TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Kate Slabosky: The three different ways mammals give birth

Unscramble the Blue Letters

What do these animals have in common? More than you might think. Along with over 5,000 other species, they're mammals, or mbmeres of clsas mammalia. All mlammas are vertebrates, meaning they have backbones. But mammals are distinguished from other vertebrates by a number of shared features. That includes warm blood, body hair or fur, the ability to breathe using lguns, and nhiiounsrg their young with milk. But despite these similarities, these cauetrres also have many biological differences, and one of the most remrakbale is how they give birth. Let's start with the most familiar, placental mammals. This group includes humans, cats, dogs, giraffes, and even the blue whale, the biggest animal on erath. Its placenta, a solid disk of blood-rich tissue, attaches to the wall of the uterus to support the developing embryo. The placenta is what keeps the calf avile during pregnancy. Directly connected to the mother's bolod supply, it funnels nutrients and ogyxen straight into the calf's body via the umbilical cord, and also exports its waste. plnaectal mammals can sepnd far longer inside the womb than other mammals. Baby blue whales, for instance, spend almost a full year inside their mother. The placenta keeps the calf alive right up until its birth, when the umbilical cord breaks and the newborn's own respiratory, circulatory, and waste disposal systems take over. Measuring about 23 feet, a newborn calf is already able to swim. It will spend the next six months drinking 225 liters of its mothers thick, fatty milk per day. Meanwhile, in Australia, you can find a second type of mammal - maslaprius. Marsupial babies are so tiny and delicate when they're born that they must continue developing in the mother's pouch. Take the quoll, one of the world's smallest marsupials, which weighs only 18 milligrams at birth, the equivalent of about 30 sugar grnais. The kangaroo, another marsupial, gives brtih to a single jelly bean-sized baby at a time. The baby crlaws down the middle of the mother's three vaginas, then must cmlib up to the pouch, where she spends the next 6-11 months suckling. Even after the baby kangaroo lveaes this warm hvaen, she'll return to suckle milk. Sometimes, she's just one of three babies her mother is caring for. A felmae kangaroo can often simultaneously spporut one inside her uterus and another in her pouch. In unfavorable conditions, female kngaoaros can pause their pregnancies. When that happens, she's able to produce two different kinds of milk, one for her nbweron, and one for her older joey. The word mammalia means of the braest, which is a bit of a misnomer because while kangaroos do produce milk from nipples in their puheocs, they don't actually have bsartes. Nor do monotremes, the third and arguably snegsartt example of mammalian birth. There were once hundreds of monotreme species, but there are only five left: four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus. The name monotreme means one hole referring to the single orifice they use for reproduction, excretion, and egg-laying. Like birds, reptiles, fish, dinosaurs, and others, these species lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Their eggs are soft-shelled, and when their bbieas hatch, they scklue milk from pores on their mother's body until they're lgrae enough to feed themselves. Despite laying eggs and other adaptations that we associate more with non-mammals, like the duck-bill platypus's webbed feet, bill, and the vueomons spur males have on their feet, they are, in fact, mammals. That's because they srhae the defining characteristics of mammalia and are eoltrivuniolay linked to the rest of the class. Whether placental, muarsaipl, or monotreme, each of these creatures and its unuiqe birthing methods, however bizarre, have succedeed for many millennia in bgrining new life and dresvitiy into the mammal kginodm.

Open Cloze

What do these animals have in common? More than you might think. Along with over 5,000 other species, they're mammals, or _______ of _____ mammalia. All _______ are vertebrates, meaning they have backbones. But mammals are distinguished from other vertebrates by a number of shared features. That includes warm blood, body hair or fur, the ability to breathe using _____, and __________ their young with milk. But despite these similarities, these _________ also have many biological differences, and one of the most __________ is how they give birth. Let's start with the most familiar, placental mammals. This group includes humans, cats, dogs, giraffes, and even the blue whale, the biggest animal on _____. Its placenta, a solid disk of blood-rich tissue, attaches to the wall of the uterus to support the developing embryo. The placenta is what keeps the calf _____ during pregnancy. Directly connected to the mother's _____ supply, it funnels nutrients and ______ straight into the calf's body via the umbilical cord, and also exports its waste. _________ mammals can _____ far longer inside the womb than other mammals. Baby blue whales, for instance, spend almost a full year inside their mother. The placenta keeps the calf alive right up until its birth, when the umbilical cord breaks and the newborn's own respiratory, circulatory, and waste disposal systems take over. Measuring about 23 feet, a newborn calf is already able to swim. It will spend the next six months drinking 225 liters of its mothers thick, fatty milk per day. Meanwhile, in Australia, you can find a second type of mammal - __________. Marsupial babies are so tiny and delicate when they're born that they must continue developing in the mother's pouch. Take the quoll, one of the world's smallest marsupials, which weighs only 18 milligrams at birth, the equivalent of about 30 sugar ______. The kangaroo, another marsupial, gives _____ to a single jelly bean-sized baby at a time. The baby ______ down the middle of the mother's three vaginas, then must _____ up to the pouch, where she spends the next 6-11 months suckling. Even after the baby kangaroo ______ this warm _____, she'll return to suckle milk. Sometimes, she's just one of three babies her mother is caring for. A ______ kangaroo can often simultaneously _______ one inside her uterus and another in her pouch. In unfavorable conditions, female _________ can pause their pregnancies. When that happens, she's able to produce two different kinds of milk, one for her _______, and one for her older joey. The word mammalia means of the ______, which is a bit of a misnomer because while kangaroos do produce milk from nipples in their _______, they don't actually have _______. Nor do monotremes, the third and arguably _________ example of mammalian birth. There were once hundreds of monotreme species, but there are only five left: four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus. The name monotreme means one hole referring to the single orifice they use for reproduction, excretion, and egg-laying. Like birds, reptiles, fish, dinosaurs, and others, these species lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Their eggs are soft-shelled, and when their ______ hatch, they ______ milk from pores on their mother's body until they're _____ enough to feed themselves. Despite laying eggs and other adaptations that we associate more with non-mammals, like the duck-bill platypus's webbed feet, bill, and the ________ spur males have on their feet, they are, in fact, mammals. That's because they _____ the defining characteristics of mammalia and are ______________ linked to the rest of the class. Whether placental, _________, or monotreme, each of these creatures and its ______ birthing methods, however bizarre, have _________ for many millennia in ________ new life and _________ into the mammal _______.

Solution

haven
suckle
placental
oxygen
support
share
evolutionarily
grains
venomous
kangaroos
breast
diversity
pouches
creatures
climb
nourishing
crawls
large
marsupials
alive
lungs
birth
unique
blood
kingdom
newborn
breasts
earth
female
succeeded
leaves
mammals
remarkable
members
class
bringing
marsupial
spend
strangest
babies

Original Text

What do these animals have in common? More than you might think. Along with over 5,000 other species, they're mammals, or members of class mammalia. All mammals are vertebrates, meaning they have backbones. But mammals are distinguished from other vertebrates by a number of shared features. That includes warm blood, body hair or fur, the ability to breathe using lungs, and nourishing their young with milk. But despite these similarities, these creatures also have many biological differences, and one of the most remarkable is how they give birth. Let's start with the most familiar, placental mammals. This group includes humans, cats, dogs, giraffes, and even the blue whale, the biggest animal on Earth. Its placenta, a solid disk of blood-rich tissue, attaches to the wall of the uterus to support the developing embryo. The placenta is what keeps the calf alive during pregnancy. Directly connected to the mother's blood supply, it funnels nutrients and oxygen straight into the calf's body via the umbilical cord, and also exports its waste. Placental mammals can spend far longer inside the womb than other mammals. Baby blue whales, for instance, spend almost a full year inside their mother. The placenta keeps the calf alive right up until its birth, when the umbilical cord breaks and the newborn's own respiratory, circulatory, and waste disposal systems take over. Measuring about 23 feet, a newborn calf is already able to swim. It will spend the next six months drinking 225 liters of its mothers thick, fatty milk per day. Meanwhile, in Australia, you can find a second type of mammal - marsupials. Marsupial babies are so tiny and delicate when they're born that they must continue developing in the mother's pouch. Take the quoll, one of the world's smallest marsupials, which weighs only 18 milligrams at birth, the equivalent of about 30 sugar grains. The kangaroo, another marsupial, gives birth to a single jelly bean-sized baby at a time. The baby crawls down the middle of the mother's three vaginas, then must climb up to the pouch, where she spends the next 6-11 months suckling. Even after the baby kangaroo leaves this warm haven, she'll return to suckle milk. Sometimes, she's just one of three babies her mother is caring for. A female kangaroo can often simultaneously support one inside her uterus and another in her pouch. In unfavorable conditions, female kangaroos can pause their pregnancies. When that happens, she's able to produce two different kinds of milk, one for her newborn, and one for her older joey. The word mammalia means of the breast, which is a bit of a misnomer because while kangaroos do produce milk from nipples in their pouches, they don't actually have breasts. Nor do monotremes, the third and arguably strangest example of mammalian birth. There were once hundreds of monotreme species, but there are only five left: four species of echidnas and the duck-billed platypus. The name monotreme means one hole referring to the single orifice they use for reproduction, excretion, and egg-laying. Like birds, reptiles, fish, dinosaurs, and others, these species lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young. Their eggs are soft-shelled, and when their babies hatch, they suckle milk from pores on their mother's body until they're large enough to feed themselves. Despite laying eggs and other adaptations that we associate more with non-mammals, like the duck-bill platypus's webbed feet, bill, and the venomous spur males have on their feet, they are, in fact, mammals. That's because they share the defining characteristics of mammalia and are evolutionarily linked to the rest of the class. Whether placental, marsupial, or monotreme, each of these creatures and its unique birthing methods, however bizarre, have succeeded for many millennia in bringing new life and diversity into the mammal kingdom.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
placental mammals	2
calf alive	2
suckle milk	2

Important Words

ability
adaptations
alive
animal
animals
arguably
associate
attaches
australia
babies
baby
backbones
biggest
bill
biological
birds
birth
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bizarre
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blue
body
born
breaks
breast
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breathe
bringing
calf
caring
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characteristics
circulatory
class
climb
common
conditions
connected
continue
cord
crawls
creatures
day
defining
delicate
developing
differences
dinosaurs
disk
disposal
distinguished
diversity
dogs
drinking
earth
echidnas
eggs
embryo
equivalent
evolutionarily
excretion
exports
fact
familiar
fatty
features
feed
feet
female
find
fish
full
funnels
fur
giraffes
give
giving
grains
group
hair
hatch
haven
hole
humans
hundreds
includes
instance
jelly
joey
kangaroo
kangaroos
kinds
kingdom
large
lay
laying
leaves
life
linked
liters
live
longer
lungs
males
mammal
mammalia
mammalian
mammals
marsupial
marsupials
meaning
means
measuring
members
methods
middle
milk
millennia
milligrams
misnomer
monotreme
monotremes
months
mother
mothers
newborn
nipples
nourishing
number
nutrients
older
orifice
oxygen
pause
placenta
placental
platypus
pores
pouch
pouches
pregnancies
pregnancy
produce
quoll
referring
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reproduction
reptiles
respiratory
rest
return
share
shared
similarities
simultaneously
single
smallest
solid
species
spend
spends
spur
start
straight
strangest
succeeded
suckle
suckling
sugar
supply
support
swim
systems
thick
time
tiny
tissue
type
umbilical
unfavorable
unique
uterus
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wall
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word
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