Crocodiles have evolved to become large and powerful enough to eat even large animals, while also staying small enough to move quickly to avoid predators. Fossil evidence suggests that crocodiles were once up to 40 feet long, but began reaching smaller adult sizes as time passed. It follows that the very smallest crocodiles were most likely to live to adulthood because they could move quickly.
Which of the following describes a flaw in the reasoning of the passage?
A)It overlooks the possibility that crocodiles evolved slowly over millions of years.
B)It overlooks the possibility that intermediate sized crocodiles may have been most successful in living to adulthood.
C)It overlooks the fact that size varies between male and female crocodiles.
D)It presumes, without providing justification, that crocodiles are both predator and prey.
E)The argument assumes that crocodiles are aware of how powerful and large they become.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

A flaw in the reasoning is that it overlooks the possibility that intermediate sized crocodiles could have been most successful in surviving to adulthood. Even though crocodiles have been reaching smaller adult sizes over time, this does not mean that only the very smallest crocodiles lived to be adults. Intermediate sized crocodiles being the most likely to survive also would reduce the average size of an adult crocodile.

Crocodiles Have Evolved to Become Large and Powerful Enough to Eat