Why Are So Few Tigers Man-Eaters Reading Answers

Dec 31, 2022

Why Are So Few Tigers Man-Eaters Reading Answers is an IELTS reading topic. It consists of 13 sets of questions to be completed within 20 minutes. This topic has been taken from the book: A Book for IELTS (Academic Module). Why Are So Few Tigers Man-Eaters Reading Answers is the second part of the reading section. The candidates must analyse the IELTS reading passage for keywords. The candidates must read the passage attentively to give answers to the question timely. The IELTS Reading practice papers contain numerous similar topics like this Why Are So Few Tigers Man-Eaters Reading Answers. The candidates can follow these practice papers to enhance their learning skills and knowledge.

Section 1

Read the passage to answer the following questions

Why Are So Few Tigers Man-Eaters Reading Answers

As you leave the Bandhavgarh National Park in central India, there is a notice which shows a huge, placid tiger. The notice says, ‘You may not have seen me, but I have seen you.’ There are more than a billion people In India and Indian tigers probably see humans every single day of their lives. Tigers can and do kill almost everything they meet in the jungle, they will kill even attack elephants and rhino. Surely, then, it is a little strange that attacks o humans are not more frequent.

Some people might argue that these attacks were, in fact, common in the past. British writers of adventure stories, such as Jim Corbett, gave the impression that village life in India in the early years of the twentieth century involved a stage of constant siege by man-eating tigers. But they may have overstated the terror spread by tigers. There were also far more tigers around in those days (probably 60.000 in the subcontinent compared to just 3000 today). So in proportion, attacks appear to have been as rare then as they are today.

It is widely assumed that the constraint is fear; but what exactly are tigers afraid of? Can they really know that we may be even better armed than they are? Surely not. Have the species programmed the experiences of all tigers with humans its genes to be inherited as instinct? Perhaps. But I think the explanation may be more simple and, in a way, more intriguing.

Since the growth of ethology in the 1950s. we have tried to understand animal behaviour from the animal’s point of view. Until the first elegant experiments by pioneers in the field such as Konrad Lorenz, naturalists wrote about animals as if they were slightly less intelligent humans. Jim Corbett’s breathless accounts of his duels with man-eaters in truth tell us more about Jim Corbett than they do about the animals. The principle of ethology, on the other hand, requires us to attempt to think in the same way as the animal we are studying thinks, and to observe every tiny detail of its behaviour without imposing our own human significances on its actions.

I suspect that a tiger’s afraid of humans lies not in some pre-programmed ancestral logic but in the way he actually perceives us visually. If you think like a tiger, a human in a car might appear just to be a part of the car, and because tigers don’t eat cars the human is safe-unless the car is menacing the tiger or its cubs, in which case a brave or enraged tiger may charge. A human on foot is a different sort of puzzle. Imagine a tiger sees a man who is 1.8m tall. A tigris less than 1m tall but they may be up to 3m long from head to tail. So when a tiger sees the man face on, it might not be unreasonable for him to assume that the man is 6m long. If he meets a deer of this size, he might attack the animal by leaping on its back, but when he looks behind the mind he can’t see a back. From the front, the man is huge, but looked at from the side he all but disappears. This must be very disconcerting. A hunter has to be confident that it can tackle its prey, and no one is confident when they are disconcerted. This is especially true of a solitary hunter such as the tiger and may explain why lions-particularly young lionesses who tend to encourage one another to take risks are more dangerous than tigers.

If the theory that a tiger is disconcerted to find that a standing human is both very big and yet somehow invisible is correct, the opposite should be true of a squatting human. A squatting human is half the size and presents twice the spread of back, and more closely resembles a medium-sized deer. If tigers were simply frightened of all humans, then a squatting person would be no more attractive as a target than a standing one. This, however, appears not to be the case. Many incidents of attacks on people involving villagers squatting or bending over to cut grass for fodder or building material.

The fact that humans stand upright may therefore not just be something that distinguishes them from nearly all other species, but also a factor that helped them to survive in a dangerous and unpredictable environment.

Section 2

Solution and Explanation
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage has seven paragraphs labelled A-G

Which paragraph contains the following information?

Write the correct letter A-G in boxes 14-18 on your answer sheet.

a rejected explanation of why tiger attacks on humans are rare

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: It is widely assumed that the constraint is fear; but what exactly are tigers afraid of? Can they really know that we may be even better armed than they are? Surely not.
Keyword: fear, better armed, surely not.
Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, Sentence 1.
Explanation: Paragraph C depicts that the tiger rarely attacks humans because of fear. The author has suggested the fact that they do not even know that humans are better armed in comparison to them. Hence, paragraph C justifies the statement and therefore it is a rejected explanation.

a reason why tiger attacks on humans might be expected to happen more often than they do

Answer: A
Supporting Sentence: Tigers can and do kill almost everything they meet in the jungle.
Keyword: kill, almost everything, meet, attack, more frequent.
Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, Line 4-5
Explanation: Paragraph A discusses the fact that tigers do not leave any individuals they encounter in the jungle. They almost kill everyone who comes in front of them. Therefore, it is quite obvious to expect that tigers will also attack humans more often whenever they will find them. Hence, paragraph A satisfies the requirement of the question and thereby it is the correct answer.

examples of situations in which humans are more likely to be attacked by tigers

Answer: F
Supporting Sentence: Many incidents of attacks on people involving villagers squatting or bending over to cut grass for fodder or building material.
Keyword: Many incidents, villagers squatting, and bending over.
Keyword Location: 6th paragraph, Sentence 5.
Explanation: In paragraph F, the author depicts many incidents of tigers' attacks on humans. The people who are involved in squatting or bending over to cut grass for hay and construction material are possibly the victims of those incidents. Hence, paragraph F states the actual facts that support the argument given in the question and therefore it is the correct answer.

a claim about the relative frequency of tiger attacks on humans

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: British writers of adventure stories, such as Jim Corbett, gave the impression that village life in India in the early years of the twentieth century involved a stage of constant siege by man-eating tigers.
Keyword: common in the past, constant siege, man-eating tigers.
Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, lines 1-2
Explanation: The passage clearly states that there are some people who claim that there are frequent tiger attacks observed on humans in the past. It also depicts that there are some adventure stories which have presented that the twentieth century has glimpsed frequent attacks by man-eating tigers. Hence, paragraph B holds the relevant information that satisfies the argument given in the question. Hence it is the correct answer.

an explanation of tiger behaviour based on the principles of ethology

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: If you think like a tiger, a human in a car might appear just to be a part of the car, and because tigers don’t eat cars the human is safe-unless the car is menacing the tiger or its cubs, in which case a
brave or enraged tiger may charge.
Keyword: part of the car, don’t eat cars, enraged tiger, may charge.
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, sentence 2.
Explanation: The passage depicts the natural characteristics of the tiger. The author illustrates that the mind of the tiger does not detect the human from the car. The tigers analyse the car together with the human as an entire commodity. That's why they do not attack the human inside the car. However, if the car tries to endanger the lives of the tigers themselves and their cubs, the tigers will then surely attack the human inside the car. Hence, paragraph E states the relevant facts as per the requirements of the question and therefore it is the correct answer.

Questions 19-23

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage?
In boxes 19-23 on your answer sheet 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

Tigers in the Bandhavgarh National Park are a protected species.

Answer: Not given
Explanation: There is nowhere mentioned in the passage that tigers are protected species in the Bandhavgarh National Park. Therefore, the answer to this question would be not given since the passage overall depicts the natural behaviour of the tigers and their attacking tendency. Hence the statement states completely vague information that is irrelevant to the passage discussion.

Some writers of fiction have exaggerated the danger of tigers to man.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: British writers of adventure stories, such as Jim Corbett, gave the impression that village life in India in the early years of the twentieth century involved a stage of constant siege by man-eating tigers.
Keyword: Writers, constant siege, man-eating tigers, overstated the terror.
Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, lines 2-3
Explanation: The second paragraph clearly discusses the impression of the Indian village in the twentieth century in the eyes of the fiction writers. The writers have illustrated that tigers constantly attack humans in the village. The author has stated that the writers have exaggerated the danger of tigers to humans. Therefore, the statement is true as it holds the correct information.

The fear of humans may be passed down in a tiger's genes.

Answer: True
Supporting Sentence: Have the species programmed the experiences of all tigers with humans its genes to be inherited as instinct? Perhaps.
Keyword: programmed the experiences, all tigers with humans, inherited as instinct,
Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence.
Explanation: In the third paragraph, the author has widely assumed that the fear of humans has been inherited in the genes of the tigers. The author expects this explanation as simple and intriguing. Therefore, the
statement is true since it holds relevant information as depicted in the passage.

Konrad Lorenz claimed that some animals are more intelligent than humans.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: Until the first elegant experiments by pioneers in the field such as Konrad Lorenz, naturalists wrote about animals as if they were slightly less intelligent humans.
Keyword: naturalists wrote, animals, less intelligent humans.
Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, sentence 2.
Explanation: The passage depicts the views of naturalist Konrad Lorenz about the behaviour of animals. As per the opinion of Konrad Lorenz, animals are less intelligent as compared to humans. Therefore, the statement contradicts the discussion of the passage. Hence it is false in relation to the passage.

Ethology involves applying principles of human behaviour to animals.

Answer: False
Supporting Sentence: Since the growth of ethology in the 1950s. we have tried to understand animal behaviour from the animal’s point of view.
Keyword: Ethology, animal behaviour, animal’s point of view, without imposing, human significances.
Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, lines 1-4
Explanation: The fourth paragraph depicts that ethology deals with comprehending the behaviour of animals with respect to the animal’s viewpoint. The principle of Ethology urges us to observe animal behaviour without inflicting the significance of human activities on the animal’s actions. Therefore, the statement is false since it does not hold relevant facts as given in the passage.

Questions 24-26
Choose the correct answer, A. B, C or D.
Write your answers in boxes 24-26 on your answer sheet.

Why do tigers rarely attack people in cars?

They have learned that cars are not dangerous.
They realise that people in cars cannot be harmed.
They do not think people in cars are living creatures.
They do not want to put their cubs at risk.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: If you think like a tiger, a human in a car might appear just to be a part of the car, and because tigers don’t eat cars the human is safe-unless the car is menacing the tiger or its cubs, in which case a brave or enraged tiger may charge.
Keyword: part of the car, tigers don’t eat cars, enraged tiger may charge.
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, sentence 2.
Explanation: The author clearly states that the tiger’s mind cannot identify the human presence in the car. The tigers observe the car and the human together as one whole unit. They think of humans as a part of the car. That is why they do not attack the human inside the car. However, if the car attempts to risk their lives and harms their cubs, the enraged tigers will then attack the humans to protect themselves. Therefore C is the correct answer.

The writer says that tigers rarely attack a man who is standing up because

they are afraid of the man s height.
they are confused by the man's shape.
they are puzzled by the man s lack of movement.
they are unable to look at the man directly.

Answer: B
Supporting Sentence: From the front, the man is huge, but looked at from the side he all but disappears.
Keyword: front, man is huge, from the side, disappears, disconcerting.
Keyword Location: 5th paragraph, lines 7-8
Explanation: The author states in the passage that the tiger is confused with the shape of a man. From the front side, the tiger analyses the man as a huge figure, whereas from the side, the man disappears from its eyesight. As a result tigers rarely attacks human. Therefore, B is the correct answer as it justifies the facts given in the passage.

A human is more vulnerable to tiger attack when squatting because

he may be unaware of the tiger's approach.
he cannot easily move his head to see behind him.
his head becomes a better target for the tiger.
his back appears longer in relation to his height.

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: A squatting human is half the size and presents twice the spread of back, and more closely resembles a medium-sized deer.
Keyword: squatting human, half the size, twice the spread of back, medium-sized deer.
Keyword Location: 6th paragraph, 2nd line.
Explanation: The passage depicts that the tiger analyses the back of squatting humans as longer with respect to their height. The tiger observes the squatting humans as medium-sized deer. As a result, squatting humans are more vulnerable to the attack of tigers. Therefore, option D is the correct answer.

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