TEST 12
Questions 1-7. Match the following headings (A-H) to the texts (Q1-Q7).
Note: There is one extra heading which you do not need to use.
HEADINGS:
A) Building a home
B) Cooperation matters for everybody
C) Danger alarm
D) Feeding help
E) Animals’ intelligence
F) Food signals
G) Team life is easier
H) Team hunters
Q1.
People work together for a simple reason — it makes difficult jobs easier. If you had to move a heavy
piece of furniture
from one room to another, would you do it all by yourself or find someone to help you?
As you would probably agree, with a friend you can get the job done more quickly, and neither of you will
be as tired afterwards. For
similar reasons, animals also use teamwork. In animal groups, each individual
works to help the group as a whole.
Q2.
Some species have developed intelligent ways of gathering food. Coastal bottlenose dolphins have
developed a unique way of catching fish which requires extraordinary teamwork.
The dolphins follow a
school of fish until they are near a bank. Then, they swim towards the fish creating a wave which pushes
the fish out of the water and onto the bank. The dolphins end up half out of the water lying on the bank
where they eat the helpless fish. In order for this to work, each dolphin must
rush towards the bank at ex-
actly the same time, otherwise the wave won’t be strong enough. How they decide when to go and who
gives the order is unknown, but a high level of communication definitely exists between them.
Q3.
Animals can’t talk but some species have developed ways of letting others know where food is. For
example,
if a bee finds nectar, it has two ways of informing its hive. It may create a trail with the scent of
the nectar. When the other bees pick up the smell, they can follow it to the nectar. Or the bee may perform
the ‘waggle dance’. The other bees understand what
this dance means, and then they work as a team to
collect the nectar.
Q4.
Hunting can be difficult and even dangerous for one animal. It also takes a lot of energy to chase and kill
prey, which is wasted if the prey escapes. Hunting in packs helps make predators more efficient. A pack of
wolves, for example, can kill a large
animal such as a deer or moose, while one wolf can only kill a small
animal. Wolf packs, which consist of two to twenty wolves, may surprise their prey or pursue it for hours
before attacking.
If there are several animals, the pack will choose the weakest one because it will take less
effort to catch. In the end, the wolves share the meat with each other.