full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Luis Zambrano: These salamanders snack on each other (but don't die)

Unscramble the Blue Letters


This extraordinary salamander is native to the wetlands in Mexico City. Ancient Aztec people considered it the incarnation of a God neamd Xolotl— hence the axolotl’s name, rgholuy meaning “water meonstr.”

Axolotls reach suxael maturity with gills and a tadpole-like dorsal fin. ssneittcis think their forever-young condition, caleld “neoteny,” evolved because of their slbate habitat. For salamanders that develop in waters that dry up, efficiently transitioning to land is essential. But the lakes axolotls evolved in were unchanging year-round and didn't host many aquatic predators. So, scientists think it was advantageous for axolotls to forgo the demands of metamorphosis. However, they haven’t completely lost this ability. If exposed to certain substances, axolotls will turn into atudls. But they’ll often experience shoetrr lifespans and lose some of their self-healing abilities.

Open Cloze


This extraordinary salamander is native to the wetlands in Mexico City. Ancient Aztec people considered it the incarnation of a God _____ Xolotl— hence the axolotl’s name, _______ meaning “water _______.”

Axolotls reach ______ maturity with gills and a tadpole-like dorsal fin. __________ think their forever-young condition, ______ “neoteny,” evolved because of their ______ habitat. For salamanders that develop in waters that dry up, efficiently transitioning to land is essential. But the lakes axolotls evolved in were unchanging year-round and didn't host many aquatic predators. So, scientists think it was advantageous for axolotls to forgo the demands of metamorphosis. However, they haven’t completely lost this ability. If exposed to certain substances, axolotls will turn into ______. But they’ll often experience _______ lifespans and lose some of their self-healing abilities.

Solution


  1. adults
  2. roughly
  3. called
  4. scientists
  5. shorter
  6. sexual
  7. monster
  8. stable
  9. named

Original Text


This extraordinary salamander is native to the wetlands in Mexico City. Ancient Aztec people considered it the incarnation of a God named Xolotl— hence the axolotl’s name, roughly meaning “water monster.”

Axolotls reach sexual maturity with gills and a tadpole-like dorsal fin. Scientists think their forever-young condition, called “neoteny,” evolved because of their stable habitat. For salamanders that develop in waters that dry up, efficiently transitioning to land is essential. But the lakes axolotls evolved in were unchanging year-round and didn't host many aquatic predators. So, scientists think it was advantageous for axolotls to forgo the demands of metamorphosis. However, they haven’t completely lost this ability. If exposed to certain substances, axolotls will turn into adults. But they’ll often experience shorter lifespans and lose some of their self-healing abilities.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
regenerate body 2
body parts 2
aztec people 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
regenerate body parts 2

Important Words


  1. abilities
  2. ability
  3. adults
  4. advantageous
  5. ancient
  6. aquatic
  7. axolotls
  8. aztec
  9. called
  10. city
  11. completely
  12. condition
  13. considered
  14. demands
  15. develop
  16. dorsal
  17. dry
  18. efficiently
  19. essential
  20. evolved
  21. experience
  22. exposed
  23. extraordinary
  24. fin
  25. forgo
  26. gills
  27. god
  28. habitat
  29. host
  30. incarnation
  31. lakes
  32. land
  33. lifespans
  34. lose
  35. lost
  36. maturity
  37. meaning
  38. metamorphosis
  39. mexico
  40. monster
  41. named
  42. native
  43. people
  44. predators
  45. reach
  46. roughly
  47. salamander
  48. salamanders
  49. scientists
  50. sexual
  51. shorter
  52. stable
  53. substances
  54. transitioning
  55. turn
  56. unchanging
  57. waters
  58. wetlands