Question

in the 1980s, zoologist katy payne was observing asian elephants at the washington park zoo in portland, oregon, when she noticed an unusual thrumming vibration in the air. suspecting that she was feeling, rather than hearing, the elephants communicate, payne investigated further with colleagues william langbauer jr. and elizabeth thomas. their research confirmed that elephants produce infrasonic calls—sounds at frequencies below 20 hz, which are too low for humans to hear. later playback experiments with wild african elephants demonstrated that these calls allow elephants to communicate over distances of several kilometers, helping them coordinate group movements and locate potential mates across vast stretches of savanna. 8 mark for review according to the text, what led payne to investigate elephant communication? a she observed elephants moving in coordinated patterns across large distances without any visible signals. b she detected a physical sensation while watching elephants that suggested sounds beyond human hearing. c she recorded unusual vocalizations that other researchers had failed to identify in previous studies. d she noticed that elephants responded to recorded calls played from several kilometers away.

Explanation:

• Option A: The text doesn't mention observing elephants moving in coordinated patterns across large distances without visible signals as the reason for investigating communication.
• Option B: The text states that Katy Payne noticed an unusual thrumming vibration (a physical sensation) while watching Asian elephants, and this led her to suspect she was feeling the elephants' communication (infrasonic calls, which are beyond human hearing), so she investigated further. This matches.
• Option C: There's no mention of recording unusual vocalizations that other researchers failed to identify.
• Option D: The playback experiments with wild African elephants were done later to demonstrate the function of the calls, not what led her to investigate elephant communication initially.

Answer:

B. She detected a physical sensation while watching elephants that suggested sounds beyond human hearing.