substantial at night!
Extracurricular
Note: This is video #2 in a two-part explanation using the split approach for comparative passages. In the previous video, J.Y. already tackled whatever questions he could based solely on a readthrough of Passage A. In this video, he picks up with Passage B and then cleans up the remaining questions. So, if you don't see a full explanation for a given question in this video, it's because J.Y. tackled that question in the previous video. (Press shift + ← to head to the previous video.)
Note: This video deals with Passage A only. In this video, J.Y. uses the split approach for comparrative passages. This means he reads through Passage A and then makes a first pass through the questions, answering them to the extent possible based solely on the information in Passage A. For an explanation of Passage B and the remaining unsolved questions, head to the next video (shift + → on your keyboard).