Health In The Wild
Read Health In The Wild and check the IELTS Reading answers. For the past decade Dr Engel, a lecturer in environmental sciences at Britain’s Open University, has been collating examples of self-medicating behaviour in wild animals. She recently published a book on the subject. In a talk at the Edin…
Passage preview
For the past decade Dr Engel, a lecturer in environmental sciences at Britain’s Open University, has been collating examples of self-medicating behaviour in wild animals. She recently published a book on the subject. In a talk at the Edinburgh Science Festival earlier this month, she explained that the idea that animals can treat themselves has been regarded with some skepticism by her colleagues in the past. But a growing number of animal behaviourists now think that wild animals can and do deal with their own medical needs.
Vocabulary from this passage
12 words worth learning before you sit the test, each with the sentence it appears in.
- alkaloid noun
A nitrogen-containing chemical compound produced by plants, many of which have powerful and sometimes poisonous effects on animals
Caffeine is an alkaloid that plants evolved partly to deter insects from feeding on them.
- collate verb
To collect and compare pieces of information or examples systematically so they can be examined together as a body of evidence
The archivist spent years collating scattered letters into a coherent record of the town's history.
- detoxify verb
To remove or neutralise poisonous substances, so that a harmful compound no longer damages the body
The liver works constantly to detoxify chemicals that enter the bloodstream through food and medication.
- dubious adjective
Doubtful and not to be relied on, because the evidence supporting an idea seems weak or unconvincing
The claim rests on dubious data collected from an unrepresentative sample of volunteers.
- egest verb
To expel undigested material from the body as waste, here by chimps passing swallowed leaves
Birds egest indigestible seeds, which helps spread plants across wide areas.
- geophagy noun
The deliberate eating of soil or clay by animals or people, often thought to serve a medicinal purpose
Some researchers argue that geophagy protects the gut against naturally occurring plant toxins.
- indiscriminately adverb
Without careful choice or distinction, so that harmful things are consumed or affected along with harmless ones
Pesticides sprayed indiscriminately can kill beneficial insects as well as the pests they target.
- mechanical scour noun
A physical, non-chemical means of cleaning out the gut, such as swallowed rough leaves that scrape out parasites
Fibrous roughage acts as a mechanical scour, sweeping debris through the digestive tract.
- phytochemical adjective
Relating to the chemical compounds produced naturally by plants, often investigated for their possible medicinal properties
Phytochemical screening of the bark revealed several compounds with antibacterial activity.
- self-medication noun
The practice of treating one's own illness or discomfort, here by animals consuming particular substances
Unsupervised self-medication with antibiotics can encourage resistant strains of bacteria to develop.
- skepticism noun
A doubtful attitude towards claims or ideas that have not yet been supported by sufficient evidence
Her unconventional proposal was greeted with skepticism by senior members of the department.
- succumb verb
To fail to resist a harmful force and be overcome by it, here by dying from poisoning
Many weakened patients succumbed to the infection before effective antibiotics became widely available.
Answers with explanations
- 1. TRUE
The statement says Dr Engel has worked on this topic for **10 years**. Paragraph A says she has been collating examples of **self-medicating behaviour** in wild animals for **the past decade**, and a decade is exactly ten years, so 'for 10 years' paraphrases 'the past decade'. Scan the opening paragraph for her name, because the statement is about her own work. Nothing in the passage contradicts the period, and the whole claim is supported. Answer: TRUE.
- 2. NOT GIVEN
The statement claims animals usually have to **walk a long distance** to find **plants** for medication. Paragraph B describes chimpanzees dosing themselves with the pith of a plant, and later paragraphs mention clay, soil and leaves, but no paragraph says how far any animal travels to reach them. Mentioning the plants animals eat is only topical overlap. The text neither confirms nor contradicts the claim about distance, so it is NOT GIVEN rather than TRUE or FALSE. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
- 3. FALSE
The statement says birds such as macaws eat clay because it is **part of their natural diet**. The passage gives the opposite reason: animals eat earth for **medical rather than nutritional reasons**, and the macaw experiment shows that clay **detoxifies** the alkaloids in their seeds. The statement names the explanation the writer rejects, so the text directly contradicts it. The answer is FALSE, not NOT GIVEN, because the passage addresses the reason itself. Answer: FALSE.
- 3-4: ii
3: The statement says birds such as macaws eat clay because it is **part of their natural diet**. The passage gives the opposite reason: animals eat earth for **medical rather than nutritional reasons**, and the macaw experiment shows that clay **detoxifies** the alkaloids in their seeds. The statement names the explanation the writer rejects, so the text directly contradicts it. The answer is FALSE, not NOT GIVEN, because the passage addresses the reason itself. Answer: FALSE.
4: The statement says Dr Engel is excited that animal self-medication research can help the invention of **new painkillers**. The text says only that she is particularly excited about using this knowledge to **improve the health of livestock**. **Painkillers** are never mentioned, and her interest in livestock does not rule them out, because being excited about one use does not contradict another. The text neither confirms nor contradicts the statement, so it is NOT GIVEN. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
- 4. NOT GIVEN
The statement says Dr Engel is excited that animal self-medication research can help the invention of **new painkillers**. The text says only that she is particularly excited about using this knowledge to **improve the health of livestock**. **Painkillers** are never mentioned, and her interest in livestock does not rule them out, because being excited about one use does not contradict another. The text neither confirms nor contradicts the statement, so it is NOT GIVEN. Answer: NOT GIVEN.
- 5. pith
The 1987 row asks for the **food** the chimpanzees ate, and the gap is followed by 'of Veronia', so a noun is needed. Paragraph B, the one dated 1987, says the chimps would **dose themselves** with the **pith** of a plant called Veronia, so 'dose themselves' becomes the table's 'food'. The word is copied from the passage and respects the one-word limit. 'Plant' would be wrong because the text names the pith, a part of the plant. Answer: pith.
- 6. terpenes
The gap follows 'chemicals named' and needs a **plural noun**. Paragraph B says the plant produces **poisonous chemicals called terpenes** and that its pith is strong enough to **kill gut parasites**, which is the table's 'which can kill parasites'. Scan the 1987 paragraph for the word 'called', which introduces the name. The answer is lifted verbatim from the passage and is a single word, so it respects the limit. Answer: terpenes.
- 7. alkaloids
The 1999 row concerns macaws, and the gap sits in 'Seeds (contain ...) and clay', so a **plural noun** is needed. Paragraph D says macaws **eat seeds containing alkaloids**, a group of chemicals with some **notoriously toxic** members. The table's 'contain' paraphrases the passage's 'containing'. The word is copied exactly as printed and respects the one-word limit. Later the text mentions a 'harmless alkaloid', but that is a single compound used in the experiment, not what the seeds contain. Answer: alkaloids.
- 8. detoxify
The gap follows 'Clay can' and needs a **base-form verb** meaning to remove or counter the **poisonous contents** of food. Paragraph D gives the current belief that soil, and particularly the **clay** in it, **helps to detoxify** the defensive poisons that plants produce. The table's 'poisonous contents in food' paraphrases 'defensive poisons that some plants produce'. The word is copied directly from the passage and respects the one-word limit. Answer: detoxify.
- 9. hooks
The 1972 row is about leaves eaten by chimpanzees, and 'Leaves with tiny ... on surface' needs a **plural noun**. Paragraph H says the factor common to the 19 species of leaves was that they were **covered with microscopic hooks**. The table's 'tiny' paraphrases 'microscopic' and 'on surface' paraphrases 'covered with'. The same hooks **caught the worms**, matching the final cell of the row. The word is copied from the text and respects the one-word limit. Answer: hooks.
- 10. G
The gap needs a noun for a **soil-consuming behaviour** found across animal species. Paragraph C says many species **consume dirt**, which it names as **a behaviour known as geophagy**. 'Soil-consuming' in the summary paraphrases 'consume dirt'. Scan for the definition pattern 'known as', which signals a technical name. The option 'plants' does not name a behaviour, and 'clay tablets' describes a human product, not an animal behaviour. Answer: G.
- 11. D
The gap sits in 'neutralize the ... content of their diet', so it needs an **adjective** for what clay removes. Paragraph D says clay helps to **detoxify** the defensive **poisons** that plants produce, and paragraph E speaks of **toxic** compounds in plants. The matching adjective is therefore toxic. 'Nutritional' and 'mineral' belong to the explanation the writer rejects, and 'harmless' is the opposite of poisonous. Answer: D.
- 12. E
The summary says people in Africa **purchase** something at **market stalls** as a medication for their illnesses. Paragraph I says the **medical stalls in African markets** frequently **sell tablets** made of different sorts of **clays**, which the options condense into 'clay tablets'. 'Purchase' paraphrases 'sell' and 'medication' paraphrases 'medical'. The option 'plants' is wrong because the stalls sell clay, not plants. Answer: E.
- 13. C
The gap sits in 'leaves of often ... taste' and needs an **adjective**. Paragraph F says the chimps **wrinkled their noses** as they swallowed the leaves, **suggesting the experience was unpleasant**, so the leaves tasted unpleasant. The summary's 'taste' paraphrases 'the experience'. Scan the paragraph about the third instance of self-medication, the Aspilia leaves. The options 'harmless' and 'nutritional' have no support, since the leaves were thought to have a medicinal purpose. Answer: C.