Communicating in Colour Reading Answers

Jan 24, 2023

Communicating in Colour Reading Answers is an academic reading topic and a discussion about how the chameleons communicate through their changing of colours. The given IELTS topic has been taken from the book named “Cambridge IELTS 10 Student's Book with Answers”. The topic named Communicating in Colour Reading Answers comes with a wide range of 13 questions in total. Two different types of questions as included in this topic are, no more than three words, and True/False/Not Given. The candidates should thoroughly skim through the IELTS reading passage in order to identify the keywords and recognize the synonyms and then answer accordingly. IELTS reading practice papers can be taken into consideration in order to obtain a good score in the reading section, where similar topics like Communicating in Colour Reading Answers has been included.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Communicating in Colour Reading Answers

There are more than 160 known species of chameleons. The main distribution is in Africa and Madagascar, and other tropical regions, although some species are also found in parts of southern Europe and Asia. There are introduced populations in Hawaii and probably in California and Florida too.
New species are still discovered quite frequently. Dr. Andrew Marshall, a conservationist from York University, was surveying monkeys in Tanzania. Accidently, he stumbled across a twig snake in the Magombera forest, which, frightened, coughed up a chameleon and fled. Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the venom’s risk, Marshall suspected it might be a new species and took a photograph to send to colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions. Kinyongia Magombera, literally “the chameleon from Magombera,” is the result, and the fact it was not easy to identify is precisely what made it unique. The most remarkable features of chameleons are their ability to change colour and ability rivalled only by cuttlefish and octopi in the animal kingdom. Because of this, colour is not the best thing for telling chameleons apart, and different species are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the arrangement of scales. In this case, it was the bulge of scales on the chameleon’s nose.
Chameleons can use colour for both communication and camouflage by switching from bright, showy colours to the exact colour of a twig within seconds. They show an extraordinary range of colours, from nearly black to bright blues, oranges, pinks, and greens, even several at once. A popular misconception is that chameleons can match whatever background they are placed on, whether a chequered red and yellow shirt or a Smartie box. But each species has a characteristic set of cells containing pigment distributed over their bodies in a specific pattern, which determines the range of colours and patterns they can show. To the great disappointment of many children, placing a chameleon on a Smartie box generally results in a stressed, confused, dark grey or mottled chameleon.
Chameleons are visual animals with excellent eyesight, and they communicate with colour. When two male dwarf chameleons encounter each other, each shows its brightest colours. They puff out their throats and present themselves side-on with their bodies flattened to appear as large as possible and show off their colours. This enables them to assess each other from a distance. If one is clearly superior, the other quickly changes to submissive colouration, usually a dull combination of greys or browns. If the opponents are closely matched and both maintain their bright colours, the contest can escalate to physical fighting and jaw-locking, each trying to push each other along the branch in a contest of strength. Eventually, the loser will signal his defeat with submissive colouration.
Females also have aggressive displays used to repel male attempts at courtship. When courting a female, males display the same bright colours that they use during contests. Most of the time, females are unreceptive and aggressively reject males by displaying a contrasting light and dark colour pattern, with their mouths open and moving their bodies rapidly from side to side. If the male continues to court a female, she often chases and bites him until he retreats. The range of colour-change during female displays, although impressive, is not as great as that shown by males.
Many people assume that colour change evolved to enable chameleons to match a greater variety of backgrounds in their environment. If this was the case, then chameleons’ ability to change colours should be associated with the range of background colours in the chameleon’s habitat, but there is no evidence for such a pattern. For example, forest habitats might have a greater range of brown and green background colours than grasslands, so forest-dwelling species might be expected to have higher colour change powers. Instead, the males whose display colours are the most eye-catching, show the greatest colour change. Their displays are composed of colours that contrast highly with each other and the background vegetation. This suggests that the species that evolved the most impressive capacities for colour change did so to enable them to intimidate rivals or attract mates rather than to facilitate camouflage.
How do we know that chameleon display colours are eye-catching to another chameleon – or, for that matter, to a predatory bird? Getting a view from the perspective of chameleons or their bird predators requires information on the chameleon’s or bird’s visual system and how their brains might process visual information. This is because the perceived colours of an object depend on the brain’s wiring as on the physical properties of the object itself. Luckily, recent scientific advances have made it possible to obtain such measurements in the field, and information on visual systems of a variety of animals is becoming increasingly available.
The spectacular diversity of colours and ornaments in nature has inspired biologists for centuries. But if we want to understand the function and evolution of animal colour patterns, we need to know how they are perceived by the animals themselves – or their predators. After all, camouflage and conspicuousness are in the eye of the beholder.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 1-4:
Answer the questions below.
Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 1-4 on your answer sheet.

Q1. What kind of climate do most chameleons live in?………...

Answer: Tropical
Supporting Sentence: ...There are introduced populations in Hawaii and probably in California and Florida too.
Keyword location: The answer lies in the first paragraph, third line.
Explanation: The line states that chameleons are mainly found in Africa….. and other tropical regions.

Q2. Which animal caught a chameleon that Dr Andrew Marshall saw?………...

Answer : (a) (twig) snake
Supporting Sentence: Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the venom’s risk, Marshall suspected it might be a new species and took a photograph to send to colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions.
Keyword location: The answer to this question lies in the second paragraph of the passage in the fourth- fifth line.
Explanation: This line states that Dr Andrew Marshall found a twig snake in the forest of Magombera which coughed up a chameleon and fled.

Q3. What was the new species named after?…………….

Answer : (a / the) forest (of Magombera) / Magombera (forest
Supporting Sentence: Kinyongia Magombera, literally “the chameleon from Magombera,” is the result, and the fact it was not easy to identify is precisely what made it unique.
Keyword location: The answer to this question is explicitly given in the second paragraph fourth and fifth lines.
Explanation: This line explicitly states that Dr Andrew Marshall found a twig snake in the forest of Magombera which coughed up a chameleon and fled. We have to write it according to the rules of grammar, but both of the options are correct.

Q4. Which part of the body is unique to the species Kinyonga magomberae?………….

Answer: (the) nose
Supporting Sentence: ...different species are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the arrangement of scales. In this case, it was the bulge of scales on the chameleon’s nose.
Keyword location: The answer to this question also lies in the second paragraph lending lines.
Explanation: The line states that it was not easy to identify this species of chameleon, but what made it unique was the bulge of scales on the chameleon's nose.

Questions 5-13:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 5-13 on your answer sheet, write

TRUE	if the statement is true
FALSE	if the statement is false
NOT GIVEN	if the information is not given in the passage

5 Few creatures can change colour as effectively as cuttlefish.
6 Chameleons can imitate a pattern provided there are only two colours.
7 Chameleons appear to enjoy trying out new colours.
8 Size matters more than colour when male chameleons compete.
9 After a fight, the defeated male hides among branches of a tree.
10 Females use colour and movement to discourage males.
11 The popular explanation of why chameleons change colour has been proved wrong.
12 There are more predators of chameleons in grassland habitats than in others.
13 Measuring animals’ visual systems necessitate removing them from their habitat.

Answers
Question 5

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: The most remarkable features of chameleons are their ability to change colour and ability rivalled only by cuttlefish and octopi in the animal kingdom. Because of this, colour is not the…
Keyword location: The answer to this question lies in the second paragraph middle lines.
Explanation: These lines explicitly state that the most remarkable ability of a chameleon is to change colours like the cuttlefish and octopi in the animal kingdom.

Question 6

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: Chameleons can use colour for both communication and camouflage by switching from bright, showy colours to the exact colour of a twig within seconds.
Keyword location: The answer to this question lies in the third paragraph starting lines.
Explanation: According to these lines, the sixth statement is false. According to these lines, chameleons can imitate any pattern by switching from varied colours, from black to blues, orange-pink, green and many more.

Question 7

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: A popular misconception is that chameleons can match whatever background they are placed on, whether a chequered red and yellow shirt or a Smartie box. But each species has a characteristic set of cells containing pigment distributed over their bodies in a specific pattern, which determines the range of colours and patterns they can show.
Keyword location: The answer lies in the third paragraph middle lines.
Explanation: According to these lines, statement number 7 is incorrect. Chameleons change their colour according to different circumstances not because they enjoy changing colours. Moreover, it is a misconception that they can match whatever background they are placed on.

Question 8

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: According to the reading passage, both size and colour compete with each other, but no such comparison is mentioned in the statement.

Question 9

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: According to the passage these lines or this statement is not given. According to the last lines of the fourth paragraph, the defeated male will signal its defeat by changing to submissive colours not mentioned to the branches of trees. Thus, this statement is not mentioned.

Question 10

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: Females also have aggressive displays used to repel male attempts at courtship. When courting a female, males display the same bright colours that they use during contests
Keyword location: The answer to this question lies in the fifth paragraph starting lines.
Explanation: The 10th statement is true as this line states that female chameleons use aggressive displays to repel the male chameleon's attempt at courtships. Thus, the 10th statement is correct.

Question 11

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: forest habitats might have a greater range of brown and green background colours than grasslands, so forest-dwelling species might be expected to have higher colour change powers.
Keyword location: The answer to this question lies in the sixth paragraph and the last 4-5 lines.
Explanation: These lines state that firstly, chameleons change colours to camouflage themselves, whereas the ending lines states that they change colour to intimidate and attract mates rather than to facilitate camouflage. Thus, the 11th statement is correct.

Question 12

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: In the lines as given in the reading passage, it is mentioned about bird predators of chameleons, but there is no comparison drawn between predators and other grassland habitats. Thus the 12th statement is not given.

Question 13

Answer: NOT GIVEN
Explanation: According to the reading passage, we can obtain measurements of animal visuals in the field but we cannot obtain the information of the moving animals in the field. Thus, the statement is nowhere given in the passage.

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