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The Mammals Reading Answers

Bhaskar Das

Aug 20, 2025

The Mammals Reading Answers contains 7 questions and belongs to the assessment system of the IELTS General Reading test. The Mammals Reading Answers must be answered within 10 minutes. In this IELTS reading section, question types include: Write no more than TWO WORDS and/or numbers for each. Also, The Mammals Reading Answers offers a comprehensive overview of mammals are a diverse, intelligent class of vertebrates characterized by milk production, fur, and complex behavior, playing vital ecological, cultural, and economic roles while facing threats from human activity.. To practice similar reading tests, candidates can refer to the IELTS Reading Practice Test section.

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Topic:

Mammals are a group of vertebrate animals instituting the class Mammalia and characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for nourishing their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or hair, and three middle ear bones. These features distinguish them from reptiles and birds, from which they diverged in the Carboniferous, over 300 million years ago. Around 6,400 extant species of mammals have been described. The largest orders are the rodents, bats and Eulipotyphla (hedgehogs, moles, shrews, and others) The next three are the Primates (comprising humans, apes, monkeys, and others), the Artiodactyla (cetaceans and even-toed ungulates), and the Carnivora (cats, dogs, seals, and others). In terms of cladistics, which reflects evolutionary history, mammals are the only living adherents of the Synapsida; this clade, together with Sauropsida (reptiles and birds), constitutes the larger Amniota clade.

The early synapsid mammalian ancestors were sphenacodont pelycosaurs, a group that included the non-mammalian Dimetrodon. At the end of the Carboniferous period around 300 million years ago, this group diverged from the sauropsid line that led to today's reptiles and birds. The line following the stem group Sphenacodontia split into several varied groups of non-mammalian synapsids sometimes incorrectly referred to as mammal-like reptiles before giving rise to Therapsida in the Early Permian period. Mammals originated from cynodonts, an advanced group of therapsids, during the Late Triassic.

The modern mammalian orders arose in the Paleogene and Neogene periods of the Cenozoic era, after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs, and have been the dominant terrestrial animal group from 66 million years ago to the present. The elementary body type is quadruped, and most mammals use their four extremities for terrestrial locomotion; but in some, the extremities are adapted for life at sea, in the air, in trees, underground, or on two legs.

Mammals range in size from the 30-40 mm bumblebee bat to the 30 m blue whale perhaps the largest animal to have ever lived. Maximum lifespan varies from two years for the shrew to two hundred and eleven years for the bowhead whale. All modern mammals give birth to live young, except the five species of monotremes, which are egg-laying mammals. The most species-rich group of mammals, the cohort called placentals, have a placenta, which enables the feeding of the foetus throughout gestation.

Most mammals are intelligent, with some owning large brains, self-awareness, and tool use. Mammals can communicate and vocalize in several ways, including the production of ultrasound, scent-marking, alarm signals, singing, and echolocation. Mammals can establish themselves into fission-fusion societies, harems, and hierarchies but can also be unsociable and territorial. Most mammals are polygynous, but some can be monogamous or polyandrous. Domestication of many types of mammals by humans played a major role in the Neolithic revolution and ensued in farming replacing hunting and gathering as the primary source of food for humans.

This led to a major restructuring of human societies from nomadic to sedentary, with more co-operation among larger and larger groups, and ultimately the development of the first civilizations. Domesticated mammals provided, and continue to deliver, power for transport and agriculture, as well as food (meat and dairy products), fur, and leather.

Mammals are also hunted and raced for sport and are used as model organisms in science. Mammals have been portrayed in art since Palaeolithic times, and appear in literature, film, mythology, and religion. Decline in numbers and extinction of many mammals is primarily driven by human pilfering and habitat destruction, primarily deforestation.

Question 8-14

Write no more than TWO WORDS and/or numbers for each.

8. A special kind of secretor in lady mammals yield ………………… to forage their infants.

Answer: milk

Supporting statement: "Mammals... characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for nourishing their young."

Keywords: mammary glands, milk, nourishing

Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, Line 1

Explanation: Female mammals produce milk through mammary glands to feed their infants.

9. Sphenacodont Pelycosaurs swerved from the ……………………. 300 million years ago.

Answer: sauropsid line

Supporting statement: "At the end of the Carboniferous period around 300 million years ago, this group diverged from the sauropsid line..."

Keywords: diverged, sauropsid, 300 million years

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, Line 2

Explanation: Sphenacodont pelycosaurs separated from the sauropsid line 300 million years ago.

10. Cynodonts was responsible for the creation of …………….. during the late Triassic.

Answer: mammals

Supporting statement: "Mammals originated from cynodonts, an advanced group of therapsids, during the Late Triassic."

Keywords: mammals originated, cynodonts

Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, Line 4

Explanation: Mammals first evolved from cynodonts in the Late Triassic period.

11. …………………….. has the highest life expectancy in mammals.

Answer: bowhead whale

Supporting statement: "Maximum lifespan varies... to two hundred and eleven years for the bowhead whale."

Keywords: maximum lifespan, 211 years, bowhead whale

Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, Line 2

Explanation: The bowhead whale has the highest known life expectancy among mammals.

12. Mammals can organise things well but can sometimes be ……………… and regional.

Answer: unsociable

Supporting statement: "...but can also be unsociable and territorial."

Keywords: mammals, unsociable, territorial

Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, Line 4

Explanation: Despite their social abilities, mammals can sometimes be unsociable and territorial.

13. Farming ensured that the human civilizations became …………………. from wanderers.

Answer: sedentary

Supporting statement: "...a major restructuring of human societies from nomadic to sedentary..."

Keywords: from nomadic to sedentary

Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, Line 2

Explanation: Farming helped transform human lifestyles from wandering (nomadic) to sedentary.

14. The extermination of some mammals is predominantly motivated by ………………… poaching and cutting of trees.

Answer: human pilfering

Supporting statement: "Decline in numbers and extinction of many mammals is primarily driven by human pilfering and habitat destruction..."

Keywords: extinction, driven by, human pilfering

Keyword Location: Paragraph 7, Line 2

Explanation: Mammal extinction is largely due to human pilfering (poaching) and deforestation.

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