Why Some Mammals Have Developed A Cooperative Approach To Raising Their Young — IELTS Reading Answers

Section A

“Their home is in the flat, arid landscape of the huge Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa where there is no water throughout many months of the year. The scarcity of food and the difficulty of finding anywhere suitable to hide from predators have led them to live in groups where they share the roles of food hunters”

Section A's heading is ix: it describes the harsh Kalahari setting, with no water and scarce food, that led meerkats to live in groups.

Section B

“This strategy is hugely successful – dominant female meerkats can produce up to 20 pups in a year, increasing their group’s size so they can hold precious land against rival families. But the evolution of this strategy makes little sense when individuals are typically out to help themselves”

Heading iv fits Section B, which notes the strategy's success in producing up to 20 pups yet calls its evolution puzzling when individuals help themselves.

Section C

“They found that meerkats show an unusually high level of kinship to others in their group compared to that found in other social animals, such as African hunting dogs and primates. In other words, almost all members of a meerkat group are brothers and sisters”

Heading viii matches Section C's finding of 'an unusually high level of kinship', where nearly all group members are brothers and sisters.

Section D

“In other social animals, such as chimpanzees and baboons, kinship is much lower within groups. This means that higher primates, including humans, have to engage in far more social manoeuvring and alliance-forming within their group”

Heading v compares with Section D: lower kinship in chimpanzees and baboons forces more 'social manoeuvring and alliance-forming'.

Section E

“‘Synchronising to give birth at the same moment is a way to avoid infanticide. We think none of the females know who their own pups are so they care for all of them just in case they are their own.’”

Heading vii fits Section E's explanation that synchronised births 'avoid infanticide', since mothers cannot tell their own pups apart.

Section F

“‘[Banded] mongooses always [seem to] do the opposite of what we think they should do,’ said Prof. Cant, whose assumption had been that pups who were bigger at birth would benefit from their head start in life. Instead, the females focused on raising the weakest individuals”

Heading ii matches Section F's surprise finding that females 'focused on raising the weakest individuals', contrary to expectations.

“Their home is in the flat, arid landscape of the huge Kalahari Desert in Southern Africa where there is no water throughout many months of the year”

The summary needs what the Kalahari lacks for many months; the text says 'there is no water throughout many months of the year'.

“The scarcity of food and the difficulty of finding anywhere suitable to hide from predators have led them to live in groups where they share the roles of food hunters”

The gap needs the plural noun for the danger meerkats struggle to hide from; 'hide from predators' supplies it.

“The subordinate females produce milk for the pups and take care of them in their underground burrows during the first three weeks of life”

A noun is needed for what subordinate females produce for the pups; the text says they 'produce milk for the pups'.

In Section B, when describing how meerkats breed, Professor Clutton-Brock is

1. Aconcerned that this may lead to aggression within the group.
2. Bdoubtful that there will be enough food to support bigger groups.
3. Cpuzzled by the way they have evolved to assist the members of the group.correct
4. Damazed by the way a group can defend itself against other larger species.

“‘It is less easy to understand why in some cases individuals might spend a large section of their lives helping other individuals.’”

Option C fits: Clutton-Brock calls it 'less easy to understand' why individuals spend much of their lives helping others, so he is puzzled.

What conclusion did Professor Clutton-Brock reach during his study of meerkats?

1. AGroups are genetically related to other groups in the area.
2. BFemales will only look after pups that look the same as them.
3. CPups ignore others in the group that do not have the same mother.
4. DFemales secure the survival of their genes by nursing the group’s pups.correct

“He explains that other females can ensure the genes they share are passed on by helping to raise their brothers and sisters”

Option D restates his explanation that other females pass on shared genes 'by helping to raise their brothers and sisters'.

What does Professor Clutton-Brock think is important about lower kinship groups?

1. AMembers value the support of others more.
2. BCo-operation can no longer be relied on in families.
3. CMembers have to become smarter in order to do well.correct
4. DCleverness is regarded as the key characteristic of a leader.

“The moral is that if you are living in a group where not everyone is closely related to you and might be looking to disadvantage you if they get a chance, you need to be clever”

Option C matches his conclusion that in groups where others 'might be looking to disadvantage you', 'you need to be clever'.

Following his team’s experiment with feeding mongooses, Professor Cant

1. Aadmits to being constantly surprised by the behaviour of the speciescorrect
2. Bfinds the mothers’ efforts to help the weakest pups admirable
3. Cthinks it could show some human carers in a negative light
4. Dis unsure what later findings of the study will reveal.

“‘[Banded] mongooses always [seem to] do the opposite of what we think they should do,’ said Prof. Cant, whose assumption had been that pups who were bigger at birth would benefit from their head start in life”

Option A fits his remark that mongooses do 'the opposite of what we think they should do', contradicting his assumption about bigger pups.