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Logic Breakdown

Passage Summary: A theory suggests dinosaurs died out because they ate toxic plants that they couldn't taste or process, leading to fatal overdoses that left their bodies in twisted positions.

Conclusion: Dinosaurs likely went extinct due to "drug overdoses" from eating psychoactive plants they could not taste or detoxify.

Reasoning: Angiosperms appeared during the extinction period and contain toxic alkaloids; while mammals avoid or detoxify these, dinosaurs lacked the taste receptors and liver function to do so, which explains their contorted fossil remains.

Analysis: To weaken this theory, we need to find a fact that severs the link between the appearance of these plants and the death of the dinosaurs. Look for an answer that suggests the timing is off—perhaps the plants appeared much later than the extinction—or one that provides an alternative explanation for the contorted fossils. If the 'contorted' positions are actually a result of geological shifts rather than biological death throes, the theory's strongest evidence evaporates. It's a classic case of questioning the causal link between a new environmental factor and a biological outcome.

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19.

Which one of the following, if true, would most undermine the theory presented above?

Correct Answer
A
A undermines the theory’s strongest support. If many large mammals’ fossils are also found contorted, then those poses aren’t distinctive evidence of drug overdoses, weakening the case for the theory.
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