Reading practice 2. 4EOI. With the key.

THE POLAR BEAR GIANT OF THE ICE

The top of the world was dubbed the Arctic by the ancient Greeks. The word means “country of the great bear”. Curiously, however, the Greeks had never seen or heard of the polar bear when they gave his habitat such an apt name. Rather they called the region after the Great Bear constellation found in the northern sky. Scientists believe that the polar bear is descended from a posse of brown bears stranded by glaciers in an area near Siberia roughly 250,000 years ago. The bears rapidly underwent a number of evolutionary changes in order to cope with their new and somewhat severe living conditions –in the High Arctic, the sun sets in October and doesn’t  rise again  until late February–, hence intensely cold temperatures as low as -50º degrees and a blackness that feels like one tortuous, never-ending night.

Huge in comparison to today’s bears, the stranded animals developed a thick layer of blubber, about 4.5 inches deep. _____________________1_______________________. As a consequence of these evolutionary changes the polar bear is so well adapted to low temperatures that it suffers far more frequently from overheating than from cold. To avoid getting hot, it generally trundles along at a leisurely pace, avoiding exertion whenever possible. Living largely off the ringed seal, the polar bear does not have much call for chasing around. The largest of all land predators, it sits in wait by one of the seals’ breathing holes cut into the Arctic ice. When a seal emerges for air, the bear merely picks it out of the hole with its long sharp canine teeth. _____________________2_______________________.  In summer, the bear adopts a slightly more energetic system. Taking advantage of the seals’ sleeping rhythms, it stalks its prey by crawling forward while the seal dozes, and freezing to the spot when the seal appears to wake, thereby blending with its surrounds. When the bear is within 20 feet of the sleepy seal, it pounces and grabs it before it can slip back into the sea. The bear may also hunt underwater, propelling itself below the ice with its powerful webbed front paws and steering with  its back legs. Moving at up to six miles per hour, it can spot its prey from up to 15 feet away. Known in Latin as the Ursus Maritimus, or sea bear, the polar bear is a wonderful swimmer and has been known to plough through 100 miles of water at a stretch.

Since its food is available year round, polar bears, do not hibernate despite the horrific Arctic winters. Only pregnant females spend the bleakest period of the year in a den. Strangely, though mating takes place in the spring, the fertilised eggs don’t actually implant in the womb until the following autumn, a perfect time to disappear underground. _____________________3_______________________.  The female and her cubs remain in the den for a further two to three months following the birth, emerging into the Arctic spring when the little ones are finally ready to face the world. At birth, the cubs weigh scarcely more than a pound each and measure a mere 12 to 14 inches in length. Out of the sea ice, they stay close to their mother and continue to suckle until they are at least 20 months old, though in the colder areas of the Arctic they will continue at their mother’s side for an extra year. Protected against males, who sometimes attack the female and eat the cubs and humans –the polar bear’s only real enemy–, the cubs rove with their mother around the female’s home range, learning the tricks of survival. _____________________4_______________________.

All polar bears have a home range, some inevitably overlapping with others. The total population of polar bears across the Arctic currently amounts to between 25,000 and 40,000. Their habitat includes Norway’s glacial Svalbard Islands, Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia, but it is hard to pinpoint where the highest concentration of bears falls due to their roaming tendency, though the highest concentration of births has been identified as Wrangle Island off the Siberian coast. _____________________5_______________________. Starting her journey at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, she trekked to Canada’s  Ellesmere Island, wintering on the way in Greenland, then returning there when the weather turned colder again, a round trip of 3,000 miles.

All across the Arctic, the polar bear is protected by an agreement signed by the US, Canada, Denmark (which governs Greenland), Norway and the Soviet Union back in 1973, ensuring that he can roam at will without too much threat to his welfare. Hunting is, however, still permitted in all countries bar Norway, though only 100 bears are killed annually in Alaska and Greenland and 500 in Canada. Russia has only recently issued hunting permits. Hunting is really the least of the polar bear’s worries. _____________________6_______________________.  On the whole though the polar bear, the largest of all bears, looks set to rule the far northern hemisphere for some time to come- just so long as man can control his penchant for polluting the world.

TASK I. The six sentences below have been removed from the text. Choose from sentences A-G the one which fits each gap best.

N.B. There is an EXTRA ONE which you do not need to use

1. Most bears are assumed to rove within a radius of several hundred miles, but one satellite-tracked female was seen to multiply this estimate several times over.

2. A much more serious threat comes from industrial emissions which have pervaded the food chain in most of the Arctic, particularly Western Russia where bears are exposed to high levels of contamination.

3. This method is most effective during the winter months.

4. Eventually, when they come of age, the cubs will travel up to 600 miles to get away from their mothers and set up their own home range, a space where they can roam independently.

5. Their fur turned gradually from brown to what we now see as white, although in  fact a polar bear’s fur is transparent, each hair shaft being pigment-free with a hollow core, usefully absorbing sunlight for added warmth.

6. In good times, the adult bear devours only a seal’s skin and blubber, leaving the rest for younger, less experienced bears or the Arctic fox, who can often be found hanging around in the hope of a spot of easy dinner.

7. After a couple of months spent lounging, snoozing and living off their well-stocked reserves, the females give birth to up to three cubs.

TASK II. Find words in the text which correspond to the following definitions.

N.B. Verbs are expressed in the infinitive form.

7. To sleep lightly (paragraph 2)

8. The fact of coming together for breeding (paragraph 3)

9. To travel constantly and aimlessly (paragraph 3)

10. The health, happiness and fortunes of a person or group (paragraph 5) 

KEY:

1.E    2.C    3.G    4.D    5.A    6.B  

7. TO DOZE                

8. TO MATE (MATING)

9. TO ROVE

10. WELFARE