How Animals Keep Fit - IELTS Reading Answers

One of the keys to mastering the IELTS Reading test is learning how to read selectively. You do not have to read every word in the passage. All you need to know is what to look for and how to find it quickly. That is where skimming and scanning come in and you can master these techniques through practice of reading samples from the best IELTS Reading books, like ‘How Animals Keep Fit IELTS Reading Answers’. 

Therefore, to improve your performance in the reading module, check your answers against the provided How Animals Keep Fit reading answers, explanations, and tips in this blog.

Passage for How Animals Keep Fit Reading Answers

Read the passage for ‘How Animals Keep Fit’ Reading Answers given below and prepare for the reading section with similar IELTS Reading topics for General and Academic.

How Animals Keep Fit

A No one would dream of running a marathon without first making a serious effort to train for it. But no matter how well they have stuck to their training regime, contestants will find that running non-stop for 42 kilometres is going to hurt.

B Now consider the barnacle goose. Every year this bird carries out a 3000-kilometre migration. So how do the birds prepare for this? Do they spend months gradually building up fitness? That’s not really the barnacle goose’s style. Instead, says environmental physiologist Lewis Halsey, ‘They just basically sit on the water and eat a lot.’

Until recently, nobody had really asked whether exercise is as tightly connected to fitness in the rest of the animal kingdom as it is for us. The question is tied up in a broader assumption: that animals maintain fitness because of the exercise they get finding food and escaping predators.

C Halsey points out that this may not necessarily be the case. Take the house cat. Most domestic cats spend much of the day lounging around, apparently doing nothing, rather than hunting for food. But over short distances, even the laziest can move incredibly fast when they want to. Similarly, black and brown bears manage to come out of several months’ hibernation with their muscle mass intact – without having to lift so much as a paw during this time.

D Barnacle geese go one better. In the process of sitting around, they don’t just maintain their fitness. They also develop stronger hearts and bigger flight muscles, enabling them to fly for thousands of kilometres in a migration that may last as little as two days.

So, if exercise isn’t necessarily the key to physical strength, then what is? One clue comes from a broader view of the meaning of physical fitness. Biologically speaking, all it means is that the body has undergone changes that make it stronger and more efficient. In animals such as bears, these changes appear to be triggered by cues such as falling temperatures or insufficient food. In the months of hibernation, these factors seem to prompt the release of muscle-protecting compounds which are then carried to the bears’ muscles in their blood and prevent muscle loss.

E Barnacle geese, Halsey suggests, may be responding to an environmental change such as temperature, which helps their bodies somehow ‘know’ that a big physical challenge is looming. In other bird species, that cue may be something different. Chris Guglielmo, a physiological ecologist, has studied the effect of subjecting migratory songbirds known as yellow-rumped warblers to changing hours of daylight. ‘We don’t need to take little songbirds and train them up to do a 6 or 10-hour flight,’ he says. If they are subjected to the right daylight cycle, ‘we can take them out of the cage and put them in the wind tunnel, and they fly for 10 hours.’

F Unlike migratory birds, however, humans have no biological shortcut to getting fit. Instead, pressures in our evolutionary history made our bodies tie fitness to exercise.

Our ancestors’ lives were unpredictable. They had to do a lot of running to catch food and escape danger, but they also needed to keep muscle mass to a minimum because muscle is biologically expensive. Each kilogram contributes about 10 to 15 kilocalories a day to our metabolism when resting — which doesn’t sound like much until you realise that muscles account for about 40 percent of the average person’s body mass. ‘Most of us are spending 20 percent of our basic energy budget taking care of muscle mass,’ says Daniel Lieberman, an evolutionary biologist and marathon runner.

G So our physiology evolved to let our weight and fitness fluctuate depending on how much food was available. ‘This makes us evolutionarily different from most other animals,’ says Lieberman. In general, animals merely need to be capable of short bouts of intense activity, whether it’s the cheetah chasing prey or the gazelle escaping. Cats are fast, but they don’t need to run very far. Perhaps a few mad dashes around the house are all it takes to keep a domestic one fit enough for feline purposes. ‘Humans, on the other hand, needed to adapt to run slower, but for longer,’ says Lieberman.

He argues that long ago on the African savannah, natural selection made us into ‘supremely adapted’ endurance athletes, capable of running prey into the ground and ranging over long distances with unusual efficiency. But only, it appears, if we train. Otherwise, we quickly degenerate into couch potatoes.

H As for speed, even those animals that do cover impressive distances don’t have to be the fastest they can possibly be. Barnacle geese needn’t set world records when crossing the North Atlantic; they just need to be able to get to their destination. ‘And,’ says exercise physiologist Ross Tucker, ‘humans may be the only animal that actually cares about reaching peak performance.’ Other than racehorses and greyhounds, both of which we have bred to race, animals aren’t directly competing against one another. ‘I don’t know that all animals are the same, performance-wise … and we don’t know whether training would enhance their ability,’ he says.

Questions for How Animals Keep Fit Reading Answers 

The ‘How Animals Keep Fit’ is an IELTS General Reading passage from Cambridge 15 Reading Test 3 Section 3, which is a good resource for anyone who is preparing for the reading test. 

There are 13 questions with this passage that will help you understand what kind of reading passages you will encounter and the questions that you will be asked to solve. The question types found in this passage are:

• IELTS Reading Multiple-Choice Question (Q. 1-3)
• IELTS Reading Summary Completion (Q. 4-8) 
• IELTS Reading Matching Information (Q. 9-13)

Questions 1-3

1 The writer discusses marathon runners and barnacle geese to introduce the idea that

A marathon runners may be using inefficient training methods.

B the role of diet in achieving fitness has been underestimated.

C barnacle geese spend much longer preparing to face a challenge.

D serious training is not always necessary for physical achievement.

2 The writer says that human muscles

A use up a lot of energy even when resting.

B are heavier than other types of body tissue.

C were more efficiently used by our ancestors.

D have become weaker than they were in the past.

3 The writer says that in order to survive, early humans developed the ability to

A hide from their prey.

B run long distances.

C adapt their speeds to different situations.

D predict different types of animal movements.

Questions 4-8

What is the key to physical fitness?

In biological terms, when an animal is physically fit, its body changes, becoming more powerful and 4 ................... For bears, this change may be initially caused by colder weather or a lack of 5 ................... which during 6 ................... causes certain compounds to be released into their 7 ................... and to travel around the body. These compounds appear to prevent muscle loss. In the case of barnacle geese, the change may be due to a variation in 8 .....................

Questions 9-13

9 One belief about how animals stay fit is possibly untrue.

10 It may not be possible to train all animals to improve their speed.

11 One type of bird has demonstrated fitness when exposed to a stimulus in experimental conditions.

12 Human energy use developed in a different way from that of animals.

13 One type of bird may develop more strength when the weather becomes warmer or cooler.

List of Researchers

A Lewis Halsey

B Chris Guglielmo

C Daniel Lieberman

D Ross Tucker

Answers for How Animals Keep Fit with Location and Explanations

Crosscheck your answers using the answer key below for the How Animals Keep Fit IELTS Reading passage. Make sure to create strategies based on the feedback from this practice and master IELTS Reading question types with examples.

1 Answer: D

Question Type: Multiple-choice questions

Location : Paragraph 1, Line 2

Answer Explanation: In the first paragraph of the passage, the writer talks about marathon runners and says, “….. But no matter how well they have stuck to their training regime, contestants will find that running non-stop for 42 kilometres is going to hurt”. Then, in paragraph no. 2, the writer says, “Now consider the barnacle goose. Every year this bird carries out 23000-kilometre migration. So how do the birds prepare for this? ……… Instead, says environmental physiologist Lewis Halsey, They just basically sit on the water and eat a lot.” Here, they just basically sit on the water and eat a lot which means serious training is not always necessary for physical achievement, So, the answer is D.

2 Answer: A

Question Type: Multiple-choice questions

Location: Paragraph 9, Lines 1 to 5

Answer Explanation: The answer can be traced in paragraph no. 9, in lines 1-5, “Our ancestors” lives were unpredictable. They had to do a lot of running to catch food and escape danger, but they also needed to keep muscle mass to a minimum because muscle is biologically expensive. Here, these lines suggest that human muscles use up massive energy when the body takes rest. So, the answer is A.

3 Answer: B

Question Type: Multiple-choice questions

Location: Paragraph 9, Line 1 to 2

Answer Explanation: Again, the answer can be found in paragraph no. 9, in lines 1-2, “Our ancestors’ lives were unpredictable. Here, Our ancestors, which means early humans, had to do a lot of running, which means to run long distances, catch food and escape danger in order to survive. So, the answer is B.

4 Answer: efficient

Question Type: Sentence Completion

Location: Paragraph 6, Lines 2 to 3

Answer Explanation: In paragraph no. 6, the writer says in line 2 to 3,” Biologically speaking, all it means is that the body has undergone changes that make it stronger and more efficient…” Here, Biologically speaking which means in biological terms, the body has undergone changes which means body changes, stronger which means more powerful. So, the answer is efficient.

5 Answer: food

Question Type: Sentence Completion

Location: Paragraph 6, Lines 3 to 5

Answer Explanation: In paragraph no. 6, lines 3-5 say, “….. In animals such as bears these changes appear to be triggered by cues such as falling temperatures or insufficient food. Here, In animals such as bears which means for bears, triggered by which means initially caused by, falling temperatures which means colder weather, insufficient which means lack of. So, the answer is food.

6 Answer: hibernation

Question Type: Sentence Completion

Location: Paragraph 6, Lines 5 to 7

Answer Explanation: In lines 5-7 of paragraph no.6, the writer says, “….. In the months of hibernation, these factors seem to prompt the release of muscle-protecting compounds which are then carried to the bears’ muscles in their blood and prevent muscle loss.” Here, In the months of which means during, release of muscle-protecting compounds which means cause certain compounds to be released, in their blood which means into their blood. So, the answer is hibernation.

7 Answer: blood

Question Type: Sentence Completion

Location: Paragraph 6, Lines 5 to 7

Answer Explanation: In lines 5-7 of paragraph no.6, the writer says, “….. In the months of hibernation, these factors seem to prompt the release of muscle-protecting compounds which are then carried to the bears’ muscles in their blood and prevent muscle loss.” Here, In the months of which means during, release of muscle-protecting compounds which means cause certain compounds to be released, in their blood which means into their blood. So, the answer is blood.

8 Answer: temperature

Question Type: Sentence Completion

Location: Paragraph 7, Lines 1 to 2

Answer Explanation: In paragraph no. 7, take a look at the first few lines, “Barnacle geese, Halsey suggests, may be responding to an environmental change such as temperature, which helps their bodies somehow, know’ that a big physical challenge is looming…”. Here, may be responding to an environmental change which means the change may be due to a variation in. So, the answer is temperature.

9 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching information

Location: Paragraph 3 & 4, Lines 1 to 2

Answer Explanation: To find the answer to this question, we have to read both paragraphs no. 3 and 4. First, let’s read paragraph no. 3, where the writer says, “Until recently, nobody has really asked whether exercise is as tightly connected to fitness in the rest of the animal kingdom as it is for us. The question is tied up in a broader assumption: that animals maintain fitness because of the exercise they get from finding food and escaping Predators.” The paragraph suggests that there has been an assumption (belief) about how animals stay fit. However, at the beginning of paragraph no. 4, the writer says, “Halsey points out that this may not necessarily be the case” .Here, this may not necessarily be the case which means the belief is possibly untrue, So, the answer is A.

10 Answer: D

Question Type: Matching information

Location: Paragraph 8, Lines 1 to 3

Answer Explanation: The final paragraph discusses animals’ speed. Here, The first lines say, “As for speed, even those animals that do cover impressive distances don’t have to be the fastest they can possibly be…”. After that, we find comments made by physiologist Ross Tucker, …*… ‘humans may be the only animal that actually cares about reaching peak performance.’ ‘I don’t know that all animals are the same, performance wise… and we don’t know whether training would enhance their ability, he says”. Here, we don’t know whether training would enhance their ability which means it may not be possible to train all animals to improve their speed. So, the answer is D.

11 Answer: B

Question Type: Matching information

Location: Paragraph 7, Lines 3 to 7

Answer Explanation: In paragraph no.7, the writer mentions the experiment done by Chris Guglielmo. The writer says in lines 3-7. Chris Guglielmo, a physiological ecologist has studied the effect of subjecting migratory songbirds known as yellow-rumped warblers to changing hours of daylight. “We don’t need to take little songbirds and train them up to do a 6- or 10-hour flight”, he says. If they are subjected to the right daylight cycle, we can take them out of the cage and put them in the wind tunnel, and they fly for 10 hours. Here, migratory songbirds known as yellow-rumped warblers which means one type of bird, If they are subjected to the right daylight cycle, ‘we can take them out of the cage and put them in the wind tunnel, and they fly for 10 hours which means demonstrated fitness when exposed to a stimulus in experimental conditions. So, the answer is B.

12 Answer: C

Question Type: Matching information

Location: Paragraph 10, Lines 1 to 3

Answer Explanation: In paragraph no. 10, the writer talks about the development of human energy use compared to other animals. “So our physiology evolved to let our weight and fitness fluctuate depending on how much food was available. This makes us evolutionarily different from most other animals, says Lieberman. Cats are fast, but they don’t need to run very far. Perhaps a few mad dashes around the house are all it takes to keep a domestic one fit enough for feline purposes. ‘Humans, on the other hand, needed to adapt to run slower, but for longer, says Lieberman.” Here, the comparison between cats and humans proves that human energy use developed in a different way (needed to adapt to run slower) from that of animals. So, the answer is C.

13 Answer: A

Question Type: Matching information

Location: Paragraph 7, Lines 1 to 3

Answer Explanation: The answer to this question can be found in lines 1-3 of paragraph no. 7, ‘Barnacle geese, Halsey suggests, may be responding to an environmental change such as temperature, which helps their bodies somehow ‘know that a big physical challenge is looming…” Here, Barnacle geese, which means one type of bird, may be responding which means it may develop more strength, environmental change such as temperature which means the weather becomes warmer or cooler. So, the answer is A.

Tips to Solve the Passage Question Types in the How Animals Keep Fit Reading Answers 

Since now you know the answers to ‘How Animals Keep Fit’ Reading Answers, let us check out some quick IELTS exam preparation tips for band score of 8+  to answer the passage question types in the Reading Answers of How Animals Keep Fit Reading Answers.

Multiple-Choice Questions:

To effectively answer multiple-choice questions in the IELTS Reading section, follow these strategic steps:

• Start with the Question: Read the question before the passage. Identify and underline keywords to understand what information you need.
• Consider Keyword Variations: If the question seems vague, think of possible synonyms or alternative phrases that may appear in the text.
• Scan for Relevant Information: Use the keywords to locate the corresponding part of the passage.
• Read Carefully: Focus on the specific section to understand the meaning, not just the words.
• Use Elimination: Cross out options that clearly do not match the passage. Narrow down your choices based on factual accuracy and relevance.
• Match Meaning, Not Just Words: Ensure the selected answer conveys the same idea as in the passage, even if different words are used.

Summary Completion: 

This task requires you to fill in blanks within a summary using words from the passage. Here's how to approach it:

• Read the Summary First: Understand the overall idea and predict the type of word (noun, verb, adjective, etc.) needed for each blank.
• Identify Keywords: Locate keywords or phrases in the summary that are likely to appear or be paraphrased in the passage.
• Scan the Passage: Find the section of the text that discusses the same ideas as the summary.
• Check for Context: Read the surrounding lines to ensure the word or phrase fits grammatically and logically.
• Verify Your Answer: Reread the completed summary to confirm it makes sense in context and is taken directly from the passage (as required).

Matching Information

In this task, you're required to match specific information (e.g., reasons, examples, comparisons, or descriptions) to the correct paragraph or section.

• Understand the Question: Read the instructions carefully to know what type of detail you're matching (e.g., explanation, summary, fact).
• Skim the Passage: Get a general sense of the structure and content.
• Highlight Keywords: Pay attention to unique words or ideas in the question. Consider synonyms and paraphrases when scanning the text.
• Match Meaning, Not Just Terms: Ensure that the meaning of the information exactly corresponds to the relevant section, not just a similar-sounding word.
• Read in Context: Don't rely on isolated phrases—read a few lines around the keyword to confirm accuracy.
• Manage Time Effectively: Don’t dwell too long on a single item. Skip and return if necessary.

Great job on completing the How Animals Keep Fit reading passage! Improving your reading speed, question familiarity, and information retrieval skills are all vital for a high IELTS score. So, to crack IELTS Reading in the first go, try solving more of the recent IELTS General Reading practice tests and work on your comprehension skills.

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