Health in the Wild: Reading answers

The passage opens

Answers 1–13

1. 1

   Dr Engel has spent ten years gathering evidence for the notion that animals treat their own illnesses.

   TRUE True / False / Not Given

   “For the past decade” means ten years, and “collating examples” means gathering evidence. This agrees with the statement.

   “For the past decade, Dr Cindy Engel, a lecturer in Environmental Sciences at Britain's Open University, has been collating examples of self-medicating behaviour in wild animals.”

2. 2

   Animal behaviourists have always believed that animals know how to heal themselves.

   FALSE True / False / Not Given

   The statement says animal behaviourists have always believed animals can heal themselves, but the passage says they generally viewed the idea with scepticism. This contradicts the statement.

   “the idea that animals can treat themselves has been generally regarded with some scepticism by other animal behaviourists.”

3. 3

   Dr Karesh enlisted the help of a medical team during his research.

   NOT GIVEN True / False / Not Given

   The passage says Dr Karesh studied the health of wild animals, but it does not say whether he enlisted a medical team. There is not enough information to confirm or contradict the statement.

4. 4

   Wild animals taken into captivity tend to experience a decline in health.

   TRUE True / False / Not Given

   “Health often deteriorates” means health tends to decline. The passage directly agrees that wild animals taken into captivity often experience this.

   “if healthy wild animals are brought into captivity, their health often deteriorates unless great care is taken over their living conditions.”

5. 5

   pith Table completion

   The table answer is “pith”: the passage identifies this as the part of the plant the chimps consumed.

   “local chimpanzees suffering from intestinal worms would dose themselves with the pith”

6. 6

   terpenes Table completion

   The passage names the plant’s poisonous chemicals as “terpenes,” which is the word needed in the table.

   “This plant produces poisonous chemicals called terpenes.”

7. 7

   alkaloid Table completion

   The passage says the seeds contain “alkaloids.” The one-word answer required is the singular form “alkaloid.”

   “Macaws eat seeds containing alkaloids, a group of chemicals that has some notoriously toxic members, such as strychnine.”

8. 8

   drug Table completion

   The table answer is “drug”: researchers assumed Aspilia released a substance that acted medicinally.

   “His (and everybody else's) assumption was that Aspilia released a drug”

9. 9

   unpleasant Table completion

   The chimps’ wrinkling noses suggested that swallowing the leaves was “unpleasant,” which is the word required.

   “Some of the chimps were noticed wrinkling their noses as they swallowed these leaves, suggesting the experience was unpleasant.”

10. 10

    geophagy Note completion

    The passage calls the consumption of dirt “geophagy,” matching the summary’s term for eating soil.

    “a behaviour known as geophagy.”

11. 11

    salt Note completion

    The passage names “salt” as one of the minerals people thought animals obtained by eating dirt.

    “Historically, the preferred explanation was that soil supplies minerals such as salt.”

12. 12

    detoxify Note completion

    The passage says clay helps to “detoxify” poisons, meaning to remove or reduce their toxic effects.

    “The current belief is that soil - and particularly the clay in it - helps to detoxify the defensive poisons”

13. 13

    tablets Note completion

    The passage says clay-based “tablets” are sold in African markets for different medical conditions.

    “The medical stalls in African markets frequently sell tablets made of different sorts of clays, appropriate to different medical conditions.”

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