Paper 1 · Comprehension
UGC NET December 2023 (11.12.2023) Shift-I
Passage
Science and the techniques to which it has given rise have changed human life during the last hundred and fifty years more than it had been changed since men took to agriculture, and the changes that are being wrought by science continue at an increasing speed. There is no sign of any new stability to be attained on some scientific plateau. On the contrary, there is every reason to think that the revolutionary possibilities of science extend immeasurably beyond what has so far been realized. Can the human race adjust itself quickly enough to these vertiginous transformations, or will it, as innumerable former species have done, perish from lack of adaptability? The dinosaurs were in their day the lords of creation, and if there had been philosophers among them, not one would have foreseen that the whole race might perish. But they became extinct because they could not adapt themselves to a world without swamps. In the case of man and science there is a wholly new factor, namely that man himself is creating the changes of environment to which he will have to adjust himself with unprecedented rapidity. Although these changes come about through human agencies, they have, or at any rate have had so far, something of the inexorable inevitability of natural forces. Whether men will be able to survive the changes of environment that their own skill has brought about is an open question. If the answer is to be in the affirmative, men will have to apply scientific ways of thinking to themselves and their institutions.
According to the passage, aposematism is a combination of: Choose the correct answer from the options given below.
- 1. Defence against predators by emitting a bad smell
- 2. Bright wing patterns for camouflage
- 3. Defence against predators by butterflies with toxins
- 4. Bright wing patterns to show predators they are dangerous
A1 and 4 only
B2 and 3 only
C3 and 4 only ✓ Correct
D4 only
Correct answer: (C) 3 and 4 only — Aposematism combines defence by toxins and bright warning patterns, so the answer is 3 and 4.
Explanation
★Aposematism combines defence by toxins and bright warning patterns, so the answer is 3 and 4.
★The passage describes aposematism as a combination of two features.
★The first is a defence against predators, such as being toxic to them.
★Some butterflies are toxic because their caterpillars feed on toxic plants.
★The second is bright wing patterns that warn predators of the danger.
★So aposematism combines defence by toxins and bright warning colours, giving 3 and 4.
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