Wolves, Dogs and Humans - IELTS Reading Sample with Explanation

The IELTS reading section examines a candidate’s comprehending skills within the stipulated amount of time. The IELTS reading section comprises passages followed with different kinds of questions to holistically judge a student’s grasping abilities while reading.

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This particular IELTS reading has a passage on- “Wolves,Dogs and Humans”, which consists of the following types of questions:

1. Yes/No/Not Given
2. Multiple choice questions
3. Fill in the blanks
4. Matching questions

Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

“Wolves, Dogs and Humans” IELTS Reading Sample

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Section 2

Solution and Explanation

Questions 1-5:

Do the following statements agree with the views of the writer of the passage?

Write:

YES- if the statement agrees with the views of the writer
NO- if the statement contradicts the views of the writer
NOT GIVEN- if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this

(Guide: Candidates answer the questions by selecting Yes or No or Not Given)

1. The co-existence of wolves and humans began 10,000 years ago.

Answer: No

Supporting sentence: all dog breeds had only one ancestor, the wolf. The fact that our companionship with dogs now appears to go back at least 100,000 years.

Keywords: co-existence, wolves, human beings, dogs, 10,000 years

Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 2nd last line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because all dogs have one ancestor which is wolf and both humans and dogs in reality are co-existing for a minimum of 100000 years. Conventionally it was believed that domestication of wolves began around 10,000- 20,000 years ago but recent studies mentioned in the passage disproves it.

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Also check:

2. Dogs, wolves, jackals and coyotes share a common ancestor.

Answer: No

Supporting sentence: The research also confirms, for the first time, that dogs are descended only from wolves and not share DNA with coyotes or jackals.

Keywords: dogs, wolves, coyotes, jackals, common ancestor

Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 5th line

Explanation: It is explicitly mentioned in the passage that Dogs have only one ancestor ie wolf and doesn’t share DNA with either coyotes or jackals. Therefore the given statement contradicts this information given in the passage.

3. Wolves are a protected species in most parts of the world.

Answer: Not Given

Explanation: This is the correct answer because according to the passage wolves are considered endangered but that necessarily doesn’t translate that they are protected in all parts of the world. It is possible that they are endangered but no steps are taken to protect them. Therefore, no information about them being protected species is implied in the passage.

4. Dogs evolved from wolves which chose to live with humans.

Answer: Yes

Supporting sentence: Wolves may have started living at the edge of human settlements as scavengers, eating scraps of food and waste. Some learned to live with human beings in a mutually helpful way and gradually evolved into dogs.

Keywords: dogs, wolves, humans

Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 2nd line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because it is mentioned in the passage how wolves choose to live near human settlements and then eventually evolved into dogs.

5. Dogs probably influenced the development of human hunting skills.

Answer: Yes

Supporting sentence: In return for companionship and food, the early ancestor of the dog assisted humans in tracking, hunting, guarding and a variety of other activities.

Keywords: dogs, humans, hunting skills

Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 1st line

Explanation: This is the correct answer because in the 3rd paragraph there is mention of how dogs helped humans in hunting and tracking from which we can infer that their assistance influenced humans’ hunting skills.

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Questions 6-8:

Choose the correct letter A-D.

6. How do we know that dogs have been more successful in evolutionary terms than wolves?

A- Dogs can be trained more easily than wolves.
B- Wolves are stronger than dogs
C- Humans prefer dogs to wolves.
D- There are more dogs than wolves today.

Answer: D

Supporting sentence: The wolves that evolved into dogs have been enormously successful in evolutionary terms. They are found everywhere in the inhabited world, hundreds of millions of them.

Keywords: dogs, wolves, evolutionary terms, found everywhere

Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 2nd last line

Explanation: This is the correct option because the success in evolution is indicated by how widespread the species become in the coming years and dogs after being evolved from wolves were present everywhere in large numbers around the world.

7. As a result of domestication, the size of the human brain has

A- Increased
B- Decreased
C- Stayed the same
D- Become more complex

Answer: B

Supporting sentence: early humans came to rely on dogs’ keen ability to hear, smell and see - allowing certain areas of the human brain to shrink in size relative to oilier areas.

Keywords: domestication, size of brain, human

Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, 1st line

Explanation: This is the correct option because there is discussion about the reduction in the brain size across species when domesticated and the same applies to humans, thus diminishing certain brain functions, which in case of humans were hearing and sense of odour.

8. What can we infer from the studies of brain size and domestication?

A- Domestic life is less demanding than surviving in the wild.
B- Animals like living with humans.
C- Domestication has made animals physically weaker.
D- Pigs are less intelligent than dogs.

Answer: A

Supporting sentence: Dr. Groves believes this reduction may have taken place as the relationship between humans and dogs intensified. The close interaction between the two species allowed for the diminishing of certain human brain functions like smell and hearing.

Keywords: brain size, domestication, dogs, humans

Keyword Location: last paragraph, last line

Explanation: This is the correct option because it is mentioned in the passage that when the interaction between both species increases and the relation becomes symbiotic, certain brain functions diminishes as the other species assist in it greatly as is the case with dogs and humans when domesticated. Therefore we can infer that domestic life is less demanding than surviving the wild, as both the species help each other in surviving.

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Question 9:

Choose TWO WORDS from the passage for the answer.

9. There are many different types of dogs today, because, in early times humans began to selectively breed their animals for the characteristics they wanted.

Answer: selectively breed

Supporting sentence: Eventually humans began to selectively breed these animals for specific traits. Physical characteristics changed and individual breeds began to take shape.

Keywords: different types, dogs, humans, specific traits

Keyword Location: 3rd paragraph, 2nd line

Explanation: This is the correct phrase for the given blank because it is clearly mentioned in the passage that humans wanted specific traits in the animals they domesticated and started to selectively breed them to form different types of dogs. Hence today we have so many different breeds.

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Questions 10-14:

Match one of the researchers (A-C) to each of the findings (10-14) below:

(Guide: Candidates need to match the following researchers from A to C with the correct findings)

10. Dr.Groves studied the brain size of domesticated animals.

Answer: Dr.Groves

Supporting sentence: Dr. Groves repealed an assertion made as early as 1914 that humans have some of the same physical characteristics as domesticated animals, the most notable being decreased brain size. The horse experienced a 16 percent reduction in brain size after domestication while pigs’ brains shrank by as much as 34 percent.

Keywords: studied, brain size, domesticated animals

Keyword Location: last paragraph, 1st line

Explanation: It was Dr. Groves study which expressed how domestication influences brain size and leads to shrinking.

11. Dr.Paxton claims that wolves chose to interact with humans.

Answer: Dr.Paxton

Supporting sentence: The Australian veterinarian David Paxton suggests that in that period of first contact, people did not so much domesticate wolves as wolves domesticated people.Wolves may have started living at the edge of human settlements as scavengers, eating scraps of food and waste.

Keywords: wolves, interact, humans

Keyword Location: 2nd paragraph, 1st line

Explanation: It was Dr. Raxton whose study proves that wolves initiated the interaction with humans, thus domesticating them, instead of humans domesticating the wolves.

12. Dr. Wayne established a new time frame for domestication of wolves.

Answer: Dr.Wayne

Supporting sentence: The conventional view is that the domestication of wolves began between 10,000 and 20,000 years ago. However, a recent ground-breaking paper by a group of international geneticists has pushed this date back by a factor of 10.

Keywords: new time frame, domestication, wolves

Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 2nd line

Explanation: It is given that the new paper by Dr. Wayne and his team showed that the domestication of wolves which evolved into dogs started taking place about 1,00,000 years ago, which was a recent view which challenged the conventional time frame of 10,000-20,000 years ago.

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13. Dr.Groves believes that dogs and humans domesticated each other.

Answer: Dr.Groves

Supporting sentence: ‘Dogs acted as human's alarm systems, trackers and hunting aids, garbage disposal facilities, hot-water bottles and children's guardians and playmates. Humans provided dogs with food and security. This symbiotic relationship was stable for over 100,000 years and intensified into mutual domestication,’ said Dr. Groves.

Keywords: dogs, humans, domesticate each other

Keyword Location: 4th paragraph, 2nd line

Explanation: Dr.Groves was of the opinion that dogs and humans were codependent on each other, thus domesticating another other.

14. Dr.Wayne studied the DNA of wolves and dogs.

Answer: Dr.Wayne

Supporting sentence: Led by Dr. Robert Wayne, at the University of California, Los Angeles, the team showed that all dog breeds had only one ancestor, the wolf. They did this by analysing the genetic history through the DNA of 162 wolves from around the world and 140 domestic dogs representing 67 breeds.

Keywords: DNA , wolves, dogs

Keyword Location: 1st paragraph, 3rd line

Explanation: It was Dr. Wayne, who concluded by studying the DNA of wolves and dogs that dogs have only one ancestor which is wolf. Therefore, we can infer that Dr.Wayne studied the DNA of wolves and dogs.