Two Wings and a Toolkit IELTS Reading Answers

Dec 3, 2022

Two Wings and a Toolkit IELTS Reading Answers comprises of 13 sets of questions which the candidates should attempt within the given time span of 20 minutes. Before responding to the questions, candidates should evaluate their ability to understand and analyse the passage. Students with the help of IELTS Reading test can improve their skills. The candidates will receive a series of questions with specific styles and instructions for this IELTS Reading Section, and reading those instructions in detail is a mandatory factor for the candidates for answering the questions. The topic has been divided into three categories of questions, such as: Label the diagram, choose three letters and True/False/Not Given. Prior to appearing for the IELTS test, the candidates should consider in order to to enhance their skills. Prior to appearing for the IELTS test, the candidates should consider IELTS Reading practice papers in order to enhance their skills.

Check: Get 10 Free IELTS Sample Papers
Check: Register for IELTS Coaching - Join for Free Trial Class Now

Reading Passage Questions

Betty and her mate Abel are captive crows in the care of Alex Kacelnik, an expert in animal behaviour at Oxford University. They belong to a forest-dwelling species of bird (Corvus moneduloides) confined to two islands in the South Pacific. New Caledonian crows are tenacious predators, and the only birds that habitually use a wide selection of self-made tools to find food.
One of the wild crows' cleverest tools is the crochet hook, made by detaching a side twig from a larger one, leaving enough of the larger twig to shape into a hook. Equally cunning is a tool crafted from the barbed vine-leaf, which consists of a central rib with paired leaflets each with a rose-like thorn at its base. They strip out a piece of this rib, removing the leaflets and all but one thorn at the top, which remains as a ready-made hook to prise out insects from awkward cracks.
The crows also make an ingenious tool called a padanus probe from padanus tree leaves. The tool has a broad base, sharp tip, a row of tiny hooks along one edge, and a tapered shape created by the crow nipping and tearing to form a progression of three or four steps along the other edge of the leaf. What makes this tool special is that they manufacture it to a standard design, as if following a set of instructions. Although it is rare to catch a crow in the act, of clipping out a padanus probe, we do have ample proof of their workmanship: the discarded leaves from which the tools are cut. The remarkable thing that these 'counterpart' leaves tell us is that crows consistently produce the same design every time, with no in-between or trial versions. It's left the researchers wondering whether, like people, they envisage the tool before they start and perform the actions they know are needed to make it. Research has revealed that genetics plays a part in the less sophisticated tool making skills of finches in the Galapagos islands. No one knows if that's also the case for New Caledonian crows, but it's highly unlikely that their toolmaking skills are hardwired into the brain. 'The picture so far points to a combination of cultural transmission - from parent birds to their young - and individual resourcefulness,' says Kacelnik.
In a test at Oxford, Kacelnik's team offered Betty and Abel an original challenge - food in a bucket at the bottom of a well'. The only way to get the food was to hook the bucket out by its handle. Given a choice of tools - a straight length of wire and one with a hooked end - the birds immediately picked the hook, showing that they did indeed understand the functional properties of the tool.
But do they also have the foresight and creativity to plan the construction of their tools? It appears they do. In one bucket-in- the-well test, Abel carried off the hook, leaving Betty with nothing but the straight wire. What happened next was absolutely amazing,' says Kacelnik. She wedged the tip of the wire into a crack in a plastic dish and pulled the other end to fashion her own hook. Wild crows don't have access to pliable, bendable material that retains its shape, and Betty's only similar experience was a brief encounter with some pipe cleaners a year earlier. In nine out of ten further tests, she again made hooks and retrieved the bucket.
The question of what's going on in a crow's mind will take time and a lot more experiments to answer, but there could be a lesson in it for understanding our own evolution. Maybe our ancestors, who suddenly began to create symmetrical tools with carefully worked edges some 1.5 million years ago, didn't actually have the sophisticated mental abilities with which we credit them. Closer scrutiny of the brains of New Caledonian crows might provide a few pointers to the special attributes they would have needed. 'If we're lucky we may find specific developments in the brain that set these animals apart,' says Kacelnik.
One of these might be a very strong degree of laterality - the specialisation of one side of the brain to perform specific tasks. In people, the left side of the brain controls the processing of complex sequential tasks, and also language and speech. One of the consequences of this is thought to be right-handedness. Interestingly, biologists have noticed that most padanus probes are cut from the left side of the leaf, meaning that the birds clip them with the right side of their beaks - the crow equivalent of right- handedness. The team thinks this reflects the fact that the left side of the crow's brain is specialised to handle the sequential processing required to make complex tools.
Under what conditions might this extraordinary talent have emerged in these two species? They are both social creatures, and wide-ranging in their feeding habits. These factors were probably important but, ironically, it may have been their shortcomings that triggered the evolution of toolmaking. Maybe the ancestors of crows and humans found themselves in a position where they couldn't make the physical adaptations required for survival - so they had to change their behaviour instead. The stage was then set for the evolution of those rare cognitive skills that produce sophisticated tools. New Caledonian crows may tell us what those crucial skills are.

Section 2

Solution with Explanation
Questions 14-17:
Label the diagram
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Question 14:

Answer: Crochet hook
Supporting sentence: One of the wild crows' cleverest tools is the crochet hook, made by detaching a side twig from a larger one, leaving enough of the larger twig to shape into a hook.
Keywords: 'crochet hook'
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 2, Line : 1
Explanation: The beginning sentence of paragraph 2 suggests that the crochet hook, which the wild crows make by severing a side twig from a larger one and saving enough of the larger twig to shape into a hook, is one of their most inventive tools.

Question 15:

Answer: Leaflets
Supporting sentence: Equally cunning is a tool crafted from the barbed vine-leaf, which consists of a central rib with paired leaflets each with a rose like-thorn at its base.
Keywords: 'leaflets'
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 2, Line : 2
Explanation: The second line of paragraph 2 explains that a tool made of the barbed vine-leaf, which has paired leaflets with a rose-like thorn at the foot of each, is equally ingenious. It has a central rib and these leaflets are arranged in a pattern.

Question 16:

Answer: Thorn
Supporting sentence: They strip out a piece of this rib, removing the leaflets and all but one thorn at the top, which remains as a ready-made hook to prise out insects from awkward cracks.
Keywords: 'thorn'
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 2, Line : Last
Explanation: The concluding line of paragraph 2 suggests that they cut off a section of this rib, removing the leaflets and all except the top thorn, which remains as a handy hook for prying insects out of tight crevices. The insects are pulled out of the gaps by the Caledonian crows by removing a section of the rib.

Question 17:

Answer: steps
Supporting sentence: The tool has a broad base, sharp tip, a row of tiny hooks along one edge, and a tapered shape created by the crow nipping and tearing to form a progression of three or four steps along the othe edge of the leaf.
Keywords: 'steps', edge
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 2
Explanation: As per line number 2 of paragraph 3 of the passage, it can be said that the tool is made up of a wide base, a pointed tip, a row of small hooks along one edge, and a tapering shape that was formed by the crow shredding and nipping the leaf to produce a succession of three or four steps down the other edge.

Questions 18-23:
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage? Write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

18) There appears to be a fixed pattern for the padanus probe’s construction

Answer: True
Supporting sentence: What makes this tool special is that they manufacture it to a standard design, as if following a set of instructions.
Keywords: tool, special, standard design.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 3
Explanation: The line 3 of paragraph 3 suggests that the brilliant tool known as a padanus probe, which is formed from Padanus tree leaves, has a unique pattern since wild crows created it in accordance with a predetermined pattern. Thus, the above statement is regarded as TRUE.

19) There is plenty of evidence to indicate how the crows manufacture the padanus probe

Answer: True
Supporting sentence: Although it is rare to catch a crow in the act of clipping out a Padanus probe, we do have ample proof of their workmanship : the discarded leaves from which the tools are cut.
Keywords: Padanus probe, 'ample proof', 'workmanship'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 4
Explanation: Line 4 of paragraph 3 states that however it would be exceedingly challenging to photograph a wild crow cutting out a Padanus probe, there is plenty of evidence that the crows are the ones who make the tool. So, the provided statement is a TRUE one.

20) Crows seem to practise a number of times before making a usable padanus probe

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: The remarkable thing that these 'counterpart' leaves tell us is that crows consistently produce the same design every time, with no in- between or trial versions.
Keywords: 'The remarkable thing', same design every time, 'trial versions'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 5
Explanation: As stated in line 5 of paragraph 3, it can be regarded that the Padanus probe regularly featured the same pattern created by wild crows. They don't create the tool with any form of trial version or in-between. Every time they make a functioning Padanus probe, they produce the exact same thing. Hence, it is a FALSE statement.

21) The researchers suspect the crows have a mental image of the padanus probe before they create it

Answer: True
Supporting sentence: It's left the researchers wondering whether, like people, they envisage the tool before they start and perform the actions they know are needed to make it.
Keywords: 'left the researchers wondering', 'envisage the tool before they start', 'perform the actions', 'know', 'needed to make it'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 6
Explanation: Line number 6 of paragraph 3 elaborates that before they begin, the crows in the wild predict what the Padanus probe will look like. The researchers find it rather amazing that they carry out the work after visualising the tool as they had to create it, much like humans do. So, the provided statement is TRUE.

22) Research into how the padanus probe is made has helped to explain the tool making skills of many other bird species

Answer: Not Given

Explanation: No pertinent information regarding the above context is available in the passage.

23) The researchers believe the ability to make the padanus probe is passed down to the crows in their genes

Answer: False
Supporting sentence: No one knows if that's also the case for New Caledonian crows, but it's highly unlikely that their toolmaking skills are hardwired into the brain. 'The picture so far points to a combination of cultural transmission - from parent birds to their young - and individual resourcefulness,' says Kacelnik.
Keywords: 'it's highly unlikely', 'toolmaking skills', 'hardwired', 'brain'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 3, Line : 8 & 9
Explanation: Line numbers 8-9 of paragraph 3 explains that the New Caledonian crows' tool to make tools is built into their brains. A combination of cultural transmission and individual resourcefulness is passed down from parents' birds to their offspring, claims Kacelnik. Therefore, the above statement is regarded as a FALSE one.

Questions 24-26:
Choose Three letters, A-G
According to the information in the Reading Passage, which three of the following features are common for both New Caledonian Crows and human beings

Keeping the same mate for Life
Having few natural problems
Having a Bias to the right when working
Being able to process sequential task
Living in extended family group
Eating a variety of foodstuff
Being able to adapt to diverse habitats

Question 24:

Answer: C
Supporting sentence: In people, the left side of the brain controls the processing of complex sequential tasks, and also language and speech. One of the consequences of this is thought to be right handedness. Interestingly, biologists have noticed that most Padanus probes are cut from the left side of the leaf, meaning that the bird clips them with the right side of their beaks - the crow equivalent of right- handedness.
Keywords: 'biologists', 'noticed', 'padanus probes', 'cut', 'left side of the leaf', 'birds clip them', 'right side', 'beaks', 'crow equivalent', 'right handedness'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 7, Line : 2 to 4
Explanation: The lines 2-4 of paragraph 7 suggests that the left side of the human brain is responsible for processing complicated sequential activities, as well as language and speech. Right handedness is supposed to be one of the results of this. It's interesting to note that most Padanus probes are cut from the left side of the leaf, indicating that the bird clips them with its right beak, which is analogous to being right-handed in crows. Thus, option C will be the correct option.

Question 25:

Answer: D
Supporting sentence: The team thinks this reflects the fact that the left side of the crow's brain is specialized to handle the sequential processing required to make complex tools.
Keywords: 'left side', 'crow's brain', 'specialized handle's, 'sequential processing'.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 7, Line : Last
Explanation: The concluding line of the paragraph 7 in the passage states that the research team hypothesises that this is a result of the left side of the crow's brain being uniquely equipped to manage the sequential processing necessary to create tools which are complicated. Thus, option D is an appropriate answer.

Question 26:

Answer: G
Supporting sentence: Maybe the ancestors of crows and humans found themselves in a position where they couldn't make the physical adaptations required for survival - so they had to change their behavior instead.
Keywords: change, behavior.
Keywords Location: Paragraph : 8, Line : 4
Explanation: The line 4 of paragraph 8 explains that the crows and humans may have shared a common ancestor who was unable to undergo the necessary physical changes for survival in the context of evolution. As a result, they must alter their behaviour in order to adapt to various habitats. Therefore, option G will be the correct answer in order to support the statement.

Read more IELTS Reading Samples