full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Darren Croft: Inside the killer whale matriarchy

Unscramble the Blue Letters


These grandmothers’ expertise can mean the difference between life and death for their families– but why do they stop having calves? It’s almost always advantageous for a female to continue reproducing, even if she also cares for her existing children and grandchildren. A couple uuniqe circumstances change this equation for killer whales.

The fact that neither sons or daughters leave their feiailms of oiirgn is extremely rare— in almost all animal species, one or both sexes disperse. This means that as a faelme killer whale ages, a gaeertr percentage of her family consists of her children and grandchildren, while more distant relatives die off. Because oledr fmleaes are more closely ratleed to the group than younger females, they do best to invest in the family as a whole, whereas ygeuonr females should invest in reproducing.

Open Cloze


These grandmothers’ expertise can mean the difference between life and death for their families– but why do they stop having calves? It’s almost always advantageous for a female to continue reproducing, even if she also cares for her existing children and grandchildren. A couple ______ circumstances change this equation for killer whales.

The fact that neither sons or daughters leave their ________ of ______ is extremely rare— in almost all animal species, one or both sexes disperse. This means that as a ______ killer whale ages, a _______ percentage of her family consists of her children and grandchildren, while more distant relatives die off. Because _____ _______ are more closely _______ to the group than younger females, they do best to invest in the family as a whole, whereas _______ females should invest in reproducing.

Solution


  1. related
  2. origin
  3. female
  4. younger
  5. families
  6. greater
  7. older
  8. unique
  9. females

Original Text


These grandmothers’ expertise can mean the difference between life and death for their families– but why do they stop having calves? It’s almost always advantageous for a female to continue reproducing, even if she also cares for her existing children and grandchildren. A couple unique circumstances change this equation for killer whales.

The fact that neither sons or daughters leave their families of origin is extremely rare— in almost all animal species, one or both sexes disperse. This means that as a female killer whale ages, a greater percentage of her family consists of her children and grandchildren, while more distant relatives die off. Because older females are more closely related to the group than younger females, they do best to invest in the family as a whole, whereas younger females should invest in reproducing.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
killer whales 6
whales inhabit 2
southern residents 2
stop reproducing 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
killer whales inhabit 2

Important Words


  1. advantageous
  2. ages
  3. animal
  4. calves
  5. cares
  6. change
  7. children
  8. circumstances
  9. closely
  10. consists
  11. continue
  12. couple
  13. daughters
  14. death
  15. die
  16. difference
  17. disperse
  18. distant
  19. equation
  20. existing
  21. expertise
  22. extremely
  23. fact
  24. families
  25. family
  26. female
  27. females
  28. grandchildren
  29. greater
  30. group
  31. invest
  32. killer
  33. leave
  34. life
  35. means
  36. older
  37. origin
  38. percentage
  39. related
  40. relatives
  41. reproducing
  42. sexes
  43. sons
  44. species
  45. stop
  46. unique
  47. whale
  48. whales
  49. younger