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Mahendras has started special quizzes for IBPS & SBI Exam so that you can practice more and more to crack the examination. This IBPS & SBI Exam special quiz series will mold your preparations in the right direction and the regular practice of these quizzes will be really very helpful in scoring good marks in the Examination. Here we are providing you the important question of reasoning ability for the IBPS & SBI Exam.
Q1-10 Read passage carefully and answer the questions given below it. Certain words have been given in bold to help you locate them while answering some questions.
That large animals require a luxuriant vegetation, has been a general assumption which has passed from one work to another; but I do not hesitate to say that it is completely false, and that it has vitiated the reasoning of geologists on some points of great interest in the ancient history of the world. The prejudice has probably been derived from India, and the Indian islands, where troops of elephants, noble forests, and impenetrable jungles, are associated together in every one’s mind. If, however, we refer to any work of travels through the southern parts of Africa, we shall find allusions in almost every page either to the desert character of the country, or to the numbers of large animals inhabiting it. The same thing is rendered evident by the many engravings which have been published of various parts of the interior.
Dr, Andrew Smith, who has lately succeeded in passing the Tropic of Capricorn, informs me that, taking into consideration the whole of the southern part of Africa, there can be no doubt of its being a sterile country. On the southern coasts there are some fine forests but with these exceptions, the traveler may pass for days together through open plains, covered by poor and scanty vegetation. Now, if we look to the animals inhabiting wide plains, we shall find their numbers extraordinarily great, and their bulk immense.
We must enumerate the elephant, three species of rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, the giraffe, the bos caffer, two zebras, two gnus, and several antelopes even larger than these latter animals. It may be supposed that although the species are numerous, the individuals of each kind are few. By the kindness of Dr. Smith, I am enabled to show that the case is very different. He informs me, that in lat. 24', in one day’s march with the bullock-wagons, he saw, without wandering to any great distance on either side, between one hundred and one hundred and fifty rhinoceroses - the same day he saw several herds of giraffes, amounting together to nearly a hundred. At the distance of a little more than one hour’s march from their place of encampment on the previous night, his party actually killed at one spot eight hippopotamuses, and saw many more. In this same river there were likewise crocodiles. Of course it was a case quite extraordinary, to see so many great animals crowded together, but it evidently proves that they must exist in great numbers. Dr. Smith describes the country passed through that day, as ‘being thinly covered with grass, and bushes about four feet high, and still more thinly with mimosa-trees.
Besides these large animals, everyone the least acquainted with the natural history of the Cape, has read of the herds of antelopes, which can be compared only with the flocks of migratory birds. The numbers indeed of the lion, panther, and hyena, and the multitude of birds of prey, plainly speak of the abundance of the smaller quadrupeds: one evening seven lions were counted at the same time prowling round Dr. Smith’s encampment. As this able naturalist remarked to me, the carnage each day in Southern Africa must Indeed he terrifically confess it is truly surprising how such a number of animals can find support in a country producing so little food. The larger quadrupeds no doubt roam over wide tracts in search of it; and their food chiefly consists of underwood, which probably contains much nutriment in a small bulk. Dr. Smith also informs me that the vegetation has a rapid growth; no sooner is a part consumed, than its place is supplied by a fresh stock. There can be no doubt, however, that our ideas respecting the apparent amount of food necessary for the support of large quadrupeds are much exaggerated.
The belief that where large quadrupeds exist, the vegetation must necessarily be luxuriant, is the more remarkable, because the converse is far from true. Mr. Burchell observed to me that when entering Brazil, nothing struck him more forcibly than the splendour of the South American vegetation contrasted with that of South Africa, together with the absence of all large quadrupeds. In his travels, he has suggested that the comparison of the respective weights (if there were sufficient data) of an equal number of the largest herbivorous quadrupeds of each country would be extremely curious. If we take on the one side, the elephant, hippopotamus, giraffe, bos caffer, olan, five species of rhinoceros, and on the American side, two tapirs the guanaco, three deer, the vicuna, peccari, capybara (after which we must choose from the monkeys to complete the number), and then place these two groups alongside each other it is not easy to conceive ranks more disproportionate in size. After the above facts, we are compelled to conclude, against anterior probability, that among the mammalia there exist no close relation between the bulk of the species, and the quantity of the vegetation, in the countries which they inhabit. Adapted from: Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin (1890)
Q1 To account for the ‘surprising’ number of animals in a ‘country producing so little food’, Darwin suggests all of the following as partial explanations except-
01. food which is a concentrated source of nutrients
02. rapid regrowth of plant material
03. large area for animals to forage in
04. mainly carnivorous animals
05. only herbivorous animal
Q2 The author makes his point by reference to all of the following except-
01. travel books and published illustrations
02. private communications
03. recorded observations
04. historical documents
05. public observations
Q3 The author is primarily concerned with which of the following?
01. discussing the relationship between the size of mammals and the nature of vegetation in their habitats
02. contrasting ecological conditions in India and Africa
03. proving the large animals do not require much food
04. describing the size of animals in various parts of the world
05. proving the large animals require much food
Q4 According to the author, the ‘prejudice’ has led to which of the following?
01. errors in the reasoning of biologists
02. false ideas about animals in Africa
03. incorrect assumptions on the part of geologists
04. doubt in the mind of the author
05. no doubt in the mind of the author
Q5 The author uses information provided by Dr. Smith to __________.
(A) supply information on quality and quantity of plant life in South Africa.
(B) indicate the presence of large numbers of animals.
(C) give evidence of numbers of carnivorous animals.
01. Only A
02. Only B
03. Only C
04. All A, B and C
05. Only B and C
Q6 As per the passage, Darwin quotes Burchell’s observations in order to-
01. counter a popular misconception
02. describe a region of great splendour
03. prove a hypothesis
04. illustrate a well-known phenomenon
05. describe a region of a well-known phenomenon
Q7 Darwin apparently regards Dr. Smith as-
01. reliable and imaginative
02. intrepid and competent
03. observant and excitable
04. foolhardy and tiresome
05. observant and tiresome
Q8 What does Darwin’s parenthetical remark indicates ?
01. Burchell’s data are not reliable
02. Burchell’s ideas are not to be given much weight
03. comparison of the weights of herbivores is largely speculative
04. Darwin’s views differ from Burchell’s
05. Darwin’s views same as Burchell’s
Q9 As per the passage, ‘the flocks of migratory birds’ are mentioned to -
01. describe an aspect of the fauna of South Africa
02. illustrate a possible source of food for large carnivores
03. contrast with the habits of the antelope
04. suggest the size of antelope herds
05. suggest the habitat of the antelope
Q10 According to the passage, the word ‘carnage’ refers to the-
01. number of animals killed by hunters
02. number of prey animals killed by predators
03. number of people killed by lions
04. amount of food eaten by all species
05. amount of food eaten by hunters
Answers:-
Q.1 (4)
Q.2 (4)
Q.3 (3)
Q.4 (3)
Q.5 (4)
Q.6 (1)
Q.7 (2)
Q.8 (3)
Q.9 (4)
Q.10 (2)
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