Reading task 1
Reading task: gapped text 1
For questions 1-6 choose which of the paragraphs A-G fit into the numbered gaps in the following magazine article. There is one extra paragraph which does not fit in any of the gaps.
The fight to save New Zealand's giant parrot
For the past 28 years Don Merton has battled to save the kakapo, New Zealand's extraordinary green parrot. In 1995, when numbers fell to 50, it looked like the end for this bird. But this year they staged a comeback. The last survivors of this unique species have produced 26 chicks -more than in the whole of the past two decades. Instead of having no future at all, the kakapo suddenly has prospects.
1.
Males gather at an arena to compete for females. After mating, the females leave and raise their young alone. 'The kakapo is important because it has combinations of features found in no other bird,' says Merton, the longest serving member of the National Kakapo team. Unfortunately, its peculiarities have also made it vulnerable. A thousand years ago, there were millions of kakapo. Their only enemies were predatory birds and the kakapo's green plumage provided perfect camouflage against the vegetation.
2.
Then after years of searching, Merton and a team from the New Zealand Wildlife Service discovered a single bird in a valley in Fjordland in the far south. It was an old male. Search parties found seventeen more -all old males. Three years later, when many had written the species off, Merton's team uncovered signs of kakapo in the south of Stewart Island. It turned out to be a colony of 200 birds and some were breeding. 'We thought the kakapo was safe then,' says Merton. They were wrong. Cats were killing them at an alarming rate.
3.
Merton knew what he had to do. The birds had to breed before it was too late and nothing could jeopardise this. From now on, the team would manage almost every aspect of kakapo life. They laid traps for kiore and watched nests 24 hours a day. If anything other than a kakapo entered the nest, a watcher set off a tiny explosive charge that made a small bang and a flash, enough to startle any intruder. By 1999, all the kakapo had been successfully moved to two islands - Maud Island, and Codfish Island, both free of kiore.
4.
'The challenge was to work out a diet and persuade them to eat it,' says Merton. The team eventually found that kakapo were especially partial to nuts. The birds thrived on the extra food, but still wouldn’t breed. They seemed to be waiting for some special cue. On Maud Island it wasn't clear what that cue was, but on Codfish island there was no doubt that the birds bred in response to some signal from the rimu tree that alerts them to a coming mast.
5.
Armed with this new knowledge, the team was ready to swing into action as soon as they spotted signs of masting on Codfish Island. Last year, it became obvious that the rimu were going to produce a large crop of seeds the next autumn. Merton moved all the adult females to Codfish Island. As the breeding season drew nearer, the kakapo rescue team arrived with electronic monitoring equipment, and spent the next months watching nests throughout the long, cold nights.
6.
A What followed was an intensive rescue operation. During the following fifteen years all the kakapo were moved to islands free from cats, stoats or possums. 'We thought we'd put them out of reach of predators,' says Merton.
Again they were mistaken. They hadn't realised how dangerous the kiore were. Not only did they compete with kakapo for food, they also ate eggs and chicks. It finally came to the point where only 50 kakapo remained.
B In September the team began to fill up the food hoppers. 'We had to provide enough so the birds could breed but not so much that they'd get fat,' says Merton. 'We wanted to keep their weight down to encourage them to produce female chicks.' In December the males began their booming noises, and the females trekked to the courtship areas to choose a mate, unaware that electronic eyes were watching them.
C The kakapo is nocturnal, looks like an owl, smells sweet and fruity and makes some very odd noises -from growls and metallic 'chings' to deep resonant booms. Kakapo can't fly, but they are excellent climbers. They live a very long time and are the world's biggest parrots. The kakapo also has a unique breeding system.
D Persuading the birds to breed was the next harder step as this only occurs when certain plants produce large crops of fruit and seeds, an event known as masting. At other times, the birds manage on very little. It's enough to support their metabolism, but not enough to raise a family. In the past, the kakapo from Fjordland and Stewart Island bred in response to masting by a range of plants including rimu trees. The team hoped with extra food the birds might breed.
E Merton estimates this could take at least 15 years, less if they can trick the birds into breeding more often. 'We're looking for whatever it is in rimu that triggers breeding. It's probably chemical- perhaps one of the terpenes the tree is packed with,' says Merton. 'Or it might be nutritional.' The team is currently testing an improved food pellet to see if that works.
F There was nothing the team could do but patiently wait for nature to take its course. They continued with the food programme to ensure the females were in top condition and monitored the males to keep an eye on their numbers. The population remained stable but the team recognised the fact that it was only the rimu tree that would turn things around.
G Once man arrived, bringing with him not only his dogs but kiore -Polynesian rats -that could sniff out nests, it was a different story. The rats went for eggs, chicks and even adults. The decline in numbers accelerated once European settlers arrived. They cleared large areas of kakapo habitat and brought more predators- cats, rats, stoats, and possums. By the late 1960s the kakapo was feared extinct.