Wolves, Dogs, and Humans - IELTS Reading Answers With Explanations
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Trying to crack ‘Wolves, Dogs, and Humans’ IELTS Reading passage? Get ready for a step-by-step guide with our clear answer explanations to boost your IELTS Reading score as you prepare!
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Preparing for the IELTS Reading test can feel hectic at times, mainly when you are about to crack passages like “Wolves, Dogs, and Humans.” This passage has previously appeared in an IELTS test and challenges you with its blend of context, words, and tricky question types!
If you are someone aiming for a band 8 or higher, this article by our experts will help you understand the text more deeply and approach each of its question types with a clear strategy.
In this blog, we break down the “Wolves, Dogs, and Humans” IELTS Reading passage and let you read its answers with explanations given to enhance your accuracy!
Types of Questions Found in the Wolves, Dogs, and Humans IELTS Reading Passage
The question types found in this passage are:
Yes/No/ Not Given
Similar to the True/False/Not given questions, Yes/No/Not given questions also have various statements. But here you are asked to agree or disagree with the statement based on the opinion of the author.
Multiple choice questions
IELTS reading multiple choice questions have about 3-4 options from which we have to choose our answer. This might be in the form of a question & answer type or a choose a correct ending to a sentence type. These answers appear in chronological order according to the passage.
Sentence completion
In sentence completion, you’ll be asked to fill in the blank spaces using the words given in the text. It is important to pay close attention to the instructions that are given in the question because in some instructions there will be a word limit mentioned and you may lose marks if you don’t follow it.
Matching Headings
In the Matching Headings question, a list of headings will be given and you are asked to match these headings with a paragraph in the passage. You should read the headings before you begin reading the text. To get the correct answer, you have to read the complete paragraph and not just stop with the first few lines of the paragraph. There will also be many other headings that are not related to any of the paragraphs given in the passage, in such cases, try to identify those types of headings too.
Beyond the questions, you will find the answers along with the location of the answers in the passage and the keywords that help you find out the answers.
IELTS Reading Passage - Wolves, Dogs, and Humans
Read the below given passage carefully to answer all the questions (1 - 15).
Dogs are without a doubt the oldest of all human-inhabited species, and their breeding is based on a mutually beneficial relationship with a human. It is generally believed that wolf breeding began 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. However, the latest exciting article from the International Panel of Geneticists has pushed this date back by 10 factors. A team led by Dr. Robert Wayne at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that the wolf was the only ancestor of all dog breeds. They did this by analyzing the genetic history of DNA from 140 domestic dogs representing 162 wolves and 67 breeds worldwide. Research proves for the first time that dogs are descended only from wolves and do not share DNA with coyotes or foxes. Our connection with dogs now seems to go back at least 100,000 years, which means that this partnership may have played a key role in the evolution of human hunting methods that were developed 70,000 to 90,000 years ago.
It may have affected the brain development of both organisms. Australian veterinarian David Paxton says that during that first contact, people did not raise wolves as much as wolves and domestic humans. Wolves may have begun to live by removing debris from the edge of human settlements and eating food and waste. Some learned to live in mutual aid with humans and gradually became dogs. At the extremely least, they would have guarded human settlements and would have alerted by raising sound at anything approaching. Wolves that became dogs have had tremendous success in evolution. They are seen all over the world where they live, hundreds of millions of them. Descendants of wolves are now rarely distributed, mostly in endangered populations.
In exchange for friendship and food, the dog's early ancestors helped in tracking humans, hunting, protecting, and other different activities. Finally, humans started to select and raise these animals for specific qualities. The physical properties varied and separate species started to form. As humans roamed throughout Asia and Europe, they took their dogs with them, utilized them for extra work, and further bred them for preferred traits that would help them perform specific tasks better.
Colin Groves, Doctor of Archeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University. According to Colin, early humans relied on dogs' hearing, smell, and sight - letting particular areas of the human brain shrink in size compared to other areas. Dogs worked as human alarm systems, trackers and hunting aids, waste removal facilities, hot water bottles, and baby guards and playmates. Humans gave food and safety to dogs. This cohesive connection has been long-lasting for over 100,000 years and has strengthened into mutual nurturing, Dr. Groves expressed. According to him, humans raise dogs, and dogs raise humans.
Dr. Groves reiterated in 1914 that humans have some of the same physical attributes as domestic animals, most notably a reduced brain size. Horse brain size was reduced by 16 percent after breeding, while the size of the pig brain was reduced by 34 percent. Estimated brain size reduction in domestic dogs differs from 30 percent to 10 percent. In the final decade, archaeologists have found enough fossil evidence to establish that human brain capacity in Europe and Africa has declined by at least 10 percent since at least 10,000 years ago. Dr. Groves feels this reduction may have been due to the intensification of the relationship between humans and dogs. Close contact between the two species allowed to reduce certain human brain functions such as smell and hearing.
Questions
Questions 1-5
Complete the sentences using NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer
1. The breeding of dogs is based on a mutually beneficial connection with a ____________.
2. The latest interesting article from the ____________ Group has pushed this date back by 10 factors.
3. Robert Wayne found that the wolf was the only __________ of all dog breeds.
4. Research proves for the first time that dogs do not share DNA with ________ or _______.
5. During that first contact, David Paxton states that people did not raise wolves like ________ and domestic humans.
Questions 6 - 10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writer
NO, if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer
NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
6. Humans started hating dogs after knowing that it is an ancestors of wolves.
7. Wolves may have started to survive on food and waste by removing debris from the edges of human settlements.
8. Wolves that became dogs have had a tremendous failure in evolution.
9. Descendants of wolves are now rarely distributed, mostly in endangered populations.
10. Humans started to select and raise these animals for specific qualities.
Question 11 - 15
Choose the correct letter, A - D.
11. humans took their dogs with them, utilized them for
A. their safety
B. shopping
C. cleaning activities
D. extra work
12. Dogs worked as human alarm systems, trackers and hunting aids, waste removal facilities, hot water bottles, and
A. baby guards
B. safeguards
C. a good friend
D. playmates
13. Cohesive connection between dogs and humans has been long-lasting for over
A. 10,000 years
B. 100,000 years
C. 10,00,000 years
D. 1000 years
14. Humans have some of the same physical attributes as domestic animals, most notably a
A. increased brain size
B. reduced brain function
C. reduced brain size
D. advance brain function
15. Estimated brain size reduction in domestic dogs differs from 30 percent to
A. 5 percent
B. 15 percent
C. 20 percent
D. 10 percent
IELTS Reading Wolves, Dogs, and Humans Answers With Explanation
|
Question Number |
Answer |
Question Type |
Answer Location |
Answer Explanation |
|
1 |
No |
Yes/No/Not Given |
Paragraph A; Line 3 |
Paragraph A mentions, “the conventional view is that the domestication of wolves began between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, a recent ground-breaking paper by a group of international geneticists has pushed this date back by a factor of 10.” Since it began more than 10,000 years ago, it implies that it did not begin 10,000 years ago. As the statement contradicts the information, the correct answer is ‘NO.’ |
|
2 |
No |
Yes/No/Not Given |
Paragraph A; Line 11 |
The line states that “the research also confirms, for the first time, that dogs are descended only from wolves and do not share DNA with coyotes or jackals.” This line confirms that only dogs originated from wolves, not coyotes and jackals. As the statement contradicts the information, the correct answer is ‘NO.’ |
|
3 |
Not Given |
Yes/No/Not Given |
Paragraph B; Line 11 |
According to paragraph B, “the descendants of the wolves that remained wolves are now sparsely distributed, often in endangered population” This line suggests that wolves are endangered’, which means that they are at risk of extinction. However, whether they are protected or not in most parts of the world is not explicitly mentioned. Hence, the correct answer is ‘NOT GIVEN.’ |
|
4 |
Yes |
Yes/No/Not Given |
Paragraph B; Line 3 |
The line confirms, “wolves may have started living at the edge of human settlements as scavengers, eating scraps of food and waste. Some learned to live with human beings in a mutually helpful way and gradually evolved into dogs.” As the statement agrees with the information, the correct answer is ‘YES. |
|
5 |
Yes |
Yes/No/Not Given |
Paragraph C; Line 1 |
The line conveys, “in return for companionship and food, the early ancestor of the dog assisted humans in tracking, hunting, guarding and a variety of other activities.” Since the ancestors of dogs helped humans in various activities such as hunting, it implies that dogs influenced the development of human hunting. As the statement agrees with the information, the correct answer is ‘YES.’ |
|
6 |
D |
Multiple choice questions |
Paragraph B; Line 8 |
Paragraph B discusses wolves, dogs, and humans more in detail, where it states, “the wolves that evolved into dogs have been enormously successful in evolutionary terms. They are found everywhere in the inhabited world.” As the dogs are found everywhere in the world than wolves, it is a fact that dogs have evolved more successfully than wolves. Hence, the correct answer is ‘YES.’ |
|
7 |
B |
Multiple choice questions |
Paragraph D; Line 3 |
The first line of paragraph D provides the information that “early humans came to rely on dogs’ keen ability to hear, smell and see – allowing certain areas of the human brain to shrink in size relative to oilier areas.” From the term’ human brains shrink in size’, we can deduce that as a result of the domestication of dogs, the size of the human brain has decreased. Hence, the correct answer is ‘B.’ |
|
8 |
A |
Multiple choice questions |
Paragraph E; Line 10 |
The last line of paragraph E describes that “Dr. Groves believes this reduction may have taken place as the relationship between humans and dogs intensified. The close interaction between the two species allowed for the diminishing of certain human brain functions like smell and hearing.” Since dependency on dogs increased because they are better at hunting and sniffing threats than humans, due to which humans stopped putting efforts into smelling and hearing things. As a result, it impacted their brain size and everyday activity. Hence, the correct answer is ‘A.’ |
|
9 |
Selectively Breed |
Sentence completion |
Paragraph C; Line 3 |
Paragraph C mentions that “eventually humans began to selectively breed these animals for specific traits.” Thus, there are many different types of dogs today because humans began to breed them selectively. Hence, the correct answer is ‘selectively breed.’ |
|
10 |
C |
Matching headings |
Paragraph E; Line 1 |
As per paragraph E, “Dr. Groves repealed an assertion made as early as 1914 that humans have some of the same physical characteristics as domesticated animals, the most notable being decreased brain size.” Thus, it was Dr. Groves who studied the brain size of domesticated animals. Hence, the correct answer is ‘C.’ |
|
11 |
B |
Matching headings |
Paragraph B; Line 3 |
Paragraph B implies that “Wolves may have started living at the edge of human settlements as scavengers, eating scraps of food and waste. Some learned to live with human beings in a mutually helpful way and gradually evolved into dogs.” It was David Paxton who suggested wolves chose to interact with humans by evolving into dogs. Hence, the correct answer is ‘B.’ |
|
12 |
A |
Matching headings |
Paragraph A; Line 3 |
In Paragraph A, it was Dr. Robert Wayne who said, “the conventional view is that the domestication of wolves began between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, a recent ground-breaking paper by a group of international geneticists has pushed this date back by a factor of 10. Led by Dr. Robert Wayne, at the University of California, Los Angeles, the team showed that all dog breeds had only one ancestor, the wolf.” Thus, the new time for the domestication of wolves is between 10,000 and 20,000 years. Hence, the correct answer is ‘A.’ |
|
13 |
C |
Matching headings |
Paragraph D; Line 5 |
The lines in paragraph D states that “Dogs acted as human’s alarm systems, trackers and hunting aids, garbage disposal facilities, hot-water bottles and children’s guardians and playmates. Humans provided dogs with food and security. This symbiotic relationship was stable for over 100,000 years and intensified into mutual domestication,’ said Dr. Groves.” The word ‘intensified into mutual domestication’ confirms that both dogs and humans domesticated each other. Hence, the correct answer is ‘C.’ |
|
14 |
A |
Matching headings |
Paragraph A; Line 11 |
Paragraph A states that it was Robert Wayne who suggested: “the research also confirms, for the first time, that dogs are descended only from wolves and do not share DNA with coyotes or jackals.”Therefore, it was Wayne who studied the DNA of wolves and dogs. Hence, the correct answer is ‘C.’ |
To conclude, yes, IELTS Reading can be a bit challenging. However, with proper preparation, learning and rectifying common errors, most of the issues can be avoided. Additionally, expanding IELTS vocabulary, practising different question types like the ones in 'Wolves, Dogs, and Human' IELTS Reading Answers, and managing time efficiently are crucial steps toward improvement.
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