Assertion (A): Animals will not get energy if they eat (consume) coal as food.

Reason (R): Specific enzymes are needed for the breakdown of a particular food.

Both the Assertion and the Reason are true, and the Reason correctly explains the Assertion. The chapter explains that heterotrophic organisms break down complex food substances "with the help of biological catalysts called enzymes," and specific enzymes act on specific substrates (e.g., salivary amylase acts on starch, pepsin acts on proteins, trypsin acts on proteins, lipase acts on fats). Coal is essentially elemental carbon (not a biological carbon-based food molecule like carbohydrate, protein or fat), and no enzyme exists in animal digestive systems capable of breaking it down. Therefore, even though coal is a carbon-based substance, animals cannot derive energy from it because they lack the specific enzymes needed to break it down into usable, absorbable products — which is exactly what the Reason states and which directly explains why the Assertion is true. Option B is wrong because R does explain A, not merely coexist with it. Option C is wrong because both statements are actually true, not just A. Option D is wrong because A is true (animals genuinely cannot get energy from coal), not false.