QUESTIONS 7- 10 CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER FOR EACH QUESTION BELOW. WRI...

5.

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PART D: READING

Question I: Read the following passage and choose the correct answer for each question.

The Timber rattlesnake, once widespread throughout the eastern United States, is now on the

endangered species list, and is extinct in two eastern states in which it once thrived. Compared

to its western cousins, the Timber rattlesnake may be especially vulnerable because of certain

behaviors adapted for coping with the cold climate in which it lives.

Rattlesnakes are generally found in warm climates because, like all reptiles, they cannot

generate or regulate their own body temperature internally, and must rely on the sun’s warmth

for heat. But Timber rattlesnakes migrated into colder northern areas about 8000 years ago

when glaciers retreated. In order to survive in these northern regions, these snakes developed

a number of adaptive strategies, but ultimately, these behaviors make them more vulnerable to

human predation, their main threat.

One survival strategy the snakes have developed is hibernation. For approximately eight

months of the year, the rattlers remain motionless in deep frost-free crevices, with their body

temperature dropping as low as 40 degrees. In the spring when they emerge, they must warm

their chilled bodies by sunning for three or four days on rocks in the open. This behavior

coupled with the fact that Timber rattlesnakes tend to concentrate in large numbers at their

wintering sites, makes them easy prey. Gestating females are particularly vulnerable because

they spend much of their time basking in the sun in order to produce live young from eggs. In

addition, females have very long interbirth intervals, producing live young only every three to

five years. If a frost or cold spell comes late in the year, the entire litter of 6 to 12 young may

die.

Efforts are underway to protect the Timber rattlesnake and its habitat from further human

depredation, but in many states it is already too late.