Olms are salamanders that live in underwater caves. Scientists once thought that olms stay in their caves all their lives. However, Raoul Manenti and team claim that olms regularly come to the surface to perform important activities such as finding food.
Which finding, if true, would most strongly support the underlined claim?
Explanation
Context: Scientists used to think olms (cave salamanders) stayed in their caves their whole lives. Manenti and team claim that olms regularly come to the surface to perform important activities like finding food. The underlined claim is that olms surface for food.
Answer: D) Researchers discover that earthworms from surface soils are a major part of olms' diet.
Why? Earthworms live on the surface, not in underwater caves. If earthworms are a major part of olms' diet, olms must be going to the surface to find them — directly supporting the claim that olms surface to find food.
Traps:
- A) "researchers learn that olms' brains differ from other salamanders' brains" → about brain anatomy, not about surface activity or food-finding behavior
- B) "researchers determine that olms don't breed often" → about reproduction frequency, irrelevant to whether olms surface for food
- C) "researchers confirm that olms live in only a few cave systems" → about geographic distribution, not about surfacing behavior