TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice #034 -… | English Rhino

TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice 034Science

TOEFL Speaking Task 3 Practice #034 - Science

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Reading passage

Exaptation The physical characteristics of an animal's body generally serve a specific function, with the primary goal of increasing the animal's chances of survival in its natural environment. However, over the course of time, in response to particular challenges or changes in its surroundings, an animal species will sometimes begin to use one of its existing physical features for a completely new purpose. This phenomenon is referred to as exaptation. Through this process, an animal is able to find an additional use for a body feature that was originally adapted for a different function, enabling it to respond more effectively to a wider range of environmental challenges. Importantly, the animal may continue to employ the physical feature for its original function while simultaneously using it to serve the new purpose, thereby gaining a dual advantage in its survival strategy.

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Listening transcript

Now listen to part of a lecture from a biology class. So, okay, let me tell you about a great example of this. There's a bird, a type of heron that lives near rivers and marches in Africa. Now, this heron is a waiting bird. It spends most of its time walking around in shallow water. And during the day, it can be pretty hard to see the fish with the sun shining on the water, because the sunlight creates a lot of glare and reflections, making it tough to see fish swimming below the surface. But over time, this species of heron has found a cool solution, involving the use of its wings. Like most birds, the heron uses its wings for flying. But what happened is, at some time, some point in the past, the heron also started using its wings to block the sun to create shade when it's looking for fish. It does this by putting its wings above its head and holding them there, while it looks down into the water. With its back to the sun and its wings above its head, the wings form a kind of canopy or umbrella that blocks the sun and eliminates the glare on the water. So, the heron's able to see the fish much better.

Your speaking task

Explain Exaptation and how the example from the lecture illustrates the concept.

Record up to 60 seconds. Nothing is uploaded until you submit it.