Read the passage and answer the questions given below it.
A forager bee that finds a field of mustard in flower has a problem, and it is not a problem of flying. She must tell her sisters where the field is. She must do it inside a hive that is nearly dark, on an upright wall of wax, with no map and no words.
Her answer is the waggle dance. She runs a short straight line across the comb, shaking her body from side to side, then loops back and repeats it. Two details carry the message. Straight up on the comb stands for the direction of the sun outside, so a run tilted forty degrees to the right of straight up means forty degrees to the right of the sun. The length of the run stands for distance: the farther the field, the longer the waggle. Her followers see very little in the dark, so they keep close and read the figure through their antennae. It is a remarkable piece of compression, a direction and a distance packed into a few seconds of shaking.
The Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch worked this out over years of patient experiments, and in 1973 he shared a Nobel Prize for his studies of animal behaviour. In some quarters his account was met with incredulity. A few researchers argued that the recruits simply followed the scent of flowers clinging to the dancer, and that the dance was mere excited fuss. The objection was fair, and it led to sharper tests. Decades later, scientists fitted bees with tiny radar tags and tracked their flights. The recruits flew off in the direction the dance had shown, though scent helped them over the last stretch to the flowers.
The word ‘incredulity’, as used in the passage, means:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → an unwillingness to believe what is claimed
Incredulity means an unwillingness or inability to believe something.
- The passage says von Frisch’s account “was met with incredulity” in some quarters.
- The next sentence shows what this was. A few researchers did not accept that the dance carried a message. They said the recruits simply followed the scent of the flowers. Example: The villagers listened with incredulity when the boy said he had seen a tiger near the school.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: a feeling of anger at what seems unfair — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of indignation. The researchers doubted the claim. They were not angry about it. Example: The players showed their indignation when the umpire gave a wrong decision.
Option 3: a lack of interest in what is new — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of indifference. The doubters were interested enough to offer their own explanation. Example: His indifference to the new library surprised his teachers.
Option 4: a state of being puzzled by what is seen — Incorrect. Wrong meaning: This is the meaning of bewilderment. The doubters were not puzzled. They had a clear rival view, that scent guided the bees. Example: In his bewilderment, the new student walked into the wrong classroom twice.