Application of Skills Directions: Apply the Knowledge You Have Gained from Chapter 7

Multiple Choice

Application of Skills
Directions: Apply the knowledge you have gained from Chapter 7 to select the best answer to the questions about the following reading passage.
¹The first primates arose between 85 million and 65 million years ago, in tropical Paleocene forests. By the Eocene, the primates were living higher in the trees. They now had a shorter snout, a larger brain, better daytime vision, and better ways to grasp and manipulate objects. How did these traits evolve?
²Trees offered food and safety from ground-dwelling predators. There also were zones of uncompromising selection. Picture an Eocene morning, leaves swaying in the breeze, colorful fruit, and predatory birds. An odor-sensitive, long snout would not have been useful; breezes disperse odors. A brain that assessed motion, depth, shape, and color, along with skeletal changes, must have been favored. For example, eye sockets became positioned in front instead of on the sides of the skull-a better arrangement for depth perception.
-adapted from Starr,   Biology: Concepts and Applications , p. 395
What is the purpose of the reading passage?

A) to entertain
B) to inform
C) to persuade
D) to criticize