Fossil evidence indicates that the blompus an extremely large carnivorous land mammal inhabited the continent of Pentagoria for tens of thousands of years until its sudden decline and ultimate extinction about twelve thousand years ago Scientists have det

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Fossil evidence indicates that the blompus-an extremely large, carnivorous land mammal-inhabited the continent of Pentagoria for tens of thousands of years until its sudden decline and ultimate extinction about twelve thousand years ago. Scientists have determined that the extinction coincided with a period of significant climate change and with the arrival of the first humans. Some scholars theorize that the climate change so altered the distribution of plants and animals in the environment that the food chain upon which the blompus depended was irretrievably disrupted. Others contend that predation by humans is the more plausible explanation for the rapid population decline.
Write a response in which you discuss specific evidence that could be used to decide between the proposed explanations above.

The argument gives an explanation for the extinction of a historic animal called the blompus. The argument is flawed as it does not consider some logical points and has some questionable assumptions. There are several objections one can raise to the reasoning of this argument.

Firstly, the argument states that a climate change was one of the reasons for the animal's extinction. In doing so it is assumed that the climate change was drastic enough to have caused total wipe out of the species. The climate change may have been mild that probably had no effect on the blompus except for the fact that it coincided with its extinction.

On similar lines, during the remarkably huge span of the blompus' life, it is likely that there may have been other instances of climate change. The blompus survived those changes, which makes it even more dubious to say it was wiped out by the said climate change without stating its severity. A description of the nature of the climate shift might have been a useful evidence to reinstate the claims made by the argument.

Another logic that the argument presents is the arrival of first humans at the time of the blompus' extinction. While it is likely that the Homo sapiens at the time resorted to predation and hunting for their food, how they managed to kill supposedly large carnivorous animals still remains unexplained. The early humans are unlikely to have developed tools and techniques advanced enough to hunt extremely large carnivores like the blompus. Also, it cannot be assumed that the blompus constituted a major part of the human hunting for food.

Some more evidences that could have been useful in strengthening the claims of the arguments are mentions like the nature of the climate change, the nature of the humans as predators and the food habits of the blompus that would help in understanding the extinction due to disruption of food chain. With its stated assumptions and above mentioned logical flaws, the argument is logically unsound.

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Comments

argument 1 -- not OK

argument 2 -- not OK

argument 3 -- not OK

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