full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Leon Claessens: The real reason dodo birds went extinct

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In 1598, Dutch sailors came ashore on Mauritius, and the island soon became a welcome stopover for their trdae ships. The sailors described natural wonders, including large numbers of birds twice as big as swans and toisoters with shells huge enough to fit 10 men. miutriaan animals hadn't evolved to fear being hunted by humans, so they were an easy catch. Sailors ate some ddoos, but this alone didn't cause their doom.

The Dutch sailors came with company. They bguorht macaques that were probably pets. They released gtoas and pigs on the island to establish food sources. And at some piont, slroias also indnerevtltay introduced rats. It's thought that goats and pigs grazed and rooted through the forest understory, which dodos lived in; pigs, macaques, and rats preyed on dodo eggs and chicks; and all of them ctemeopd with dodos for resources. Dodos were last seen less than a curntey after Dutch arrival.

Open Cloze


In 1598, Dutch sailors came ashore on Mauritius, and the island soon became a welcome stopover for their _____ ships. The sailors described natural wonders, including large numbers of birds twice as big as swans and _________ with shells huge enough to fit 10 men. _________ animals hadn't evolved to fear being hunted by humans, so they were an easy catch. Sailors ate some _____, but this alone didn't cause their doom.

The Dutch sailors came with company. They _______ macaques that were probably pets. They released _____ and pigs on the island to establish food sources. And at some _____, _______ also _____________ introduced rats. It's thought that goats and pigs grazed and rooted through the forest understory, which dodos lived in; pigs, macaques, and rats preyed on dodo eggs and chicks; and all of them ________ with dodos for resources. Dodos were last seen less than a _______ after Dutch arrival.

Solution


  1. century
  2. inadvertently
  3. brought
  4. competed
  5. goats
  6. sailors
  7. trade
  8. dodos
  9. point
  10. tortoises
  11. mauritian

Original Text


In 1598, Dutch sailors came ashore on Mauritius, and the island soon became a welcome stopover for their trade ships. The sailors described natural wonders, including large numbers of birds twice as big as swans and tortoises with shells huge enough to fit 10 men. Mauritian animals hadn't evolved to fear being hunted by humans, so they were an easy catch. Sailors ate some dodos, but this alone didn't cause their doom.

The Dutch sailors came with company. They brought macaques that were probably pets. They released goats and pigs on the island to establish food sources. And at some point, sailors also inadvertently introduced rats. It's thought that goats and pigs grazed and rooted through the forest understory, which dodos lived in; pigs, macaques, and rats preyed on dodo eggs and chicks; and all of them competed with dodos for resources. Dodos were last seen less than a century after Dutch arrival.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
dutch sailors 2


Important Words


  1. animals
  2. arrival
  3. ashore
  4. ate
  5. big
  6. birds
  7. brought
  8. catch
  9. century
  10. company
  11. competed
  12. dodo
  13. dodos
  14. doom
  15. dutch
  16. easy
  17. eggs
  18. establish
  19. evolved
  20. fear
  21. fit
  22. food
  23. forest
  24. goats
  25. grazed
  26. huge
  27. humans
  28. hunted
  29. inadvertently
  30. including
  31. introduced
  32. island
  33. large
  34. lived
  35. macaques
  36. mauritian
  37. mauritius
  38. men
  39. natural
  40. numbers
  41. pets
  42. pigs
  43. point
  44. preyed
  45. rats
  46. released
  47. resources
  48. rooted
  49. sailors
  50. shells
  51. ships
  52. sources
  53. stopover
  54. swans
  55. thought
  56. tortoises
  57. trade
  58. understory
  59. wonders