LSAT 149 | Section 3 | Logical Reasoning: Q10

LR Question 10 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The prehistoric fish Tiktaalik is the earliest known animal…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. The ancient fish Tiktaalik is the first animal we know of that had fingers.
2. Tiktaalik wouldn’t have seemed unusual at the time: there were lots of differences among fish.
3. But Tiktaalik is important because it was probably the ancestor to a lot of land animals with fingers.

ANALYSIS: It’s hard to predict much in advance with these facts. We can say that Tiktaalik was an important animal, as it led to land animals. But it wouldn’t have seemed important at the time compared to other fish.

Note that it isn’t necessarily the case that Tiktaalik moved onto land because it had fingers. It’s possible it moved onto land for other reasons, and then the fingers became useful once species were on land. Many species without fingers also moved onto land.

___________

1. Not clear. It’s equally possibly that Tiktaalik’s descendants moved onto land, and merely happened to have fingers.
    
   The fingers were obviously useful for later land animals, but they Tiktaalik’s descendants could have moved to land because of ample food, or because of a threat in the ocean, or any other reason.
2. Who knows? The fingers are the only feature the stimulus mentioned, but it’s not impossible there was some other feature of Tiktaalik that was important for land animal development.
3. Who knows? Tiktaalik could have been an ancestor to fish species. And these species could have lost their fingers through further evolution. Evolutionary features come and go.
4. We don’t know that the fingers were what allowed Tiktaalik’s descendants to move onto land. It’s possible they moved onto land, and the fingers later became useful.
5. CORRECT. This is true. The second sentence said Tiktaalik wouldn’t seem unusual if you merely compared it to fish from the era.
    
   But Tiktaalik was unusual, in that it’s the ancestor of many land species.

Recap: The question begins with “The prehistoric fish Tiktaalik is the earliest known animal”. It is a Most Strongly Supported question. Learn more about LSAT MSS questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.