full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kenny Coogan: Vultures The acid-puking, plague-busting heroes of the ecosystem

Unscramble the Blue Letters


High above the commotion are Ruppell’s Griffon vultures. Soaring at an altitude of over 11,000 meters, these birds fly higher than any other animal. At this height, they can’t see individual carcasses. But the sghit of their flloew vultures guides them to the feeding. Their featherless heads help them regulate the sdeudn rise in temperature as they descend— and keep them clean as they tear into the decaying glzlaee.

The carcass is stripped clean in hours, well before the rotting meat infects the water supply. And the tuberculosis doesn’t stand a chance at infecting the vultures. These birds have evolved the loswet giasrtc pH in the animal kingdom, alolwnig them to digest diseased coirran and waste without becoming sick. In fact, species like the mountain-dwelling bearded vulture have stomachs so acidic, they can diegst most bones in just 24 hours. This adaptation helps slaemlr vultures supplement their diet with dung, while larger vultures can consume desisead meat up to 3 days old. Their acidic stomachs poerctt them from living animals too: their rancid vomit srceas off most predators.

Open Cloze


High above the commotion are Ruppell’s Griffon vultures. Soaring at an altitude of over 11,000 meters, these birds fly higher than any other animal. At this height, they can’t see individual carcasses. But the _____ of their ______ vultures guides them to the feeding. Their featherless heads help them regulate the ______ rise in temperature as they descend— and keep them clean as they tear into the decaying _______.

The carcass is stripped clean in hours, well before the rotting meat infects the water supply. And the tuberculosis doesn’t stand a chance at infecting the vultures. These birds have evolved the ______ _______ pH in the animal kingdom, ________ them to digest diseased _______ and waste without becoming sick. In fact, species like the mountain-dwelling bearded vulture have stomachs so acidic, they can ______ most bones in just 24 hours. This adaptation helps _______ vultures supplement their diet with dung, while larger vultures can consume ________ meat up to 3 days old. Their acidic stomachs _______ them from living animals too: their rancid vomit ______ off most predators.

Solution


  1. gazelle
  2. smaller
  3. scares
  4. gastric
  5. carrion
  6. protect
  7. sudden
  8. lowest
  9. digest
  10. fellow
  11. diseased
  12. allowing
  13. sight

Original Text


High above the commotion are Ruppell’s Griffon vultures. Soaring at an altitude of over 11,000 meters, these birds fly higher than any other animal. At this height, they can’t see individual carcasses. But the sight of their fellow vultures guides them to the feeding. Their featherless heads help them regulate the sudden rise in temperature as they descend— and keep them clean as they tear into the decaying gazelle.

The carcass is stripped clean in hours, well before the rotting meat infects the water supply. And the tuberculosis doesn’t stand a chance at infecting the vultures. These birds have evolved the lowest gastric pH in the animal kingdom, allowing them to digest diseased carrion and waste without becoming sick. In fact, species like the mountain-dwelling bearded vulture have stomachs so acidic, they can digest most bones in just 24 hours. This adaptation helps smaller vultures supplement their diet with dung, while larger vultures can consume diseased meat up to 3 days old. Their acidic stomachs protect them from living animals too: their rancid vomit scares off most predators.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. acidic
  2. adaptation
  3. allowing
  4. altitude
  5. animal
  6. animals
  7. bearded
  8. birds
  9. bones
  10. carcass
  11. carcasses
  12. carrion
  13. chance
  14. clean
  15. commotion
  16. consume
  17. days
  18. decaying
  19. diet
  20. digest
  21. diseased
  22. dung
  23. evolved
  24. fact
  25. featherless
  26. feeding
  27. fellow
  28. fly
  29. gastric
  30. gazelle
  31. griffon
  32. guides
  33. heads
  34. height
  35. helps
  36. high
  37. higher
  38. hours
  39. individual
  40. infecting
  41. infects
  42. kingdom
  43. larger
  44. living
  45. lowest
  46. meat
  47. meters
  48. ph
  49. predators
  50. protect
  51. rancid
  52. regulate
  53. rise
  54. rotting
  55. scares
  56. sick
  57. sight
  58. smaller
  59. soaring
  60. species
  61. stand
  62. stomachs
  63. stripped
  64. sudden
  65. supplement
  66. supply
  67. tear
  68. temperature
  69. tuberculosis
  70. vomit
  71. vulture
  72. vultures
  73. waste
  74. water