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Practice Reading: Multiple Choice, Multiple Answers ID: #33605 Cetaceans
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Read the text and answer the question by selecting all the correct responses. You will need to select more than one response.
It should be obvious that cetaceans—whales, porpoises, and dolphins—are mammals. They breathe through lungs, not through gills, and give birth to live young. Their streamlined bodies, the absence of hind legs, and the presence of a fluke1 and blowhole2 cannot disguise their affinities with land dwelling mammals. However, unlike the cases of sea otters and pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, and walruses, whose limbs are functional both on land and at sea), it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like. Extinct but already fully marine cetaceans are known from the fossil record. How was the gap between a walking mammal and a swimming whale bridged? Missing until recently were fossils clearly intermediate, or transitional, between land mammals and cetaceans.

Which of the following can be inferred from the paragraph about early sea otters?

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Option 1: "It is not difficult to imagine what they looked like."

Explanation: The text states that, unlike cetaceans, it is not easy to envision what the first whales looked like, implying that for sea otters, which are mentioned as having functional limbs both on land and at sea, it is indeed easier to imagine their appearance. This aligns with the main idea that sea otters have a clearer connection to land mammals.

Option 2: "There were great numbers of them."

Explanation: The text does not provide any information regarding the population size of sea otters. Therefore, this statement cannot be inferred from the text, making it an unsupported claim.

Option 3: "They lived in the sea and land."

Explanation: The text explicitly mentions that sea otters, along with pinnipeds, have limbs that are functional both on land and at sea. This indicates that they inhabit both environments, supporting the inference that they lived in both the sea and on land.

Option 4: "They did not leave many fossil remains."

Explanation: The text does not mention the quantity of fossil remains left by sea otters. It focuses on the transitional fossils of cetaceans, and thus, this statement is not supported by the information provided.

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