A Lecture on Prairie Dogs - IELTS Listening Sample Answer

Oct 7, 2021

IELTS Listening section examines a candidate’s listening skills through 40 questions and 4 different audios. This IELTS listening topic - A lecture on prairie dogs is IELTS listening topic part 4. The candidate needs to write the following IELTS listening question types:

Sentence completion
Note completion
Fill in the blanks

Audio Transcript:

You will hear a lecture on prairie dogs. First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.

Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.

Welcome to this presentation on prairie dogs. You can see a picture of these rather cute animals on this slide. As you can see they are about the size of a rabbit and they have a brown or clay-colored coat with black tipped hairs and a black tipped tail. The underside of the prairie dog is a light tan color. They have short legs and sharp claws to help them dig their homes. Their bodies are 12 to 15 inches long with a three to four inch tail and they weigh 2 to 4 pounds. I've been interested in these animals for a long time and would like to talk about a remarkable discovery. The barks of prairie dogs have distinct individual meanings. Prairie dogs have different words for tall human in yellow shirt, short human in green shirt, coyote, deer, red-tailed hawk and many other creatures. They can even coin new terms for things they've never seen before. Independently coming up with the same calls or words according to research done over two decades by a professor from Arizona university who can now not only call himself a biology professor, but also a prairie dog linguist.

Prairie dogs of the Gunnison species which was studied intensely, actually speak different dialects in Arizona and in Colorado, but they would probably understand one another, research indicates. So far, this is believed to be or prairie dogs appear to be demonstrating the most sophisticated communication system that anyone has shown in animals. Prairie dog chatter is variously described by observers as a series of eeyips high-pitched barks or eeks and most scientists think prairie dogs, simply make sounds that reflect their inner condition. That means all they're saying are things like couch or hungry or eek, but we now know that prairie dogs are communicating detailed information to one another about what animals are showing up in their colonies and maybe even gossiping.

Linguists have set five criteria that must be met for something to qualify as a language. It must contain words with abstract meanings, possess syntax in which the order of words is part of their meaning, have the ability to coin new words, be composed of smaller elements and use words separated in space and time from what they represent. The American researchers focused their efforts on these 5 criteria to see if prairie dogs use a language as defined by human linguists or not. Work was done in the field and in laboratory with digital recorders. They recorded the calls prairie dogs make as they see different people, dogs and other animals of different sizes and with different coat colors such as Hawks and Elk.

They then analyzed the sounds using a computer that dissects the underlying structure and creates a sonogram or visual representation of the sound. Computer analysis later identifies the similarities and differences. The prairie dogs have calls for various predators, but also for elk deer, antelope and cows. It's as if they're trying to inform one another, what's out there. So far, the researchers have recorded at least 20 different words. Some of those words or calls were created by the prairie dogs when they saw something for the first time. Four prairie dogs in the lab were shown a great horned owl and European ferret to animals they had almost certainly not seen before. If only because the owls are mostly nocturnal and this kind of ferret is foreign. The prairie dogs independently came up with the same new calls. In the field, black plywood cutout, showing the silhouette of a coyote, a skunk and a circular shape were randomly run along a wire through the prairie dog colony. Now, there were no black ovals running around out there and yet they all had the same word for black circle. The researchers believe that prairie dogs are genetically programmed with some vocabulary and the ability to describe things. The researchers then played back a recorded prairie dog alarm call for coyote in a prairie dog colony when no coyote was around. The prairie dogs had the same escape response as they did when the predator was really there. In other words, there's no coyote present. But the prairie dogs heard this recording of prairie dogs barking. Hey, there's a coyote and they say oh coyote better hide. Computer analysis has been able to break down some prairie dog calls into different components suggesting the creatures have yet another element of real language. The researchers are quietly confident that they will establish that the prairie dogs will meet the five criteria set by linguists. Then there will be conclusive proof that animals have language.

Section 4

Question 31-40

31-33

Complete the following sentences using NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS for each gap.

Prairie dog’s barks have meanings ____________

Answer: distinct/individual

Explanation: The conversation states that the prairie dogs’ barks have a distinct meaning to them.

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Prairie dogs are able to invent ____________ for things they have never seen before.

Answer: (new) terms

Explanation: Prairie dogs have the ability to coin new terms for things they have never come across or seen before.

Prairie dogs in Arizona and Colorado appear to speak differently, but mutually comprehensible ____________

Answer: dialects

Explanation: From the research conducted, it has been stated that prairie dogs are able to speak different languages but they have a mutual understanding of the language.