UPSC Prelims 2024 GS Paper I · Q43 of 96 Environment & Ecology medium

Consider the following pairs : | Country | Animal found in its natural habitat | | :--- | :--- | | 1. Brazil | Indri | | 2. Indonesia | Elk | | 3. Madagascar | Bonobo | How many of the pairs given above are correctly matched ?

  1. (a) Only one
  2. (b) Only two
  3. (c) All three
  4. (d) None ✓ UPSC's answer

Why the answer is (d)

• The indri is the largest living lemur and is found only in the rainforests of Madagascar — not Brazil, so pair 1 is wrong.

• The elk (wapiti) is a large deer of North America and north-east Asia's temperate forests; it does not occur in tropical Indonesia — pair 2 is wrong.

• The bonobo, a great ape closely related to the chimpanzee, lives only in the Congo Basin south of the Congo river in the DR Congo — not Madagascar, so pair 3 is wrong.

• The animals have been shuffled among the wrong countries; none of the pairs is correct.

• Hence option (d).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) Only one
No pair is correct; each animal is placed in the wrong country.
(b) Only two
None of the pairs is correctly matched.
(c) All three
All three pairs are wrong.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2024, held on 16 June 2024. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

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