Exam Preparation B2 C1 Lesson 2: Animal Kingdom

B2/C1 Exam Preparation Course Lesson 2

Why do animals have tails?

Look at an animal and odds are you’ll see a tail. But why do animals have tails? Tails are actually pretty complicated and their purposes are diverse, varying from animal to animal. However, the most common use of the tail is to communicate feelings. A dog or cat will have its tail held high when alert, but held down low when scared or sad. When we venture outside of this behavioural function though, the usage gets a lot more diverse.
Primates and some other mammals have two different kinds of tails, prehensile tails and non-prehensile tails. Prehensile tails act as an extra hand, and they aid in grabbing other items and hanging onto trees. On the other hand, non-prehensile tails help balance the animal while swinging, climbing and jumping.
Birds use their tails to steer themselves. Fish and other sea animals use their tails as a method of propulsion. Grazing animals use theirs to swat biting insects. Alligators store fat in theirs. And foxes use their large bushy tails as a blanket to warm them up.
But, wait a second. Humans are technically animals, right?
So where’s our tail? Humans, like all other mammals, do have a tail, in the first four weeks of Human Embryo Genuses, that is.
Human Embryo Genuses is basically the beginning stage of development in a human, occurring eight weeks before the foetus is created. But, evidently we don’t have tails. So where does our tail go?
Our tails are quickly absorbed into our grown body, leaving a coccyx, also known as a tail bone, behind. What seems like a pointless part of our vertebrae, however, is actually essential in the connection of muscles, tendons and ligaments, and provides us support while sitting.
So, even though we humans don’t have a tail to keep us warm or swat away biting insects, other animals do have tails and they rely on them every day to keep them alive.

Reading Passage: a Scientific Report

Background
The International Shark Attack File mentions only four unprovoked shark attacks on the coast of West Africa during the period 1828–2004, an area where high concentrations of sharks and 17 species potentially dangerous to man have been observed. To investigate if the frequency of shark attacks could be really low and not just under-reported and whether there are potentially sharks that might attack in the area, a study was carried out in Dakar and the Cap Vert peninsula, Senegal.

Methodology/Principal Findings
Personnel of health facilities, administrative services, traditional authorities and groups of fishermen from the region of Dakar were interviewed about the occurrence of shark attacks, and visual censuses were conducted along the coastline to investigate shark communities associated with the coasts of Dakar and the Cap Vert peninsula. Six attacks were documented for the period 1947–2005, including two fatal ones attributed to the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvieri. All attacks concerned fishermen and only one occurred after 1970. Sharks were observed year round along the coastline in waters 3–15 m depth. Two species potentially dangerous for man, the nurse shark Ginglymostoma cirratum and the blacktip shark Carcharhinus limbatus, represented together 94% of 1,071 sharks enumerated during 1,459 hours of observations. Threatening behaviour from sharks was noted in 12 encounters (1.1%), including 8 encounters with C. limbatus, one with Galeocerdo cuvieri and 3 with unidentified sharks.

Conclusions/Significance
These findings suggest that the frequency of shark attacks on the coast of West Africa is underestimated. However, they also indicate that the risk is very low despite the abundance of sharks. In Dakar area, most encounters along the coastline with potentially dangerous species do not result in an attack. Compared to other causes of water related deaths, the incidence of shark attack appears negligible, at least one thousand fold lower.

Introduction
On the coast of West Africa, sharks are well represented, both by the number and species. Although there are a number of species potentially dangerous to man, little data is available concerning shark attacks in this part of the world. The International Shark Attack File (ISAF), the most complete database in this field, mentions four unprovoked shark attacks on the coast of West Africa for the period 1828–2006: two were fatal, in Cape Verde Islands (2001) and in Liberia (1950), and two non fatal, in Senegal and Sierra Leone. By comparison, ISAF reports 212 attacks on the coast of South Africa for the same period, and 365, 94 and 66 attacks for the period 1990–2006 in Florida, Australia and Brazil, respectively.
Some authors have questioned the value of these statistics, in particular those concerning the Senegalese coast, where high concentrations of sharks have been observed near beaches frequented by both the local population and by numerous tourists. In the literature, only a single case of fatal attack, occurring at Thiaroye, near Dakar, has been documented, although seventeen species of sharks well known as potentially dangerous for man constitute the habitual hosts of the Senegalese coast, including the tiger shark Galeocerdo cuvieri, the shortfin mako Isurus oxyrhynchus and several species of requiem sharks of the genus Carcharhinus.
To my knowledge, no epidemiological study of shark attacks has been conducted in West Africa. To investigate if the frequency of shark attacks is actually very low and not just under-reported and whether there are potentially sharks that might attack along the coastline in the area, a study was carried out in Senegal’s most populated area, the Cap Vert peninsula, where the capital city Dakar is located.

SOURCE: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2211397/
EXTRACT FROM:
Shark Attacks in Dakar and the Cap Vert Peninsula,
Senegal: Low Incidence despite High Occurrence of Potentially Dangerous Species
Sébastien Trape
Will Cresswell, Academic Editor

WRITING SKILLS

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* Complete 2 writing assignments. You have 40 minutes if you wish to complete one now. The 2nd assignment you can complete at home.
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For IELTS (Academic format), please select the ESSAY topic (250 words: in 40 minutes. Counts for 2/3 of the Writing score) and GRAPH DESCRIPTION (150 words: in 20 minutes. Counts for 1/3 of the Writing score). You will have 1h to complete both tasks on the day of the exam.

* ESSAY: Write an essay exploring need for people to keep pets.
* GRAPH DESCRIPTION:
IUCN Red List (Source: Wikipedia)
This visual aid shows the percentage of species in several groups which are listed as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable on the 2007 IUCN Red List. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

For IELTS (General format), please select the ESSAY topic (250 words) and LETTER (150 words). You will have 1h to complete both tasks on the day of the exam.

* ESSAY: Write an essay exploring need for people to keep pets.
* LETTER: Write a letter to a friend asking them to look after your animal. Explaining: why, how long… etc.

For FCE, please select 2 of the following: ESSAY, LETTER/EMAIL, REPORT, or REVIEW. You will have 1h20 to complete the tasks on the day of the exam.

* ESSAY: Write an essay exploring need for people to keep pets.
* LETTER: Write a letter to a friend asking them to look after your animal. Explaining: why, how long… etc.
* REVIEW: You have just read an article on how people choose their pets based on their personality. Write a review on people’s decision to buy animals that are aesthetically pleasing.
* REPORT: Write a report on the increase in abandoned animals in the shadow of the crisis.

For CAE, please select 2 of the following: ESSAY, LETTER/EMAIL, PROPOSAL, REPORT, or REVIEW. You will have 1h30 to complete the tasks on the day of the exam.
* ESSAY: Write an essay exploring need for people to keep pets.
* LETTER: Write a letter to a friend asking them to look after your animal. Explaining: why, how long… etc.
* REVIEW: You have just read an article on how people choose their pets based on their personality. Write a review on people’s decision to buy animals that are aesthetically pleasing.
* PROPOSAL: Write a proposal for an animal rights charity. Explore what can be done to raise funds.
* REPORT: Write a report on the increase in abandoned animals in the shadow of the crisis.

For TOEFL, please select the ESSAY topic and write a second essay response based on either the READING or LISTENING passage of the lesson. You will have 50 minutes to complete both essays on the day of the exam.

* ESSAY: Write an essay exploring need for people to keep pets.
* ESSAY: Essay response based on either the reading or listening passage of today’s lesson (The Animal Kingdom): Based on the Listening: Some animals use their tails as a form of survival. Whether it is balance to escape predators, for attacking predators and/or prey, as in crocodiles and alligators, others have it specifically as a weapon, such as the stingray. What are some of the unique and interesting ways in which some animals defend themselves?