What Do Whales Feel Reading Answers IELTS Sample

IELTS is a tough nut to crack unless you have practiced day in and day out for it. IELTS Reading section is sometimes moderately challenging, but one can do excellently well if one has practiced enough. Take as many model tests as possible. Undertake the following reading test with IELTS reading sample What do Whales feel and ensure that you go through every answer and explanation properly!

What Do Whales Feel?

In-detail examination of how the cetaceans' sense of vision, smell, taste and touch function (this includes mammals such as porpoises, dolphins and whales!)

Human beings have certain senses that are generally lowered or missing in specific groups of cetacean mammals like whales. These senses don't function appropriately in the water. For instance, if we study the brain structure of toothed species, we can see that they lack the sense of smell. Alternatively, baleen species have similar brain structures, although there is no record of their senses' functionality. 

We speculate that the neural paths that carry the olfactory senses must have been entirely eradicated with blowholes' evolution and migration on the head's top. Similarly, cetaceans with taste buds have rudimentary or degenerated nerves that serve these senses.

Their touch receptors are also weak, but that view might not be well-supported. Several individuals who train small whales and dolphins often note their responsiveness to getting rubbed or touched. 

Both free-ranging and captive cetaceans make continual contact, which helps maintain order in the group. Touching and stroking are vital in these species' courtship and mating rituals. The flat top area is susceptible, and captive cetaceans are often found strongly objecting to getting touched there.

Different species have a diverse range of vision. Baleen species, especially grey whale calves held in captivity and liberated humpback and right whales, are filmed and studied in Hawaii and Argentina. The studies show that they can obviously track objects with their underwater vision and can moderately see well in both air and water. However, the eye positioning of Baleen species restricts their visual field, so they are likely not to have stereoscopic vision. 

Alternatively, the positioning of the eyes in porpoises and dolphins indicates that they have both downward and forward-facing stereoscopic vision. Freshwater dolphins who swim both on their sides and bottom-up while feeding has both upward and forward stereoscopic vision. 

Comparatively, the bottlenose dolphin has a very keen underwater vision. Considering how well it tracks and watches airborne flying fish under the water, they can see quite well even through the water-air interface, too. 

Although some preliminary experiments and evidence show that their sight in the air is deplorable, the captive dolphin's accuracy in leaping high and snatching small fishes out of the trainer's hands proves something contrary. 

This variation indeed has an explanation in relation to the habitat and surroundings in which these particular individual species live and grow. 

The mammals captured and trained by a specialized individual are inclined to grow specific skills and senses that free-ranging cetaceans may not. It is because they live, thrive and grow in the limited waters of safety and security. The free-ranging mammals have to fight tooth and nail for their survival. Hence their senses differ accordingly to serve their purpose. 

For example, the sense of vision is far more vital to species that inhabit clear waters than those who live in flooded plains and turbid rivers. Now, for instance, let’s take the Chinese beiji and South American boutu; they have extremely limited vision. Indian susus are even blind, and their eyes are reduced to little slits that only permit them to gauge the intensity of the light and the direction they are heading in.

It's also noted that their sense of smell and taste has deteriorated with time and their sense of vision seems quite uncertain. The cetacean's properly developed acoustic senses compensate for all these weaknesses. Most of these species are pretty vocal, although their production sound range highly varies. Many even scout for food using their echolocation. 

More giant baleen whales mainly use diminished frequencies and are generally restricted in their repertory. Some exceptions that stand out are the complex, haunting utterances produced by the humpback whales and the song-like chorus spewed by bowhead whales during the warm summers. 

Generally, the toothed species use the frequency scale to make more sounds than the baleen species. Although, sperm whales can produce a series of monotonous, high-energy clicking noises and nothing else. 

The more complex tones and sounds are easily spotted and communicated, albeit we know little to nothing about what role it plays in cetaceans' culture and social life. It is left on the wild speculation of us mortals, as opposed to having any solid scientific evidence.