# Saving the saiga: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 21, Test 3, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 21, Test 3, 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 | dust | they filter out dust |
| 2 | blood | cool the blood during hot, dry summers |
| 3 | coat | Other seasonal adaptations include a heavy winter coat that the saiga sheds when the weather warms up. |
| 4 | horns | because their horns are highly prized by traditional medicine practitioners. |
| 5 | habitat | Another threat to the survival of the saiga is loss of habitat |
| 6 | routes | pipelines and fences can block the seasonal migration routes of this transboundary species. |
| 7 | streams | and many of the smaller streams that the species normally depended on have dried up and vanished. |
| 8 | FALSE | This country is estimated to be home to well over 90% of the global saiga population |
| 9 | FALSE | numbers steadily recovered throughout most of the 20th century |
| 10 | TRUE | Poaching reached epidemic levels after misguided conservationists tried to relieve the pressure on threatened African rhinos |
| 11 | NOT GIVEN | saiga struggle to cope with temperature extremes and unpredictable fluctuations in climate |
| 12 | TRUE | the many species they support, including the critically endangered saiga |
| 13 | NOT GIVEN | In 2022 the United Nations recognised the initiative as a World Restoration Flagship project |

## Why these answers are right

**1. dust.** Paragraph B says the saiga's swollen nostrils filter out dust. The notes rephrase filter out as keep ___ out, so the one word naming what the nose keeps out is dust, taken directly from the passage.

**2. blood.** The nostrils also cool the blood during hot, dry summers. Lower the temperature of in the notes paraphrases cool, and in summer matches during hot, dry summers, so the missing noun is blood.

**3. coat.** Paragraph B mentions a heavy winter coat that the saiga sheds when the weather warms up. The notes paraphrase heavy as thick and sheds as loses, so the single word for what grows in winter is coat.

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

[Practice Saving the saiga](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/saving-the-saiga)