Quality Assurance

Here is each step of the “solution” annotated. Yellow is the correct answer, blue is the incorrectly eliminated one.

1. From the first part of (1), we can infer the species of Franklin.
   • Both geckoes and snails are cold-blooded.

2. Since the desert resident doesn't study genetic material, from (7), we know the name of who lives there.
   • Both Goodall and Linnaeus did not study genetic material.

3. The second half of (1) directly tells us the habitat of Linnaeus.
   • Both rainforests and deciduous forests are forests.

4. Since McClintock is a Nobel Prize winner, from (5), we can also determine her pet.
   • Both sponges and jellyfish are multicellular heterotrophs.

5. We can use the tree relation from (4) to place Franklin. With that marked, since we also know her species, we can additionally mark the habitat of her species.
   • We know Franklin can’t be in the rainforest; both savannas and tundras have fewer trees.
   • Following the second instruction, we unambiguously conclude (gecko, tundra).

6. (6) tells us that deciduous forests only have species with cell walls: this tells us which pet-owning species lives there.
   • Poth portobellos and potatoes have cell walls.

7. We next deduce the habitat of the egg-layer, from (2).
   • Both dodos (RIP) and snails lay eggs.

8. (2) also tells us which pet lives in the wet climate. We then infer from this chain that this pet belongs to the egg-layer.
   • Both jellyfish and diatoms are plankton.
   • We additionally unambiguously conclude that the dodo owns the jellyfish.

9. Now we can use (8) to tell us the habitat of the portobello!
   • Neither deserts nor savannas are forests.

10. Since one of the pets is fully resolved, there's only really one choice left for potato's pet using (9).
    • Both sponges and kelp are multicellular.

11. Finally, the second part of (3) tells us about the gecko's pet.
    • Both diatoms and E. coli are prokaryotes.

Contrary to the solution's claim, the final grid is not unique.