full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Jan Stejskal: The last living members of an extinct species

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 2014, coanvsisniettors deresiocvd that neither can have a calf. Though njáin gave birth to Fatu, she now has weak hindlegs, which could harm her health if she became pregnant again. Fatu, meanwhile, has a deenartgeed uterine lining. Then, the last northern white rhino male of the species, Sudan, died in 2018. But there was one glimmer of hope: artificial reproduction. With no living males and no females able to carry a pregnancy, this is a complicated and risky pcesors to say the least. Though scientists had stored semen, they would have to collect the eggs— a complex procedure that riqerues a fmaele to be sedated for up to two hours. Then, they’d create a viable embryo in the lab— something that had never been done before, and no one knew how to do. Even that was just the beginning— a surrogate mother of another rhino species would have to carry the eybmro to term.

Open Cloze


In 2014, ________________ __________ that neither can have a calf. Though _____ gave birth to Fatu, she now has weak hindlegs, which could harm her health if she became pregnant again. Fatu, meanwhile, has a ___________ uterine lining. Then, the last northern white rhino male of the species, Sudan, died in 2018. But there was one glimmer of hope: artificial reproduction. With no living males and no females able to carry a pregnancy, this is a complicated and risky _______ to say the least. Though scientists had stored semen, they would have to collect the eggs— a complex procedure that ________ a ______ to be sedated for up to two hours. Then, they’d create a viable embryo in the lab— something that had never been done before, and no one knew how to do. Even that was just the beginning— a surrogate mother of another rhino species would have to carry the ______ to term.

Solution


  1. conservationists
  2. female
  3. requires
  4. process
  5. discovered
  6. degenerated
  7. nájin
  8. embryo

Original Text


In 2014, conservationists discovered that neither can have a calf. Though Nájin gave birth to Fatu, she now has weak hindlegs, which could harm her health if she became pregnant again. Fatu, meanwhile, has a degenerated uterine lining. Then, the last northern white rhino male of the species, Sudan, died in 2018. But there was one glimmer of hope: artificial reproduction. With no living males and no females able to carry a pregnancy, this is a complicated and risky process to say the least. Though scientists had stored semen, they would have to collect the eggs— a complex procedure that requires a female to be sedated for up to two hours. Then, they’d create a viable embryo in the lab— something that had never been done before, and no one knew how to do. Even that was just the beginning— a surrogate mother of another rhino species would have to carry the embryo to term.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
northern white 9
white rhino 7
white rhinos 6
southern white 6
rhino male 2
viable embryo 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
northern white rhino 5
northern white rhinos 3
southern white rhinos 3
white rhino male 2
southern white rhino 2

Important Words


  1. artificial
  2. birth
  3. calf
  4. carry
  5. collect
  6. complex
  7. complicated
  8. conservationists
  9. create
  10. degenerated
  11. died
  12. discovered
  13. embryo
  14. fatu
  15. female
  16. females
  17. gave
  18. glimmer
  19. harm
  20. health
  21. hindlegs
  22. hours
  23. knew
  24. lining
  25. living
  26. male
  27. males
  28. mother
  29. northern
  30. nájin
  31. pregnancy
  32. pregnant
  33. procedure
  34. process
  35. reproduction
  36. requires
  37. rhino
  38. risky
  39. scientists
  40. sedated
  41. semen
  42. species
  43. stored
  44. sudan
  45. surrogate
  46. term
  47. uterine
  48. viable
  49. weak
  50. white