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3d Groups in nature

1 Read  A. Read the text quickly and match the introductory sentences (a-g) below with the
paragraphs (1-5). There are two extra sentences which you do not need to use.

a. As well as food, animals need somewhere to live. d. Hunting can be difficult and even dangerous for
b. Animals can’t talk but some species have one animal.
developed ways of letting others know where e. Some species have developed intelligent ways of
food is. gathering food.
c. Animals communicate with each other just like f. It is not always easy for animals to build a home.
It is not always easy for animals to build a home.
humans. g. Animals also depend on each other to keep safe.
Animals also depend on each other to keep safe.
© MM Publications

MA N Y P A W S MA K E
MANY PAWS MAKE

L I GHT W O R K
LIGHT WORK

People work together for a simple reason — it makes difficult jobs easier. If you had to move
P e o p l e w o r k t o g e t h e r f o r a s i m p l e r e a s o n — it m a k e s d i f f i c u l t j o b s e a s i e r . I f y o u h a d t o m o v e
a heavy piece of furniture from one room to another, would you do it all by yourself or find
someone to help you? As you would probably agree, with a friend you can get the job done more
quickly, and neither of you will be as tired afterwards. For similar reasons, animals also use teamwork.
In animal groups, each individual works to help the group as a whole.

1 Coastal bottlenose dolphins have developed a 4 Some animals simply move into the best
unique way of catching fish which requires extraordinary place they can find, but others build a home for
teamwork. The dolphins follow a school of fish until themselves. A particularly intelligent builder is the
they are near a bank. Then they swim towards the fish beaver. Beavers live by rivers and streams and build
creating a wave which pushes the fish out of the water dams to create pools of deep water which help keep
and onto the bank. The dolphins end up half out of the their homes safe. The whole colony, about five to six
water lying on the bank where they eat the helpless fish. members, co-operates to create the dam with trees
In order for this to work, each dolphin must rush towards they’ve cut down using their long, sharp front teeth.
the bank at exactly the same time, otherwise the wave They then construct their home, which looks like a
won’t be strong enough. How they decide when to go stick igloo, in the side of the bank.
and who gives the order is unknown, but a high level of 5 For example, they might have a signal that
communication definitely exists between them.
lets the group know when a threat is nearby. When
2 For example, if a bee finds nectar, it has two an ant is crushed, it releases a scent called ‘alarm
ways of informing its hive. It may create a trail with the pheromone’ that signals the other ants to come to
scent of the nectar. When the other bees pick up the the crushed ant and attack the enemy. Larger animals
smell, they can follow it to the nectar. Or the bee may may challenge an opponent using sounds and body
perform the ‘waggle dance’. The other bees understand language. Wolves, for example, will growl at anything
what this dance means, and then they work as a team to that is threatening their pack, and get ready to attack.
collect the nectar. They also warn each other of danger by barking.
3 It also takes a lot of energy to chase and kill Because their pack is so important to their survival,
prey, which is wasted if the prey escapes. Hunting in wolves will even risk their lives to defend it.
packs helps make predators more efficient. A pack of By living and working in groups, animals increase their
wolves, for example, can kill a large animal such as a deer chances of surviving in the wild. Each individual in the
or moose, while one wolf can only kill a small animal. group contributes something that helps the others.
Wolf packs, which consist of two to twenty wolves, may This could be as simple as communicating where food
surprise their prey or pursue it for hours before attacking. is. Or it could be as difficult and dangerous as risking
If there are several animals, the pack will choose the one’s life to protect another member of the group. By
weakest one because it will take less effort to catch. In the studying a variety of animal groups one thing is for
end, the wolves share the meat with each other. sure: teamwork works!

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