Bring Back the Big Cats IELTS Reading Answers

The Academic passage ‘Bring back the big cats’ is a reading passage that appeared in an IELTS Test. There are various question types, each of which are asked in the IELTS Reading exam. So, the passage given in this practice test will help you enhance your reading and understanding capabilities.

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The types of questions found in this passage are:

Multiple Choice Questions:

Multiple Choice Questions are some of the most frequently asked types of questions in the IELTS. In this type of question, you are required to choose the most appropriate option out of all the given options, which you believe would be the aptest answer to a particular question. You are generally given four options (the number of options may vary, at times) and you are required to choose the most suitable option. It is advisable to go through all the options before answering them.

Summary Completion: 

In Summary Completion, you must complete the summary of the given passage by going through the provided text and identifying the relevant context mentioned in the summary. Then, fill in the blanks with the missing words or phrases and complete the summary. It should be meaningful in relation to the passage. You might/might not get the exact phrases/words from the passage; hence, pay close attention to the passage.

Yes/No/Not Given

For Yes/No/Not Given questions, you have to answer using ‘Yes’, ‘No’, or ‘Not Given’ with respect to the statements made. If you believe that the given statement is mentioned in the text, write ‘Yes’. If you think the statement is wrong, write ‘No’. And, in case you do not find any piece of information regarding the given statement, write ‘ Not Given’.

Bring back the big cats

Reading Answers

14 Answer: D

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 1, Lines 3-12

Answer explanation: “Nothing seemed to fit, until 2006, when an animal bone, dating from around the same period, was found in the Kinsey Cave in northern England. Until this discovery, the lynx – a large spotted cat with tasselled ears – was presumed to have died out in Britain at least 6,000 years ago, before the inhabitants of these islands took up farming. But the 2006 find, together with three others in Yorkshire and Scotland, is compelling evidence that the lynx and the mysterious llewyn were in fact one and the same animal. If this is so, it would bring forward the tassel-eared cat’s estimated extinction date by roughly 5,000 years.” These lines show that the Lynx survived longer in Britain than what was believed prior and were comparatively more recent, that is 5000 years, than they were thought to be which is 6000 years.

15 Answer: A

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 3, Lines 4-9

Answer explanation: “One of the most striking findings of modern ecology is that ecosystems without large predators behave in completely different ways from those that retain them. Some of them drive dynamic processes that resonate through the whole food chain, creating niches for hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle to survive. The killers turn out to be bringers of life.” This suggests that the presence of predatory are significant for biodiversity as they are the life bringers and are one of the key players in driving the dynamic ecological processes, thereby maintaining the balance of the ecosystem.

16 Answer: C

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 4, Lines 1-5

Answer explanation: “Such findings present a big challenge to British conservation, which has often selected arbitrary assemblages of plants and animals and sought, at great effort and expense, to prevent them from changing. It has tried to preserve the living world as if it were a jar of pickles, letting nothing in and nothing out, keeping nature in a state of arrested development.” In the introductory sentence of the paragraph, we come to know that the British conservation system was based on arbitrary selection of plants and animals, that is, it was not based on any logic or system. This idea is emphasised in the later part and brings about the errors in the approach of British conservation and their approach.

17 Answer: A

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 5, full

Answer explanation: “At sea the potential is even greater: by protecting large areas from commercial fishing, we could once more see what 18th-century literature describes: vast shoals of fish being chased by fin and sperm whales, within sight of the English shore. This policy would also greatly boost catches in the surrounding seas; the fishing industry’s insistence on scouring every inch of seabed, leaving no breeding reserves, could not be more damaging to its own interests.” This paragraph talks about the benefits of protection of fishes and the areas where they dwell from commercialisation.

18 Answer: C

Question Type: Multiple Choice Question

Answer location: Paragraph 6, Lines 3-6

Answer explanation: “One of the reasons why the enthusiasm for rewilding is spreading so quickly in Britain is that it helps to create a more inspiring vision than the green movement’s usual promise of ‘Follow us and the world will be slightly less awful than it would otherwise have been.’ ” This line suggests the significance of rewilding and how it is more appealing and has a more positive and appealing (inspiring) vision as compared to other campaigns.

19 Answer: E

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 7, Lines 1-2

Answer explanation: “The lynx presents no threat to human beings: there is no known instance of one preying on people.” This suggests that lynx don’t harm humans and are safe for human existence.

20 Answer: D

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location:  Paragraph 7, Lines 2-6

Answer explanation: “It is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species that has exploded in Britain in recent decades, holding back, by intensive browsing, attempts to re-establish forests. It will also winkle out sika deer: an exotic species that is almost impossible for human beings to control, as it hides in impenetrable plantations of young trees.” This suggests how lynx would help the greenery and vegetation by preying on some wild animals like roe deer and sika deer that are a threat to the crop fields and greenery and was increasing in number.

21 Answer: F

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location: Paragraph 7, Lines 8-10

Answer explanation: “The lynx requires deep cover, and as such presents little risk to sheep and other livestock, which are supposed, as a condition of farm subsidies, to be kept out of the woods.” This suggests that lynx won’t be a threat (present little risk) to the farm animals like sheep, if they are away from forests as the lynx require dense covering of forest to hide themselves.

22 Answer: A

Question Type: Summary Completion

Answer location:  Paragraph 7, Lines 6-8

Answer explanation: “The attempt to reintroduce this predator marries well with the aim of bringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands.” This suggests that these predators would help in restoring the forests and the trees by checking on the growth of herbivores who graze uncontrollably. Here the keywords ‘marries well’ is paraphrased as link efficiently.

23 Answer: No

Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 8, Lines 5-8

Answer explanation: “The lynx has now been reintroduced to the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges in eastern France and the Harz mountains in Germany, and has re-established itself in many more places.” This shows that the lynx have been reintroduced in many parts of the world and Britain is not the first or the only European country to do so.

24 Answer: Not Given

Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: N/A

Answer explanation: Although there is a mention that the European lynx population has tripled since 1970 to roughly 10,000, there is no such reference in the passage that suggests that this growth has exceeded conservationists’ expectations.

25 Answer: Yes

Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 8, Lines 9-12

Answer explanation: ‘As with wolves, bears, beavers, boar, bison, moose and many other species, the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left the hills and people discover that it is more lucrative to protect charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to see it.” This suggests that as farming is no more done on the hill slopes, predators like the lynx have extended their habitats.

26 Answer: Yes

Question Type: Yes/No/Not Given

Answer location: Paragraph 8, Lines 9-13

Answer explanation: ‘As with wolves, bears, beavers, boar, bison, moose and many other species, the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left the hills and people discover that it is more lucrative to protect charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to see it. Large-scale rewilding is happening almost everywhere – except Britain.”  This suggests that reintroduction of the species is lucrative (has commercial advantages) as tourists are attracted and it increases the cash flow from these visits.

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