An uncommonly large grouping of killer whales for Northern California—roughly two dozen killer whales--were spotted by a whale watching tour off the coast of San Francisco last month, likely to gather together to celebrate a successful hunt for sea lions or seals.
“It was really, really special,” Michael Pierson, an Oceanic Society naturalist leading the tour, said in an interview Wednesday.
The big group of whales was seen on May 7 near the Farallon Islands, about 28 miles west of San Francisco. Killer whales are more commonly found around the deep ocean canyon beneath Monterey Bay--about 75 miles south of the city--and can be spotted anywhere from the coastline to just 5 miles off shore, according to Nancy Black, a marine biologist and owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch. It’s easier for whale-watching tours to see them in Monterey Bay because the canyon is so close to the beach, while the Farallon Islands require a miles-long boat ride from San Francisco, and the water still may not be deep enough there, Black said.
The Oceanic Society regularly does tours to the Farallon Islands--which include collecting data for scientists and conservationists--and spring is a migration season. Pierson and the boat’s captain, Jared Davis, decided to try a different route on May 7 to head out over deeper water. When spotted during Farallon Islands tours, killer whales are usually in a family group of three to six whales. They typically range from Baja California up the West Coast and Canada to Alaska. Last month, however, the tour came across several family groups gathering together, for a total of 20 to 24. They were likely near the islands because it’s where pregnant sea lions and seals give birth this time of year.
While the adult males, with their distinctive 6 feet-tall (2-meter) dorsal fins (背鳍), were “definitely a showstopper,” Pierson said the mothers and their calves were also a big hit.
1. Where can killer whales most frequently be seen?A.28 miles west of San Francisco. | B.75 miles south of Monterey Bay. |
C.5 miles off the shore of San Francisco. | D.Close to Monterey Bay around the deep canyon. |
A.By following the typical migration path of killer whales. |
B.By checking on regular Farallon Islands tours. |
C.By attempting an unusual course to deep waters. |
D.By tracing pregnant sea lions and seals. |
A.The scenes of male whales are impressive. |
B.The show is completely stopped by male whales. |
C.Female whales are not as distinctive as male whales. |
D.Mother and calf whales are suddenly hit by male whales. |
A.A Significant Discovery on Killer Whales. |
B.A Precious Tour to Observe Killer Whales. |
C.A Rare Scene of Large Groups of Killer Whales. |
D.A Successful Hunt on Sea Lions by Killer Whales. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Summer is fast approaching and warmer temperatures bring pests like mosquitoes.
Is there anything better than “the gold standard"? Repellents made from coconut(椰子) oil work better than DEET, a government study says.
If you have water around your house. Beth Ranson, public relations officer for Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, suggests acquiring fish that will eat mosquito larvae(幼虫).
A.They can bring deadly diseases. |
B.Mosquitoes are also weak fliers. |
C.It is not suitable from children under three. |
D.You can wear protective clothing and keep your windows closed. |
E.Another key is to get rid of all the standing water every five days. |
F.The repellent is also guaranteed to provide at least two hours of protection. |
G.Ranson also started to find high-tech solutions to growing mosquito populations. |
【推荐2】Scientists have recreated a 1985 study of birds in Peru that shows climate change is pushing them from their natural environment. Thirty years ago, researchers studied more than 400 kinds of birds living on a mountainside in Peru. In 2017, researchers looked again at the bird populations. They found that almost all had moved to higher places in the mountain. Almost all had decreased in size. And, the scientists say at least eight bird groups that move to the higher altitude had died out completely.
Mark Urban, director of the Center of Biological Risk at the University of Connecticut, said this recent study was the first to prove that rising temperatures and moving to avoid them can lead to extinction.
In 1985, Fitzpatrick, director of the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, and a team of scientists established a camp alongside a river running down a mountainside in southeastern Peru. He wanted to document where tropical bird groups lived. His team spent several weeks using nets to catch and release birds. They kept detailed notes of birds they caught, saw or heard. In 2016, Fitzpatrick passed his notes, photos and other records to Benjamin Freeman. Freeman who has been researching tropical birds for more than 10 years set out in August and September of 2017 to copy Fitzpatrick’s study. His team used the same methods, searching the same places in the same time of year.
Freeman said that the birds moved an average of 98 meters further up the mountain, believing that temperature is the main cause of the birds’ movement. Fitzpatrick noted that birds used to living in areas with little temperature change might be especially at risk because of climate change. He said, “We should expect that what’s happening on this mountain top is happening more generally in the Andes, and other tropical mountain ranges.”
1. Which of the following is NOT the effect that temperature has on birds?A.They left their original environment. | B.They decrease in size. |
C.Some of them become extinct. | D.Their food resources decrease. |
A.Scientists have never studied the birds in Peru before 1985. |
B.Fitzpatrick and his team studied the birds by seeing and raising them. |
C.Climate change might pose little threat to birds if temperatures change less in their habitat. |
D.Climate change will also affect the birds in other tropical mountain ranges. |
A.Climate is changing in the mountain area in Peru. |
B.Climate changes rarely do any damage to birds. |
C.Moving up to avoid rising temperatures can lead to birds’ death. |
D.Scientists began to study the causes of animal extinction in Peru. |
A.An economy report | B.A science magazine |
C.A social website | D.A biology textbook |
【推荐3】Most people think of zoos as safe places for animals, where struggles such as difficulty finding food and avoiding predators don’t exist. Without such problems, animals in zoos should live to a ripe old age.
But that may not be true for the largest land animals on Earth. Scientists have known that elephants in zoos often suffer from poor health. They develop diseases, joint problems and behavior changes. Sometimes, they even become unable to have babies.
To learn more about how captivity (监禁) affects elephants, a team of international scientists compared the life spans of female elephants born in zoos with female elephants living outdoors in their native lands. Zoos keep detailed records of all the animals in their care, documenting factors such as birth dates, illnesses, weight and death. These records made it possible for the researchers to analyze 40 years of data on 800 African and Asian elephants in zoos across Europe. The scientists compared the life spans of the zoo-born elephants with the life spans of thousands of female wild elephants in Africa and Asian elephants that work in logging camps (伐木场), over approximately the same time period.
The team found that female African elephants born in zoos lived an average of 16.9 years. Their wild counterparts who died of natural causes lived an average of 56 years — more than three times as long. Female Asian elephants followed a similar pattern. In zoos, they lived 18.9 years, while those in the logging camps lived 41.7 years.
Scientists don’t yet know why wild elephants seem to live so much better than their zoo-raised counterparts. Georgia Mason, a biologist at the University of Guelph in Canada who led the study, think stress and obesity (肥胖) may be to blame. Zoo elephants don’t get the same kind of exercise they would in the wild, and most are very fat. Elephant social lives are also much more different in zoos than in the wild, where they live in large herds and family groups.
Another finding from the study showed that Asian elephants born in zoos were more likely to die early than Asian elephants captured in the wild and brought to zoos. Mason suggests stress in the mothers in zoos might cause them to have babies that are less likely to survive.
The study raises some questions about acquiring more elephants to keep in zoos. While some threatened and endangered species living in zoos reproduce successfully and maintain healthy populations, that doesn’t appear to be the case with elephants.
1. According to the first two paragraphs unlike other zoo animals, zoo elephants ________.A.have difficulty eating food. | B.live to a ripe old age. |
C.are not afraid of predators. | D.develop health problems. |
A.They compared zoo elephants with wild elephants. |
B.Zoos kept detailed records of all the elephants in the wild. |
C.They analyzed the records of the elephants kept in zoos. |
D.The zoo-born elephants they studied are kept in European zoos. |
A.Female elephants live longer than male elephants. |
B.Female zoo elephants live longer than their wild counterparts. |
C.Female zoo elephants die much earlier than their wild counterparts. |
D.Elephants in zoos and those in the wild enjoy the same long life spans. |
A.It may not be a wise policy to keep elephants in the zoo. |
B.Elephants are no longer an endangered species. |
C.Zoo-born elephants should be looked after more carefully. |
D.Zoos should keep more animals except elephants. |
【推荐1】COURTESY PAUL BOZYMOWSKI-Three New York City police officers paid for a woman’s groceries rather than arresting her.
As temperatures approached 90 degrees in New York City last July 4th, three police officers ducked into a Whole Foods Market to get something cold to drink. What they walked into was a heated human drama.
Once inside, the cops, Lt. Louis Sojo and Officers Esanidy Cuevas and Michael Rivera, were approached by a store security guard who asked for help with a suspected shoplifter. The woman in question didn’t have the look of a career criminal. She was obviously scared, and her cheeks were wet with tears.
The cops peeked inside her bag. “All we saw was containers of food.” Cuevas told CBS New York.
"I’m hungry," she explained quietly.
Caught red-handed, the woman no doubt expected to be sentenced to jail for the crime of being hungry while poor. But the cops had other ideas. “We’ll pay for her food,” Sojo told the surprised security guard.
There’d been no discussion among the three men. It went unsaid. Instead, they picked up the woman’s bag and accompanied her to a cash register, where each took out $10 to pay the tab. She would not be arrested today.
All the woman could do was weep in gratitude. Covering her face with a kerchief and drying her eyes, she repeated, “Thank you, thank you.”
She wasn’t the only one touched by this act of mercy. “It was a very beautiful, genuine moment,” says Paul Bozymowski, who was at the store. He was so taken by what he’d witnessed that he posted a photo on Twitter for all to see.
But attention was never what the officers sought. They were driven by a far more common emotion. As Sojo told CNN, “When you look at someone’s face and see that they need you and they’re actually hungry, it’s pretty difficult as a human being to walk away from something like this.”
1. What can be learnt about the woman from the passage?A.She had stolen in the shop several times before. |
B.She was caught on the spot by three police officers. |
C.She was found innocent and would not be arrested. |
D.She was forced to commit the crime due to the dilemma of life. |
A.appeal for sympathy for the people in need | B.express his gratitude to the police officers |
C.show more people the cops’ act of kindness | D.record the unforgettable moment in his life |
A.Their great devotion to work | B.A deep sense of being human |
C.The attraction of the public attention | D.Their different attitude towards shoplifting |
【推荐2】How would you like an easy way to earn $2,500? All you have to do is to sit around and wait for your meals. There’s a catch, however. You have to stay in a chicken cage with a stranger for a whole week. There are no books or television or radio for a whole week. There are no books or television or radio for amusement. You can’t leave until the week is up. And a camera will be recording your every move.
Two people actually took the job. The idea came from Rob Thompson, a video artist. He wanted to make film about the way animals are treated. His goal was to raise people’s awareness of the living conditions of animals that are raised for food. He decided to pay $ 5,000 out of his own savings to two people who were willing to live like chickens for a week.
To Rob’s surprise, quite a few people answered his advertisement. He had interviews and selected Eric, a 24-yearold restaurant worker, and Pam, a 27-year-old chemist. The plan was for them to spend seven days together in a chicken cage that was six feet long and three feet wide. A camera would record their experience, which would take place in an art museum.
The week was long and difficult. They slept on hard wooden floor. They couldn’t stand up without banging their heads. They ate mash (a kind of food for animals) and drink water from a garden pipe. Their only privacy was a toilet surrounded by a curtain, which was the most unbearable. There were no sinks, mirrors or toothbrushes in the cage.Visitors we came here who were warned, “Do not feed the humans.”
Finally, it was over, and Pam and Eric came out of the cage. They had survived the week and they each had a $ 2,500 check in their hands. When Rob Thompson opened the cage, Eric came out, changed into clean clothes, and ate a chocolate bar right away. “It’s great for me to be able to stand up.” he said. Pam just changed her clothes and left. After a week of visitors and reporters watching her, she didn’t want to talk to anyone.
1. What’s Rob Thompson’s intention of offering the job?A.Making a film about humans and animals. |
B.Conducting an experiment about humans and animals. |
C.Making some animals' terrible living conditions seen. |
D.Showing how terribly a human being is treated in a cage. |
A.That they had not much privacy. |
B.That they ate the food for animals. |
C.That they couldn’t stand up in the cage. |
D.That they didn’t have enough daily necessities. |
A.Getting Along Well with Animals |
B.Do Not Treat Animals Badly |
C.An Easy Way to Earn $2,500 |
D.Living in the Cage like a Chicken |
A.In a business journal. | B.In a newspaper. |
C.In a research report. | D.In a brochure. |
【推荐3】In October, Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in an area of Los Angeles. California is a big farming state, and this was serious news for farmers. The key to the problem may seem a little unusual: releasing millions more of the flies.
The Mediterranean fruit fly, often known as the “Medfly”, is one of the most serious threats faced by farmers worldwide. Once the pest makes its way into an area, it can be very hard to remove. The flies lay their eggs in over 300 kinds of fruits and vegetables. When the eggs hatch, they turn into worm-like larvae (幼虫) that can destroy these products.
Three Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in a Los Angeles neighborhood called Leimert Park in October. To stop the problem from spreading, the government set up a large quarantine (隔离) area, which means that no produce (fruits, nuts, or vegetables)can be moved out of that area. The quarantine area is 90 square miles.
That may seem extreme, since only three Medflies were found, but experts believe there are probably more out there. “It’s really important to get on top of this fast,” said Jason Leathers. Luckily, California has developed a program to control Medflies, and it’s been working well for 30 years. The plan involves using planes to drop millions of Medflies over the area. That may sound like a bad idea, but it’s actually a good way to make sure that Medfly numbers go down.
The airplanes only drop male flies, and all of them have been treated so that they can’t help produce new fruit flies. The males are sterile (不育的). This means that even though they can mate with female fruit flies, the eggs produced will never grow or hatch. The plan has worked well in the past. The government says that the number of flies has been cut by over 90%. To deal with the problem near Leimert Park, the government will be dropping two airplane loads of sterile Medflies every week.
1. Why is the figure mentioned in Paragraph 2?A.To show farmers require more help. | B.To stress the great harm done by the Medfly. |
C.To remind people to be particular about health. | D.To appeal for urgent concerns about the Medfly. |
A.To destroy the native produce. | B.To limit the spread of the Medfly. |
C.To kill the Medfly completely. | D.To reduce the losses of local farmers. |
A.California values the control of Medflies. | B.Using planes to drop Medflies saves money. |
C.Jason Leathers is in charge of Medflies’ study. | D.The public care little about killing Medflies. |
A.A research article. | B.A short story. | C.A news report. | D.An agricultural research. |