Question

although african elephants in kenyas amboseli national park typically respond to stressors with coordinated, pragmatic group behaviors, cynthia mosss decades of observation revealed a stark exception: when a matriarch dies, surviving family members often appear ____, returning repeatedly to the body over several days to stroke it with their trunks and refusing to resume foraging even as the herd moves on.

2 mark for review
which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
a bewildered
b vigilant
c subdued
d inconsolable

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze the context: elephants typically respond to stressors with coordinated, pragmatic behaviors, but when a matriarch dies, they show an exception. The actions (returning to the body, stroking it, refusing to forage) indicate extreme grief.

• "Bewildered" means confused, which doesn't match the grief - related actions.
• "Vigilant" means watchful, which is not relevant to the described behavior.
• "Subdued" means quiet or depressed, but it is not as strong as the actions suggest.
• "Inconsolable" means unable to be comforted, which perfectly matches the elephants' repeated mourning actions (returning to the body, refusing to forage) after the matriarch's death.

Answer:

D. inconsolable