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Sometimes when their trainer gives the hand signal for "Do something creative together," two dolphins circle a pool in tandem and then leap through the air simultaneously. On other occasions the same signal elicits synchronized backward swims or tail-waving. These behaviors are not simply learned responses to a given stimulus. Rather, dolphins are capable of higher cognitive functions that may include the use of language and forethought.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

A. Mammals have some resemblance to one another with respect to bodily function and brain structure.

B. The dolphins often exhibit complex new responses to the hand signal.

C. The dolphins are given food incentives as part of their training.

D. Dolphins do not interact with humans the way they interact with one another.

E. Some of the behaviors mentioned are exhibited by dolphins in their natural habitat.

The okapi, a forest mammal of central Africa, has presented zoologists with a number of difficult questions since they first learned of its existence in 1900. The first was how to classify it. Because it was horse like in dimension, and bore patches of striped hide similar to a zebra's (a relative of the horse), zoologists first classified it as a member of the horse family. But further studies showed that, despite okapis' coloration and short necks, their closest relatives were giraffes. The okapi's rightful place within the giraffe family is confirmed by its skin-covered horns (in males), two-lobed canine teeth, and long prehensile tongue.

The next question was the size of the okapi population. Because okapis were infrequently captured by hunters, some zoologists believed that they were rare; however, others theorized that their habits simply kept them out of sight. It was not until 1985, when zoologists started tracking okapis by affixing collars equipped with radio transmitters to briefly captured specimens, that reliable information about okapi numbers and habits began to be collected. It turns out that while okapis are not as rare as some zoologists suspected, their population is concentrated in an extremely limited chain of forestland in northeastern central Africa, surrounded by savanna. One reason for their seeming scarcity is that their coloration allows okapis to camouflage themselves even at close range. Another is that okapis do not travel in groups or with other large forest mammals, and neither frequent open riverbanks nor forage at the borders of clearings, choosing instead to keep to the forest interior. This is because okapis, unlike any other animal in the central African forest, subsist entirely on leaves: more than one hundred species of plants have been identified as part of their diet, and about twenty of these are preferred. Okapis never eat one plant to the exclusion of others; even where preferred foliage is abundant, okapis will leave much of it uneaten, choosing to move on and sample other leaves, Because of this, and because of the distribution of their food, okapis engage in individual rather than congregated foraging.

But other questions about okapi behavior arise. Why, for example, do they prefer to remain within forested areas when many of their favorite plants are found in the open border between forest and savanna? One possibility is that this is a defense against predators; another is that the okapi was pushed into the forest by competition with other large, hoofed animals, such as the bushbuck and bongo, that specialize on the forest edges and graze them more efficiently, Another question is why okapis are absent from other nearby forest regions that would seem hospitable to them Zoologists theorize that okapis are relicts of an era when forestland was scarce and that they continue to respect those borders even though available forestland has long since expanded.

Based on the passage, the author would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?

A. The number of okapis is many times larger than zoologists had previously believed it to be.

B. Radio-tracking collars have enabled scientists to finally answer all the questions about the okapi.

C. Okapis are captured infrequently because their habits and coloration make it difficult for hunters to find them.

D. Okapis are concentrated in a limited geographic area because they prefer to eat one plant species to the exclusion of others.

E. The number of okapis would steadily increase if okapis began to forage in the open border between forest and savanna.

While historians once propagated the myth that Africans who were brought to the New World as slaves contributed little of value but their labor, a recent study by Amelia Wallace Vernon helps to dispel this notion by showing that Africans introduced rice and the methods of cultivating it into what is now the United States in the early eighteenth century. She uncovered, for example, an 1876 document that details that in 1718 starving French settlers instructed the captain of a slave ship bound for Africa to trade for 400 Africans including some "who know how to cultivate rice." This discovery is especially compelling because the introduction of rice into what is now the United States had previously been attributed to French Acadians, who did not arrive until the 1760s.

Vernon interviewed elderly African Americans who helped her discover the locations where until about 1920 their forebears had cultivated rice. At the heart of Vernon's research is the question of why, in an economy dedicated to maximizing cotton production, African Americans grew rice. She proposes two intriguing answers, depending on whether the time is before or after the end of slavery. During the period of slavery, plantation owners also ate rice and therefore tolerated or demanded its "after-hours" cultivation on patches of land not suited to cotton. In addition, growing the rice gave the slaves some relief from a system of regimented labor under a field supervisor, in that they were left alone to work independently. After the abolition of slavery, however, rice cultivation is more difficult to explain: African Americans had acquired a preference for eating corn, there was no market for the small amounts of rice they produced, and under the tenant system ?in which farmers surrendered a portion of their crops to the owners of the land they farmed ?owners wanted only cotton as payment. The labor required to transform unused land to productive ground would thus seem completely out of proportion to the reward ?except that, according to Vernon, the transforming of the land itself was the point.

Vernon suggests that these African Americans did not transform the land as a means to an end, but rather as an end in itself. In other words, they did not transform the land in order to grow rice ?for the resulting rice was scarcely worth the effort required to clear the land ?but instead transformed the land because they viewed land as an extension of self and home and so wished to nurture it and make it their own. In addition to this cultural explanation, Vernon speculates that rice cultivation might also have been a political act, a next step after the emancipation of the slaves: the symbolic claiming of plantation land that the U.S. government had promised but failed to parcel off and deed to newly freed African Americans.

Which one of the following most completely and accurately describes the organization of the passage?

A. A historical phenomenon is presented, several competing theories about the phenomenon are described, and one theory having the most support is settled upon.

B. A historical discovery is presented, the method leading to the discovery is provided, and two questions left unanswered by the discovery are identified.

C. A historical fact is presented, a question raised by the fact is described, and two answers to the question are given.

D. A historical question is raised, possible answers to the question are speculated upon, and two reasons for difficulty in answering the question are given.

E. A historical question is raised, a study is described that answers the question, and a number of issues surrounding the study are discussed.