Final answer:
When estimating how many years a brown bear sleeps if it lives 24 years, the option that seems most plausible based on the bear’s sleep pattern is option c, which suggests that a bear sleeps for 1/5 of its life, totaling approximately 4.8 years.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is asking us to calculate how many years a brown bear spends asleep if it lives to be 24 years old, given the assumption that bears sleep for a certain fraction of their lives. Since bears do not go into true hibernation, but they do go into a deep sleep during the winter, and their body processes don't slow down very much, we can make an educated guess that they might spend around 1/5 to 1/4 of the year asleep rather than the 1/3 that is typical for true hibernators.
As the question presents options rather than asking for an observation-based answer, we'll assume that one of the provided options is correct. To find the answer, we multiply the bear's lifespan by the fraction of time spent asleep each year. Let's examine the options given:
- a. 1/6×24
- b. 5/6×24
- c. 1/5×24
- d. 1/4×24
Since the exact amount of time that bears sleep is not specified, we have to make an assumption. Knowing that brown bears hibernate for several months each year, typically from autumn to the end of winter, we can roughly estimate that option c, 1/5×24 could be reasonable for a bear's sleep cycle over a 24-year lifespan. This would give us approximately 4.8 years (1/5 of 24 years) of sleep for a brown bear that lives for 24 years.