# Bring back the big cats: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 4, Reading Passage 2

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 12, Test 4, Reading Passage 2. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 14 | D | was presumed to have died out in Britain at least 6,000 years ago ... it would bring forward the tassel-eared cat's estimated extinction date by roughly 5,000 years |
| 15 | A | creating niches for hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle to survive |
| 16 | C | It has tried to preserve the living world as if it were a jar of pickles |
| 17 | A | This policy would also greatly boost catches in the surrounding seas |
| 18 | C | campaigners articulate what they are for rather than only what they are against ... it helps to create a more inspiring vision |
| 19 | E | there is no known instance of one preying on people |
| 20 | D | It is a specialist predator of roe deer, a species that has exploded in Britain in recent decades |
| 21 | F | presents little risk to sheep and other livestock, which are supposed, as a condition of farm subsidies, to be kept out of the woods |
| 22 | A | marries well with the aim of bringing forests back to parts of our bare and barren uplands |
| 23 | NO | The lynx has now been reintroduced to the Jura Mountains, the Alps, the Vosges in eastern France and the Harz mountains in Germany |
| 24 | NOT GIVEN | The European population has tripled since 1970 to roughly 10,000. |
| 25 | YES | the lynx has been able to spread as farming has left the hills |
| 26 | YES | it is more lucrative to protect charismatic wildlife than to hunt it, as tourists will pay for the chance to see it |

## Why these answers are right

**14. D.** The question asks what the 2006 bone showed. Paragraph A says the lynx was believed extinct in Britain at least 6,000 years ago, but the find moves its extinction date forward by about 5,000 years, so it survived longer than thought (D).

**15. A.** The question is about large predators in the third paragraph. The writer says they drive processes through the food chain, creating niches for hundreds of species that might otherwise struggle, and calls them bringers of life, which means they increase biodiversity (A).

**16. C.** The fourth paragraph says British conservation chose arbitrary groups of species and tried to stop them changing, like a jar of pickles, even though ecosystems are dynamic. The writer sees this as a mistaken approach, so C is correct.

The why and the trap for questions 17 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/bring-back-the-big-cats/answers).

[Practice Bring back the big cats](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/bring-back-the-big-cats)