UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — The whales never stopped coming to Gujarat’s beaches, the watchers did

Q1. With reference to the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2022, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. Schedule I and Schedule II both list animals, and Schedule II carries a lower degree of protection than Schedule I.
  2. The amendment increased the number of schedules so that animals and plants could each be given their own separate tiers of protection.
  3. A marine cetacean and the tiger fall in the same schedule and so receive the same tier of protection under the Act.
  • A. 1 and 2 only
  • B. 1 and 3 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q2. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. Unlike most humpback whale populations, the Arabian Sea humpbacks remain in the northern Indian Ocean throughout the year instead of making long seasonal migrations.
  2. Humpback whales are baleen whales that feed by straining prey out of large volumes of seawater.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q3. Consider the following statements: Which of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

  1. The blue whale, the largest animal ever known to have lived, feeds almost entirely on krill, which are tiny crustaceans.
  2. Blue whales locate krill swarms using high-frequency echolocation clicks, in the manner of dolphins.
  • A. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct and Statement-II explains Statement-I
  • B. Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, but Statement-II does not explain Statement-I
  • C. Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect
  • D. Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct

Q4. With reference to baleen whales (Mysticeti) and toothed whales (Odontoceti), consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above are correct?

  1. Baleen whales have no functional teeth as adults and strain their food from seawater through plates made of keratin.
  2. Echolocation using high-frequency clicks is a characteristic hunting tool of toothed whales, including dolphins and porpoises.
  3. Being the largest cetaceans, baleen whales typically hunt the largest marine prey, such as squid and seals.
  4. Dolphins and porpoises belong to the same suborder as the sperm whale and not to that of the blue whale.
  • A. 2, 3 and 4 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 4 only
  • D. 1, 2, 3 and 4

Q5. Gujarat has 15 recorded blue whale strandings, 14 of them from the 20th century and only one after 2000. Over the same period, far fewer coastal residents have been observing, identifying or reporting stranded whales. Which of the following inferences can be drawn from the above?

  1. The stranding data by themselves establish that blue whales have declined in the waters off Gujarat.
  2. A trend in opportunistic stranding records cannot be separated from a change in observation and reporting effort unless that effort is also measured.
  3. A standardised stranding-response network would make future changes in the records easier to interpret as real changes in whale occurrence.
  • A. 2 and 3 only
  • B. 1, 2 and 3
  • C. 1 and 2 only
  • D. 1 and 3 only

Q6. Consider the following assertion: A fall in the number of recorded whale strandings along a coast does not by itself show that fewer whales use those waters. Which of the following statements support/supports the above assertion?

  1. A stranding enters the record only if someone notices the carcass, identifies it and reports it.
  2. Stranded whales of some species, such as Bryde's whale, often go unidentified by the public.
  3. All cetaceans in India are listed in Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
  4. The Arabian Sea humpback population is small, numbering about 100 individuals.
  • A. 1, 2 and 3 only
  • B. 2 and 4 only
  • C. 1, 3 and 4 only
  • D. 1 and 2 only

Q7. With reference to tidal energy and the gulfs of Gujarat, consider the following statements: Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

  1. The Gulf of Khambhat records a larger tidal range than the Gulf of Kachchh.
  2. Tidal power is technically feasible only where the gap between high and low tide is large, which is why India's estimated potential is concentrated in these gulfs.
  3. Despite their high tidal range, tidal power in India has not yet become commercially viable because of its high capital cost.
  • A. 1 only
  • B. 1 and 2 only
  • C. 2 and 3 only
  • D. 1, 2 and 3

Q8. The Arabian Sea humpback whale is a small, isolated population that does not mix with other humpbacks. Consider the following statements about the likely consequences of this: Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?

  1. Individuals lost to ship strikes or fishing-net entanglement cannot be replaced by whales moving in from other humpback populations.
  2. With only about 100 individuals, the population has little buffer against even a few additional human-caused deaths each year.
  3. Because it does not migrate, the population faces local threats such as ship strikes within its range only during the breeding season.
  • A. 1 and 3 only
  • B. 3 only
  • C. 1, 2 and 3
  • D. 2 and 3 only