From the Ted Talk by David Gruber and Shane Gero: How advanced is whale talk?
Unscramble the Blue Letters
In the mid-1800s, soon after American whaling spihs began operating in the North Pacific, an interesting trend emerged. Whalers saw a 58% drop in their successful strikes within just a few years. Sperm whales in the rogien had sludedny become much harder to kill. glrlaeney, when predators like orcas are nearby, sperm whales protect their most vlrnauelbe by forming defensive circles at the surface. But this behavior made them susceptible to whaling ships. It seems that serpm whales in the North Pacific were somehow able to quickly adapt to this reality. Groups that likely hadn’t yet experienced human attacks began ensapcig whaling boats on fast currents instead of forming dvfeesnie circles. And, baesd on what we’re sittarng to understand about sperm whales, it seems possible they were actually broadcasting survival strategies to one another.
Open Cloze
In the mid-1800s, soon after American whaling _____ began operating in the North Pacific, an interesting trend emerged. Whalers saw a 58% drop in their successful strikes within just a few years. Sperm whales in the ______ had ________ become much harder to kill. _________, when predators like orcas are nearby, sperm whales protect their most __________ by forming defensive circles at the surface. But this behavior made them susceptible to whaling ships. It seems that _____ whales in the North Pacific were somehow able to quickly adapt to this reality. Groups that likely hadn’t yet experienced human attacks began ________ whaling boats on fast currents instead of forming _________ circles. And, _____ on what we’re ________ to understand about sperm whales, it seems possible they were actually broadcasting survival strategies to one another.
Solution
sperm
escaping
region
based
vulnerable
starting
defensive
ships
generally
suddenly
Original Text
In the mid-1800s, soon after American whaling ships began operating in the North Pacific, an interesting trend emerged. Whalers saw a 58% drop in their successful strikes within just a few years. Sperm whales in the region had suddenly become much harder to kill. Generally, when predators like orcas are nearby, sperm whales protect their most vulnerable by forming defensive circles at the surface. But this behavior made them susceptible to whaling ships. It seems that sperm whales in the North Pacific were somehow able to quickly adapt to this reality. Groups that likely hadn’t yet experienced human attacks began escaping whaling boats on fast currents instead of forming defensive circles. And, based on what we’re starting to understand about sperm whales, it seems possible they were actually broadcasting survival strategies to one another.