Flying Tortoises Reading Answers

Dec 14, 2022

Flying Tortoises Reading Answers is a topic discussing about various kinds of tortoises. The given IELTS passage has been taken from the book named “Cambridge IELTS 10 Student's Book with Answers”. The topic Flying Tortoises Reading Answers has 13 questions which the candidates should attempt within the given time span of 20 minutes. The candidates for undertanding the overall concept should mandatorily go through the passage. The topic is divided into two types of questions, including, Match the headings, and Fill in the blanks with only one word. The candidates should thoroughly skim the IELTS reading passage in order to analyze the gist of the passage, recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and then should attempt to answer the questions below. The candidates for the preparation of similar kinds of topics like Flying Tortoises Reading Answers, should practice the IELTS reading practice papers.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

Flying Tortoises Reading Answers

Forests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lava plains that separate the interior of the Galapagos island of Isabela from the Pacific Ocean. With its five distinct volcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape. Only the thick vegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-covered peak of Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. This inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise. Sometime after the Galapagos’s birth, around five million years ago, the islands were colonized by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. As these ancestral tortoises settled on the individual islands, the different populations adapted to their unique environments, giving rise to at least 14 different subspecies. Island life agreed with them. In the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest and longest-living tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400 kilograms, occasionally exceeding 1,8 meters in length and living for more than a century.
Before human arrival, the archipelago's tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food, but the arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s saw this exploitation grow exponentially. Relatively immobile and capable of surviving for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages. Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high-grade oil. In total, an estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the 20th century. This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat to clear land for agriculture. They also introduced alien species - ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats, and dogs to plants and ants - that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat.
Today, only 11 of the original subspecies survive and of these, several are highly endangered. In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island’s tortoise populations. The centre’s captive-breeding programme proved to be extremely successful, and it eventually had to deal with an overpopulation problem.
The problem was also a pressing one. Captive-bred tortoises can’t be reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least five years old and weigh at least 4,5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight - and their hardened shells - are sufficient to protect them from predators. But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport.
For years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with the tortoises carried on the backs of men over weeks of long, treacherous hikes along narrow trails. But in November 2010, the environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, a visiting private motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot gathered around a table in a small cafe in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. The aim was to use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding centre’s tortoises to various locations close to Sierra Negra.

This unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-meter yacht White Cloud, who provided the Galapagos National Park with free use of their helicopter and its experienced pilot, as well as the logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. Originally an air ambulance, the yacht’s helicopter has a rear double door and a large internal space that’s well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 kilograms. This weight, together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, approached the helicopter’s maximum payload, and there were times when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter’s capabilities. During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport. Meanwhile, park wardens dropped off ahead of time in remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and lava rocks.

Upon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their ancestral territory, investigating their new surroundings and feeding on the vegetation. Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation

Questions 1-7

Flying Tortoises IELTS Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A-G.
Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
Write the correct number, i-viii, in boxes 1-7 on your answer sheet.

Paragraph A
Paragraph B
Paragraph C
Paragraph D
Paragraph E
Paragraph F
Paragraph G

List of Headings

The importance of getting the timing right
Young meets old
Developments to the disadvantage of tortoise populations
Planning a bigger idea
Tortoises populate the islands
Carrying out a carefully prepared operation
Looking for a home for the islands’ tortoises
The start of the conservation project

(Guide: To answer the ‘match the heading’ questions of IELTS reading section, you need to understand the main concepts of each paragraph, and distinguish between the main and subordinate ideas of the passage.

Tip: There are more headings than needed, so be careful which ones you are choosing. Reading the headings before reading the passage will save time. Understand the headings before matching them with paragraphs. Be careful about the question and answer numbers. )

Question 1:

Answer 1: v
Keyword: This inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise.
Keyword location: Paragraph A; Line 4
Explanation: The fourth line of paragraph A states that the Giant Galapagos tortoise made the islands overcrowde and unfavorable by populating it. So, option v is the correct answer.

Question 2:

Answer 2: iii
Keyword: The tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Lines 2 – 3
Explanation: The second and third line of paragraph B suggests that the pirates have been taking some onboard for food since the 17th century, and when whaling ships arrived in the 1790s, this exploitation increased tremendously. The tortoises were brought aboard these ships to serve as nourishment during the protracted ocean voyages. Therefore, option ii is the right choice.

Question 3:

Answer 3: viii
Keyword: In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island’s tortoise populations.
Keyword location: Paragraph C; Line 2
Explanation: Line 2 of paragraph C implies that in order to safeguard the tortoise populations on Isabela, construction on a breeding facility for them started in 1989, not far from the town of Puerto Villamil. Hence, option viii will be applicable.

Question 4:

Answer 4: i
Keyword: Captive-bred tortoises can’t be reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least five years old and weigh at least 4,5 kilograms, if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport.
Keyword location: Paragraph D; Lines 2 – 3
Explanation: The second and third line of paragraph D explains that if people wait too long after that time, the tortoises eventually get too huge to transport. Captive-bred tortoises cannot be released back into the wild until they are at least five years old and weigh at least 4,5 kilos. So, option i is right.

Question 5:

Answer 5: iv
Keyword: But in November 2010, the environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, to work out a more ambitious reintroduction, the aim was to use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding center’s tortoises to various locations close to Sierra Negra.
Keyword location: Paragraph E; Lines 2 – 3
Explanation: Lines 2-3 of paragraph E suggests that Godfrey Merlin, an environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer, devised a more ambitious reintroduction plan in November 2010 that involved using a helicopter to transport 300 tortoises from the breeding centre to several places near Sierra Negra. Thus, the option iv will be applicable here.

Question 6:

Answer 6: vi
Keyword: During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport.
Keyword location: Paragraph F; Line 4
Explanation: The fourth line of paragraph F explains that the juvenile tortoises were prepared for shipping over the course of three days by a team of breeding centre workers who worked nonstop. Therefore, option vi is correct.

Question 7:

Answer 7: ii
Keyword: one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species.
Keyword location: Paragraph G; Lines 2 – 3
Explanation: The second and third line of paragraph G states that an adult giant tortoise that had been trudging around the island for roughly 100 years was discovered by a single, small tortoise. The two were side by side, a potent representation of the rebirth of an extinct species. Hence, option ii will be the right choice.

Questions 8-13

Complete the notes below.
Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.
Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

The decline of the Galapagos tortoise

Originally from mainland South America
Numbers on Galapagos islands increased, due to lack of predators
17th century: small numbers taken onto ships used by 8 .................
1790s: very large numbers taken onto whaling ships, kept for 9 ................. and also used to produce 10 .................
Hunted by 11 ................. on islands
Habitat destruction: for the establishment of agriculture and by various 12 ................. not native to the islands, which also fed on baby tortoises and tortoises’ 13 .................

(Guide: To answer this type of IELTS reading questions test-takers will need to read and understand the information given in the passage. Scan the passage for details and keywords to fill the gap with not more than one word.

Tip: Focus on proper nouns, numbers, capital letters, or special characters inside the passage. Scanning the passage for keywords is the best technique to find correct answers. )

Question 8:

Answer 8: Pirates
Keyword: From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few onboard for food.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Line 2
Explanation: Line number 2 of paragraph B states that pirates took along few tortoises on their ships during the period of 17th century.

Question 9:

Answer 9: Food
Keyword: From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few onboard for food.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Line 2
Explanation: The second sentence of paragraph B implies that in 1970, the pirates took along the tortoises with them onto their whailing ships for the purpose of food.

Question 10:

Answer 10: Oil
Keyword: Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high-grade oil.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Line 4
Explanation: Line 4 of paragraph B states that very good quality of oil has been extracted from the tortoises’ bodies by the pirates during the period of 17th Century.

Question 11:

Answer 11: Settlers
Keyword: This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Line 6
Explanation: The sixth line of paragraph B enhances that the arrival of settlers on the islands then made this historical mistreatrment by hunting the tortoises.

Question 12:

Answer 12: Alien species
Keyword: They also introduced alien species.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Lines 7 – 8
Explanation: The seventh and eighth sentence of paragraph B explains that the settlers hunt down the tortoises and exploited their living in order to gain a fresh land for agricultural purpose and for also introducing many alien spaces, like pings, rats.

Question 13:

Answer 13: Eggs
Keyword: They also introduced alien species – ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats, and dogs to plants and ants – that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat.
Keyword location: Paragraph B; Line 8
Explanation: Line 8 of paragraph B states that the alien species basically damage the dwellings or terrains of the tortoise by destroying the eggs of the tortoises.

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