Black Bears

In paragraph 5, the scientific term ursine describes something related to —

• jokes

• habitats

• bears

• automobiles

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The author organizes the article by —

• offering statistics from various studies, presenting conflicting opinions about the studies, and ending with his personal view

• presenting the results of a study, offering some ideas about what the study shows, and then stating what researchers hope to achieve in the future

• describing the reasons why Yosemite National Park has such a large number of bears and then explaining how minivans have made the problem worse

• referring to phony research studies that claim bears prefer some kinds of vehicles over others and then dismissing these studies with conclusions from mammalogists

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What does the author mean when he writes in paragraph 4 that “vehicles are simply hard shells”?

• Minivan owners should just leave their vehicle doors open if they don’t want bears to damage them.

• If bears can break into a minivan, they must be very strong.

• Bears really don’t know the difference between a minivan and any other type of box containing food.

• If minivans were built to be more sturdy, it wouldn’t be as easy for bears to break into them.

Which line best argues against the idea that most bears in Yosemite National Park have learned how to break into minivans?

• As a result, black bears have shown a strong preference for breaking into minivans over

  other types of vehicles.

• Bears most often gained access to minivans by popping open a rear side window.

• The researchers noted that they “commonly saw car doors bent open, windows on all sides of the vehicle broken, and seats ripped out, all of which appeared effortless for bears.”

• A few individual bears could be responsible for all the break-ins, and they are displaying a learned behavior for choosing minivans.

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The author mentions that the minivan has been selected as “Car of the Year” by bears in order to —

• warn campers not to park minivans in Yosemite National Park

• describe the type of work published in the Journal of Mammalogy

• imply that the study lacks credibility

• highlight that the results of the study are somewhat humorous

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Read this line from paragraph 5.

Amid the ursine humor in all this, let’s not forget that for bears, developing a taste for human food is often one of the worst things that can happen to them—“a fed bear is a dead bear,” as the saying goes.

The author’s tone in this line can best be described as —

• cautionary

• angry

• threatening

• pessemistic

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Which of these best summarizes the article?

• Black bears at Yosemite National Park have grown used to obtaining food from sources provided by humans, including locked cars. The bears find it relatively easy to break into vehicles, such as minivans. The more bears depend on humans for food, however, the more contact they have with humans, which is ultimately dangerous to both parties.

• Minivans may be the top choice of black bears in Yosemite National Park because they are relatively easy to break into and because minivans tend to emit food odors or contain large amounts of food. Bears seem to have learned from one another which type of vehicle to target and the best way to break in.

• Scientists conducting a study at Yosemite National Park have found that bears are more likely to break into minivans than any other type of vehicle. Several possible explanations for this behavior have been offered, including the structure of the minivan and the increased likelihood that minivans hold food. Researchers stress the danger of bears depending on humans for food.

• In a study conducted for the Journal of Mammalogy, scientists found that black bears break nto different types of vehicles with varying frequency. The bears are capable of breaking windows, bending doors open, and ripping out seats, all in search of food. Their favorite vehicle, the minivan, was not necessarily the most available.

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Readers of the article might draw which conclusion if they drove by a sign like the one shown in the box titled “Facts About Black Bears”?

• Camping is too dangerous for most people.

• Vehicles should not be left unattended.

• Extra food should be shared with bears.

• Food should not be left in vehicles.

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The information in the graph supports the article by showing —

• the preference black bears have for a certain kind of vehicle

• the bears’ intelligence in determining which vehicles to invade

• exactly how many vehicles were broken into by black bears

• the availability of vehicles parked overnight in certain locations

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