All
mammals feed their young. Beluga whale mothers, for example, nurse their calves
for some twenty months, until they are about to give birth again and their
young are able to find their own food. The behavior of feeding of the young is
built into the reproductive system. It is a nonselective part of parental care
and the defining feature of a mammal, the most important thing that mammals –
whether marsupials, platypuses, spiny anteaters, or placental mammals – have in
common.
But
not all animal parents, even those that tend their offspring to the
point of hatching or birth, feed their young. Most egg-guarding fish do not,
for the simple reason that their young are smaller than the parents and eat
food that is also smaller than the food eaten by the adults. In reptiles, the crocodile
mother protects her young after hatching and takes them down to the water,
where they will find the food, but she does not actually feed them. Few insects
feed their young after hatching, but some make other arrangement, provisioning
their cells and nests with caterpillars and spiders that they have paralyzed
with their venom and stored in a state of suspended animation so that their
larvae might have a supply of fresh food when they hatch.
For
animals other than mammals, then, feeding is not intrinsic to parental care.
Animals add it to their reproductive strategies to give them an edge in
their lifelong quest for descendants. The most vulnerable moment in any
animal’s life is when it first find itself completely on its own, when it must
forage and fend for itself. Feeding postpones that moment until a young animal
has grown to such a size that it is better able to cope. Young that are
fed by their parents become nutritionally independent at a much greater
fraction of their full adult size. And in the meantime those young are shielded
against the vagaries of fluctuating of difficult-to-find supplies. Once a
species does take the step of feeding its young, the young become totally
dependent on the extra effort. If both parents are removed, the young generally
do not survive.
1. What
does the passage mainly discuss?
(A) The
care that various animals give to their offspring
(B) The
difficulties of young animals face in obtaining food
(C) The
method that mammals use to nurse their young
(D) The
importance among young mammals becoming independent.
2.
The author lists
various animals in line 5 – 6 to ….
(A) contrast
the feeding habits of different types of mammals
(B) describe
the process by which mammals came to be defined
(C) emphasize
the point that every type of mammal feeds its own young.
(D) Explain
why a particular feature of mammals is nonselective
3.
The word “tend”
in line 7 is closest in meaning to ….
(A) sit
on
(B) move
(C) notice
(D) care
for
4.
What can be
inferred from the passage about the practice of animal parents feeding their
young?
(A) it
is unknown among fish
(B) it
is unrelated to the size of the young
(C) it
is dangerous for the parents
(D) it
is most common among mammals.
5.
The word “provisioning”
in line 13 is closest in meaning to …
(A) supplying
(B) preparing
(C) building
(D) expanding
6.
According to the
passage, how do some insects make sure their young have food?
(A) By
storing food near their young
(B) By
locating their nests or cells near spiders and caterpillars
(C) By
searching for food some distance from their nest.
(D) By
gathering food from nearby water source.
7.
The word “edge”
in line 17 is closest in meaning to …
(A) opportunity
(B) advantage
(C) purpose
(D) rest
8.
The word “it” in line 20
refers to ….
(A)
Feeding
(B)
Moment
(C)
Young animal
(D)
Size
9.
According to the
passage, animal young are most defenseless when …
(A) their
parents are away searching for food
(B) their
parents have many young to feed
(C) they
are only a few days old
(D) they
first become independent
10. The
word “shielded” in line 22 is closest in meaning to …
(A) raised
(B) protected
(C) hatched
(D) valued
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