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Practice Reading: Multiple Choice, Single Answer ID: #4377 Rattlesnakes
Instructions ›
Read the text and answer the multiple-choice question by selecting the correct response. Only one response is correct.
Being carnivores, rattlesnakes do not include fruit in their diet and are, therefore, unlikely distributors of fruit seeds among their ecosystem. Yet, while examining fifty preserved snakes from a museum in California, researchers found almost 1000 fruit seeds in their stomachs. Because the snakes' rodent prey live on fruit, the presence of the seeds is easily explained. What is interesting, however, is that the snakes inadvertently safeguarded the seeds. Had the rodents completed digestion, many of the fruit seeds would not have remained intact. Since snakes are unable to digest their tough protective fibres, the seeds are eventually expelled and can germinate in the landscape.

What point does the writer make about the seeds?

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Result:

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Option 2: "Rattlesnakes are saving them from destruction."

Explanation: This option is correct as the text explains that the rattlesnakes inadvertently safeguard the seeds by not digesting them. The seeds remain intact in the snakes' stomachs and are expelled, allowing them to germinate, thus saving them from destruction by the rodents.

Option 1: "They are only found in fruit-eating snakes."

Explanation: This option is incorrect because the text states that rattlesnakes are carnivores and do not eat fruit. Therefore, the seeds are not found in fruit-eating snakes, but rather in the stomachs of rattlesnakes that have consumed rodents that eat fruit.

Option 3: "Rodents spread the seeds throughout the ecosystem."

Explanation: This option is incorrect because while rodents do consume fruit, the text does not state that they spread the seeds. Instead, it emphasizes that the seeds are preserved by the rattlesnakes, not spread by the rodents.

Option 4: "They survive despite the snakes' efforts to destroy them."

Explanation: This option is incorrect as it implies that the snakes are actively trying to destroy the seeds. The text clarifies that the snakes do not digest the seeds, which allows them to survive, but it does not suggest any effort by the snakes to destroy them.

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