Crows Can Be Craftsmen Too Reading Answers

Jan 28, 2023

Crows Can Be Craftsmen Too Reading Answers contains sample answers about the crafty nature of crow. Crows Can Be Craftsmen Too Reading Answers comprising 13 different types of questions. IELTS Crows Can Be Craftsmen Too Reading Answers contains three types of questions, namely- complete the diagram, classify the statements and complete the summary. Candidates are required to read the IELTS Reading passage thoroughly and complete the diagram using no more than three words from the passage for each answer. Candidates are supposed to classify the statements as in the given three options. To complete the summary, candidates are required to choose no more than two words for each answer from the passage. To gain proficiency, candidates can practise from the IELTS Reading practice papers

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Crows Can Be Craftsmen Too Reading Answers

A remarkable colony of inventors has emerged on an isolated Pacific island. They can fashion tools out of materials scavenged from the rainforest. They can even customise a tool for a given job. Meet the crows of New Caledonia. Thinkers as diverse as Freud, Engels and Thomas Carlyle once pointed to the use of tools as being a defining behaviour of human beings. Then it was found that many animals also used them, from the’ fishing sticks’ of apes to the rocks dropped on ostrich eggs by Egyptian vultures. Crows are particularly crafty. Earlier studies showed that they are almost human-like in their use of tools, with technological features that match the stone and bone tool cultures that emerged among primitive humans between 2.5 million and 70,000 BC.
But only humans were thought to have the brainpower required for cumulative technological evolution. This is the skill for innovation that took our ancestors two million years ago from creating flakes of flint, for use in cutting, to honing knives, blades, arrowheads and axes heads. Now this ‘unique’ attribute of humans has also turned out to be a flattering delusion. A new study shows that the crows of New Caledonia are inventive. With their evolving leaf tools, the birds have levered man off his pedestal. Dr. Gavin Hunt and Dr. Russell Gray of the University of Auckland have spent the past decade studying feathered technology in New Caledonia, 900 miles north-east of Australia. After an intensive field survey of local crow industry, the scientists found that the birds rip the leaves of the pandanus tree to fashion three distinct types of tool for grub and insect extraction: wide, narrow and tapered.
Long ago, the birds discovered that they could rip the serrated edge off the leaves to make a wide tool. The skill spread and the crow’s honed tools with finer working tips, by either narrowing tools or tapering them. (Because the leaves are reinforced by tough parallel fibres, the tapered design is made in steps. The crow nips the leaf, rips along the fibres, makes another cut and tears again, repeating until it has a tool with usually two, three or four steps.) Leaf tool manufacture is an example of culture: the birds learn through example and their tool-making wisdom grows in sophistication down the generations. The crows appear to have the cognitive requirements for cumulative, though rudimentary, technological evolution, said Dr. Gray. Tool manufacture in New Caledonian crows shows striking flexibility and innovation.’
The ability of the birds to innovate is further shown by their making of other tools. They often strip a twig of leaves and cut it off just below a shortened offshoot to create a hook to get bugs out. They also use simpler tools to extract grubs from the deadwood of trees. Prof Alex Kacelnik, the fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, praised the study as' extremely important’. It complements his own research, with Dr. Jackie Chappell and Alex Weir, which has turned Betty the New Caledonian crow into a star by revealing her to be the first animal, other than man, to show a basic understanding of cause and effect.
Betty began making tools after her partner snatched away a hook made for her by the researchers, forcing her to make her own from garden wire to fish out morsels from a tube. She wedged the end of the wire into the base of the food tube and turned her head to form the hook. What amazed the researchers is that she can even adapt her hooks if they are not up to the job, something that even chimpanzees are unable to do. Although chimps use sticks in experiments, they have not shown any human-like understanding of basic physical laws.’ When she starts bending the wire it is as if she has a clear objective, even correcting the angle of the hook if it is not right,’ said Prof Kacelnik.’ Although many animals use tools, purposeful modification of objects to solve new problems, without training or prior experience, is virtually unknown.’
‘While we have been emphasising the individual ability of animals like Betty to solve problems, the New Zealand team has been emphasising tool manufacture, the cultural traditions and transmission of information in the wild,’ said Prof Kacelnik. Both strands of research are related by how the crows are not genetically programmed to use a tool, like a spider and his web. Instead, the birds creatively invent new kinds of tools to solve problems and can share skills with others. The crow family are the Einsteins of the avian world, though Prof Kacelnik added that, at least in terms of tool making, the Pacific crows are smarter than their British cousins. We have not yet identified what it is that makes these crows so special, though it is something to do with ecological circumstances,’ said Prof Kacelnik. Once scientists have got to the bottom of what makes Pacific crows master toolmakers, they may have to think again about how this skill evolved in humans.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions1-4
Complete the diagram.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Answers:

Question 1:

Supporting Sentence: The crow nips the leaf, rips along the fibers, makes another cut and tears again, repeating until it has a tool
Keywords: crow, nips, rips, leaf
Keyword Location: Section C, 4th line
Explanation: According to paragraph C, birds long ago found they could peel the leaves' serrated edges off to create a broad tool. The crow chews a leaf, rips along the fibres, makes another cut, and repeats this procedure until it has a tool.

Question 2:

Answer: Pandanus
Supporting Sentence: birds rip the leaves of the pandanus tree
Keyword Location: Section B, 9th line.
Explanation: As per paragraph B, after field investigation of the local crow business, the experts discovered that the birds pull the leaves off of pandanus trees. Wide, narrow, and tapered are the three different shapes they can create while making tools to extract grubs and insects.

Question 3:

Answer: Wide
Supporting Sentence: The birds discovered that they could rip the serrated edge off the leaves to make a wide tool.
Keywords: birds, discovered, wide tool.
Keyword Location: Section C, 1st line.
Explanation: According to paragraph C, birds long ago found that they could peel the leaves' serrated edges off to create a broad tool. It recounts how the birds discovered that by ripping the leaves' serrated edges off, they could create a wide tool.

Question 4:

Answer: Tapered
Supporting Sentence: Because the leaves are reinforced by tough parallel fibres, the tapered design is made in steps.
Keywords: tapered design, steps
Keyword Location: Section C, 4th line
Explanation: According to paragraph C, instruments were narrowed or tapered to provide them sharper working tips as skill spread. The tapering shape is created in stages because the leaves are strengthened by hard parallel fibres. Once it has a tool with typically two, three, or four steps, the crow nips the leaf, tears along the fibres, makes another cut, and tears again.

Questions 5-9

Classify the following statements as referring to the crow(s) in

the study by Hunt and Gray
the study by Kacelnik, Chappell and Weir
both studies

Write the correct letter, A, B or C.

Can share tool-making skills with other crows
Can make special tools for a particular purpose
Can solve problems by understanding rather than learning
Can make tools better than British crows can
Can manufacture hooks to extract food

Answers:

Question 5:

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: The birds learn through example and their tool-making wisdom grows in sophistication down the generations.
Keywords: learn, example, generation.
Keyword Location: Section C, 6th line.
Explanation: The University of Auckland's Dr. Russell Gray and Gavin Hunt are cited in paragraph C. They stated that birds learn skills by imitating others, and that as generations pass, they get more adept at making tools. Hence, the right answer is option A.

Question 6:

Answer:C
Supporting Sentence: The ability of the birds to innovate is further shown by their making of other tools.
Keywords: innovate, other tools.
Keyword Location: Section C, 1st line.
Explanation: According to the text, Dr. Gavin Hunt and Russell Gray, have spent the last ten years studying feathered technology on New Caledonia. The scientists discovered that the crows tear pandanus tree leaves after conducting a thorough field investigation of the local crow industry. They can create three different shapes of grub and bug extraction tools using this technique: wide, narrow, and tapered. Long ago, the birds realised that they could manufacture a wide tool by ripping the serrated edge off the leaves. Hence, the answer is option C.

Question 7:

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: The first animal, other than man, to show a basic understanding of cause and effect.
Keywords: basic understanding, use tools, solve new problems, example.
Keyword Location: Section D, 7th line, Section E, 9th line, and section C, 6th line.
Explanation: The passage claims that New Caledonian crows' tool manufacturing demonstrates astounding adaptability and inventiveness. They also employ more basic equipment to remove grubs from tree deadwood. The work was lauded by Prof. Alex Kacelnik as being "very important." The New Caledonian crow Betty has become famous for is a result of his own study, which he conducted with Dr. Jackie Chappell and Alex Weir. It turned out to be the first animal, aside from humans, to demonstrate a fundamental comprehension of cause and consequence. Thus, the right answer is option B.

Question 8:

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: The crow family are the Einsteins of the avian world, though Prof Kacelnik added that, at least in terms of tool making, the Pacific crows are smarter than their British cousins
Keywords: New Caledonian, pacific crows, British
Keyword Location: section C, last line and Section F, last line.
Explanation: Since crows are not genetically predisposed to employ tools like a spider and his web, the two study threads are related, as per paragraph F. Instead, the birds come up with original solutions to challenges and are able to teach others new talents. The Einsteins of the avian world are the crow family. Prof. Kacelnik did add that Pacific crows are wiser than their British cousins, at least when it comes to creating tools. So, the answer is option C.

Question 9:

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: They often strip a twig of leaves and cut it off just below a shortened offshoot to create a hook to get bugs out.
Keywords: strip, leaves, hook
Keyword Location: Section D, 2nd line
Explanation: According to paragraph E, Betty started producing tools after her spouse stole a hook that the researchers had built for her. She was consequently compelled to create her own out of garden wire to extract snacks from a tube. As she moved her head to create the hook, she inserted the wire's tip into the feeding tube's base. Hence, the answer is option C.

Questions 10-13:
Complete the summary.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

It used to be thought that only human beings used tools. Even after we learned that many other 10 ___________ also do so, it was still believed that only humans were intelligent enough to gradually evolve better tools. A study of crows in 11 ____________ however, shows that these birds use a leaf tool, which has evolved over several generations. A crow in another study has shown the human-like ability to understand 12 ___________ in order to manufacture tools, which not even 13___________can do.

Answers:

Question 10:

Answer: Animals
Supporting Sentence: Then it was found that many animals also used them
Keywords: Animals
Keyword Location: Section A, 5th line.
Explanation: According to paragraph A, both humans and animals have adapted the abilities or skills needed to use a particular type of tool. Crows are especially cunning. Previous research revealed that they use tools in a nearly human-like manner while incorporating technology aspects. The stone and bone tool cultures that developed among early humans between 2.5 million and 70,000 BC are consistent with it.

Question 11:

Answer: New Caledonia
Supporting Sentence: Tool manufacture in New Caledonian crows shows striking flexibility and innovation.
Keywords: New Caledonian
Keyword Location: Section C, 9th line.
Explanation: According to paragraph C, birds learned they could peel the leaves' serrated edges off to create a wide tool. By either narrowing or tapering tools, the crow's talent expanded and they improved tools with finer working tips. The production of tools from leaves is an illustration of culture: birds pick up tool making skills through observation and generational learning. As per Dr. Gray, crows seem to have the cognitive capacities necessary for gradual, albeit primitive, technological advancement. Crows from New Caledonia exhibit extraordinary adaptability and inventiveness in their tool manufacturing.

Question 12:

Answer: Physical laws
Supporting Sentence: they have not shown any human-like understanding of basic physical laws.
Keywords: human-like understanding of basic physical laws}
Keyword Location: Section E, 6th line.
Explanation: Although chimpanzees use sticks in tests, according to paragraph E, they have not demonstrated any human-like knowledge of fundamental physical rules. She appears to have a specific goal when she begins to bend the wire. Prof. Kacelnik explained that if the hook angle is incorrect, it may even need to be adjusted. Although many animals employ tools, intentional modification of items without instruction or past experience to address new issues.

Question 13:

Answer: Chimpanzees/ chimps
Supporting Sentence: something that even chimpanzees are unable to do.
Keywords: chimpanzees
Keyword Location: Section E, 5th line.
Explanation: According to paragraph E, Betty's ability to modify her hooks if necessary—something even chimpanzees are unable to do—amazed the researchers. Chimpanzees may use sticks in experiments, but they haven't demonstrated any comprehension of fundamental physical rules comparable to ours.

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