UPSC Prelims 2024 · CSAT (Paper 2) · Q72

Comprehension

Medium · Passage: validity of assumptions

Read the following passage and answer the item that follows. Your answer to this item should be based on the passage only.

The dawn chorus was not composed for us. A bird sings at first light because sound carries furthest in the still, cool air, and what it is doing is announcing a boundary to rivals and advertising its condition to a mate, often in the same phrase. The complexity we admire is a measure of how much the singer can afford to spend on display. That we find it beautiful is a fact about us, arriving several million years after the fact about the bird.

Based on the above passage, the following assumptions have been made:

1. The author believes birdsong exists for the enjoyment of human listeners.

2. The author considers birdsong to serve no purpose other than attracting a mate.

Which of the assumptions given above is/are valid?