Read the following passage and questions, then choose the right answer from options, the answer should be one of A, B, C, D.

<passage>:
the human race. It had to be all or nothing ... Niobian mud was as sticky as flypaper. But the sith righted itself inches short of disaster, buzzed angrily and retreated to the shelter chores of field work. He looked down the rain-swept trail winding through the jungle. Niobe—a perfect name for this wet little world. The Bureau of Extraterrestrial Exploration couldn't have picked a better, but the funny thing about it was that they hadn't picked it in the first place. Niobe was the native word for Earth, or perhaps "the world" would be a more accurate definition. It was a coincidence, of course, but the planet and its mythological Greek namesake had much in common. Niobe, like Niobe, was all tears—a world of rain falling endlessly from an impenetrable overcast, fat wet drops that formed a grieving the round cheeks of the gently sloping land—rivulets that merged and blended into broad shallow rivers that wound their mourners' courses to the sea. Trekking on Niobe was an amphibious operation unless in his own sweat. But the suit was necessary, for exposed human flesh was irresistible temptation to Niobe's bloodsucking insects. Many of these were no worse than those of Earth, but a half dozen species were He looked at Kron squatting beside the trail and envied him. It was too bad that Earthmen weren't as naturally repellent to insects as the dominant native life. Like all Niobians, the native guide wore no clothing—ideal garb for a climate like this. His white, hairless hide, with its faint sheen of oil, was beautifully water-repellent. Like the dominant species on every intelligent planet in the explored environment, and the large intelligent eyes set forward in the skull to give binocular vision, together with the sharp white carnassial teeth and pointed canines, indicated a carnivorous ancestry. But the modern Niobians, although excellent swimmers, were land dwellers and ate anything. Lanceford couldn't repress an involuntary shudder at some of the things they apparently enjoyed. Tastes differed—enormously so between Earthmen and Niobians. There was no doubt that the native was intelligent, yet he, like the rest of his race, was a technological moron. It was strange that a race that, even an airless room full of natives was preferable to spending a night outside. And the sith wouldn't follow them. It didn't like He sighed wearily as he followed Kron along the dim path through the like to get caught away from shelter during the night. Niobian sliding easily over the surface of the mud, the Earthman plowing painfully through it, and the sith flitting from the shelter of one broadleaf to the next, waiting for a chance to feed. dimly visible through the rain and thickening darkness, loomed the squat thatch-roofed bulk of a hunthouse, a place of shelter for the members of the hunters' guild who provided fresh meat for the Niobian familiarity with the odor of a Niobian bred contempt—nausea was the right word. one of the hunters—a fellow-tribesman, judging from the tattoo on his chest. To a Niobian, the scene was ordinary, but to Lanceford it could have corner of Hades. Clustered around the fire, the hunters turned to look at him curiously and, after a single eye-filling stare, turned back again. Niobians were almost painfully polite. Although Earthmen were still enough of a curiosity to draw attention, one searching look was all their customs empty sleeping platforms where they would spend the night. Lanceford chose one and sank wearily to its resilient surface. Despite its crude construction, a Niobian sleeping platform was comfortable. He removed his pack, pulled off his mud-encrusted boots and lay back with a grunt of relaxation. After a day like this, it was good to get off his feet. and offensive, and one simply didn't offend the natives. The BEE was explicit about that. Courtesy was a watchword on Niobe. Niobians eyed the reeking semi-solid eagerly. No meal on Niobe was considered worthy of the name unless a generous helping of vorkum started it off. controlled the nausea and tactfully declined the greasy handful which Kron offered. The Niobian never seemed to learn. At every meal they had eaten during their past month of travel on Niobe, Kron had persistently offered him samples of the mess. With equal persistence, he had delicacy of vorkum. But it was a known fact that the ways of Earthmen sitting in on a Niobian meal and this one was worse than usual. Huge siths, reeking of vorkum, pursued him as he ran naked and defenseless across a swampy landscape that stretched interminably ahead. The That was the trouble with exploration world was alien. Occasionally danger tended to recede into a background He sighed and lay back. There wasn't anything more to do now. All he could do was wait and see if the anti-allergen worked. The Bureau of Extraterrestrial Exploration had discovered Niobe barely three years ago, yet already the planet was famous not only for its peculiar climate, but also for the number of men who had died upon its watery surface. Knowledge of this planet was bought with life, grim payment to decrease the lag between discovery and the day men could live and work on Niobe without having to hide beneath domes or behind that Niobe was crash priority—a world that For Niobe was a made to order herbarium for a swampland plant called Despite the fact that most life is based on carbon, oxygen and water, thousands of years to make, a policy of waiting for synthesis was not worth considering. The result was that nobody was happy until Niobe was discovered. considerable grumbling. In the nick of time, Niobe appeared upon the scene, and Niobe had environment in abundance! blank check and spurred on by a government which, in turn, was being spurred on by the people who composed it. The exploration of Niobe proceeded at all possible speed. With so many considerations weighed even if only a few days or hours were saved between discovery and were old during the Dark Ages before the Atomic Revolution, sending foot parties to explore a world in the chance that they might discover Alpha was a good hundred miles away and, in his present condition, he setting up the antenna, let alone send a message. It was a crime that handie-talkies couldn't be used here on Niobe, but their range, limited at best, was practically nonexistent on a planet Earthman. He had seen the kef effect before, among the young of his He scratched his head and pulled thoughtfully at one of his short ears. It was his duty to help Lanceford, but how could he? The Earthman had denied his help for weeks, and Niobians simply didn't disregard Earthman myth that the BEE had fostered. Niobian equivalent of laughter. "And all the time we thought—" he characteristic Niobian delicacy, the hunters had left, preferring to endure the night rain than be present when the alien died. Kron was but the deeper pathways of thought and reason remained untouched. He as the other muscles of his body and the native was outside his field of vision—but somehow he knew exactly what the Niobian was doing. He was washing mucus from his hands in a bowl of water standing beside the alien Earthmen, mixed with a wondering curiosity about what kept them here—what the true reasons were for their death-defying persistence aliens. come, as though an invisible door had closed upon it. But one thing in that briefly shocking contact stood out with great clarity. The Niobians were as eager as the BEE to establish a true contact, a true understanding, for the message was there, plain a consensus of his people, a decision arrived at as a result of discussion and thought—a decision of which every Niobian was aware and with which most Niobians agreed.

<question>:
Why was Earth exploring Niobe?

<options>:
A Geological interest
B Surveying for immediate colonization
C Botanical interest
D Anthropological study of the Niobians

<answer>:

C