LSAT 104 | Section 3 | Reading Comprehension: Q15

RC Question 15 Explanation

DISCUSSION: The author reviews what we know about homing pigeons’ navigation systems, and tentatively concludes that they use a mental map.

___________

1. We don’t know this. There might be other species that can also find their way home.
2. CORRECT. This is the author’s tentative conclusion. The first explanation is unlikely, and there is some inconclusive evidence for a map sense.
3. The author never said that the experiments were flawed. We only know that they were incomplete.
    
   For example, take the experiment that attached a magnetic field to birds. That successfully proved that birds don’t use magnetic fields alone. It was a well designed experiment.
    
   But we need another experiment to confirm that birds don’t use magnetic sense in combination with an orientation ability.
4. The author never said how we should identify the mechanism homing pigeons use. He just reviewed the existing evidence.
5. The author only mentioned that honeybees have a short range system (lines 9-11). We don’t know if other species have such a system.
    
   And the author thinks that homing pigeons don’t use such an outward displacement system.