Directions: Quickly skim the passage and answer the question that follows.

---

**Passage:**

Asian and African Elephants

Did you know that elephants are the largest land animals alive today? They also have the largest brains of any land animal and are highly intelligent and sensitive creatures. Elephants are mammals, which means they give birth to live babies instead of laying eggs. It takes 22 months for a baby elephant to be born, and those babies weigh in at a whopping 265 pounds! Once born, elephants have long lives of up to 70 years, sometimes longer.

There are two main species of elephant: Asian and African. Asian elephants are smaller in size than Africans. They have smaller ears, and usually, only the male Asians have tusks. There are only about 60,000 Asian elephants in the world, only a tenth of the number of African elephants. The elephants you see at the circus or the one you may have ridden at an amusement park are Asians. They are easier to train because they have less aggressive personalities than African elephants.

African elephants, on the other hand, are rarely trained because they are more sensitive and temperamental. The most notable feature of African elephants is their large ears, which they use as giant fans to keep themselves cool. African elephants are larger than Asians. Also, both the males and females have tusks. Their ivory tusks are larger than those of Asians, and because of this, they are more often hunted by poachers (people who illegally hunt and kill animals).

Because of poaching and the destruction of their environment, many elephants are endangered. Because they are such large creatures and take so long to grow and reproduce, poaching has a significant impact on their population. Another problem is that large areas of forest are disappearing quickly because of human development. Elephants need to eat an average of 300 pounds of vegetation every day, and as large patches of forest disappear, so does their food supply.

**Figures:**
- Top figure's caption: Asian elephant.
- Bottom figure's caption: African elephant.

---

**Question:**

Based on your preview, what is the best goal-setting question for this?

A. Why are African elephants harder to train than Asian elephants?
B. How are elephants being affected by poaching and habitat loss?
C. What are the similarities and differences between Asian and African elephants?
D. Why are Asian elephants different than African elephants?

---

Please select the best answer from the choices provided:

A
B
C
D