# Bats to the rescue: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 17, Test 4, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 17, Test 4, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | FALSE | insect pests are destroying vast quantities of what is grown by local subsistence farmers, leading them to clear forest |
| 2 | FALSE | some of the island's insectivorous bats are currently thriving |
| 3 | NOT GIVEN | he's interested in how bats are responding to human activity and deforestation in particular |
| 4 | TRUE | several species of indigenous bats are taking advantage of habitat modification to hunt insects swarming above the country's rice fields |
| 5 | NOT GIVEN | They include the Malagasy mouse-eared bat, Major's long-fingered bat |
| 6 | TRUE | six species of bat are preying on rice pests, including the paddy swarming caterpillar and grass webworm |
| 7 | droppings | They next used DNA barcoding techniques to analyse droppings collected from bats at the different sites. |
| 8 | coffee | including the black twig borer (which infests coffee plants) |
| 9 | mosquitoes | Rocha and his team found evidence that Malagasy bats feed not just on crop pests but also on mosquitoes |
| 10 | protein | bats become a crucial source of protein for local people. |
| 11 | unclean | but are not welcomed there because they make them unclean. |
| 12 | culture | which makes them very significant in the culture of the people. |
| 13 | houses | we hope that farmers can promote this mutually beneficial relationship by installing bat houses." |

## Why these answers are right

**1. FALSE.** The first paragraph says insect pests destroy the farmers' crops, which leads the farmers to clear forest for new paddy fields. The forests are destroyed by people making farmland, not by insects attacking the trees, so the statement is FALSE.

**2. FALSE.** Although the first paragraph describes devastating habitat loss, it adds that "not all species are suffering" and that some insectivorous bats "are currently thriving". Thriving is the opposite of being badly affected, so the statement is FALSE.

**3. NOT GIVEN.** The passage introduces Rocha as a Cambridge zoologist interested in how bats respond to human activity and describes his study in Madagascar, but it never mentions research by him in other countries. His wider work is not covered, so the answer is NOT GIVEN.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/bats-to-the-rescue/answers).

[Practice Bats to the rescue](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/bats-to-the-rescue)