📕 Part 1: Wild Animals

What's your favorite wild animal?

I'm a big fan of tigers. They're quite distinguished, aren't they? I really like their camouflage stripes as well. So much so in fact I have a tiger tattoo.

Oh, where?

On my back.

Oh, did it hurt?

It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would.

Is it a real tattoo?

Yes, all of my tattoos are real.

I'm just asking typical questions about tattoos.

From the IELTS examiner, yes.

And the IELTS examer is not going to ask these questions, so... But it's okay to say that I have a tiger too, even if you don't have a tiger tattoo. Have you ever seen any wild animals?

Oh, lots there are crocodiles and snakes in Ghana. I think the snakes were cobras actually. And there were giant spiders and grubs, and sharks and whales in Fiji. Reef sharks I think in Fiji, actually. And then I think eagles in America when I was much younger, my memory is a bit fuzzy.

Do you like watching animals in the zoo?

It's definitely safer than watching them in the wild for sure. And you can enjoy the view and being close to them. Sometimes it's a little melancholic, though, and you see them almost trapped in there. Of course, the alternatives are much worse, I suppose.

Where can you see wild animals?

Come to our Podcourse recordings, lots of wild animals there. Em, well in the wild In short, but more specifically in their natural habitats like in the oceans or on the reefs, for sharks, and in the jungle for tigers. More often than not, you see them in captivity like zoos or aquariums. Some animals are even monitored from orbit, I think. If you're a real adventurer, then you can go to the jungles, rain forests, and other untouched places of the world to see them.

Is it important to protect wild animals?

Well, insofar as it's important to protect anything or anyone from unnecessary harm. They're useful from a biodiversity perspective as well. Some endangered species need more care than others. For some wild animals, it's probably enough just to have laws against harming well harming them. And those are applicable to most situations. Others, like rhinos, for example, need, like protection from poaching, like, well, they have anti-poaching groups there.

Should children learn things about animals?

Ah, absolutely. Animals are incredibly interesting and can teach us a lot about the natural world. They even aid in their own problem solving. For example, I think that termites use a kind of air conditioning, part of which is implemented in building design nowadays.

Did you learn something about wild animals at school?

Well, not as much as I would have liked. I think we did a bit on the rainforests and the habitats of wild animals. And but we never wrote about or studied them in great detail. And that's the thing about Scottish education, we have a lot of breadth and not much depth. It's a shame actually, because I quite like subjects like biology, and I had a few books on it at home. Although, I suppose that made up for this deficit at school.

In which country do you think you can see wild animals?

Well, a lot of people go on safari in South Africa, don't they? And that seems like a good starting point. Somewhat less common are tours of the Amazon in Brazil. And there's like a bite in Australia that's rich in wildlife too.

Thank you for your wild answers.

Hopefully, none of them lead people on a wild-goose chase. -

So when you talk about wild animals, we should use topic specific vocabulary. For example, wild animals, giant spiders, snakes, crocodiles, or you can use more fancy words for wild animals like sloths, for example, or leopards, gorillas, rhinos, yeah? Rory used the word rhinoceros or rhinos, chipmunks if we can call them wild animals.

They are.

Or something like porcupine. A porcupine? Nice.

Or a zurriola

Zurriola? What?

Zurriola is the actual name for a skunk. I discovered this the other day.

Nice. I like snow leopards. Leopard, or just leopards. So these are all nice words for wild animals, but also we should use something like endangered species.

Yes, if they, well, if they're in danger of going extinct, which means there won't be any more alive.

And some animals are trapped in the zoos. So to be trapped in - to be kept in the zoo. Other animals are in the wild, right? Or should be in the wild in their natural habitats. Okay? This is another one. So, habitats of wild animals habitats like places where they live, such as what jungles, rivers, oceans, rainforests. And also we can say...

Coral reefs.

Oh, yeah, coral reefs. Absolutely. Also, we can say that some animals shouldn't be kept in captivity. Or you can see them in captivity. In captivity - meaning something like zoos or aquariums.

Not in the wild.

Yeah. And also not in the wild means places like parks, nature reserves, or zoos, right? So we call we call it a nature reserve.

We do.

But also animals should be in their natural environment or in the wild, right? So these are specific words. Rory, I have a test for you. Okay, are you ready? S what's your favorite animal.

Tigers. I like tigers.

Alright. Give me three adjectives to describe your favorite animal, tiger.

Stripy. dangerous. predatory.

Stripy, dangerous and predatory. Very nice. What's your second favorite animal?

Sharks.

Give me three adjectives to describe shocks.

Misunderstood, sleek.

Sleek, okay.

And deadly.

Deadly. Excellent. Rory, what's your third favorite animal?

I like dogs.

Dogs. Okay, give me three adjectives to describe it.

Friendly.

Yeah, what else?

Loyal.

Yeah. What else?

Cuddly.

Cuddly. Super, dear listener. It was a test. Alright? So, for the first question, Rory said tiger - stripy dangerous and predatory, right. So Rory wants other people to see him as a stripy, dangerous and predatory tiger. Stripy, could you could you describe stripy, what does it mean? Stripy.

Well, that they have stripes.

Yay. And predatory.

Means that they prey on other animals.

They eat other animals. The second animal was a shark. So Rory wants other people to see him as a tiger. But they really see him as a misunderstood sleek and deadly shark.

Great. I am painting a great impression of myself right now.

But in fact, dear listener, are you ready for this? In fact, Rory is a friendly, loyal and cuddly dog. Rory.

Yes.

Is it true about you?

I'm very loyal and friendly. I don't know about cuddly.

Yeah, cuddly is like when you give a person a hug and like you cuddle together with them like... Yeah, cuddly. Yes. So this is a brief psychological test.

Is that actually real though?

It is real. Everything is real.

Well, no, come on now. Is that actually like proven?

Yeah, but like, come on. Like you want other people to see as a tiger. Alright, fine. Yeah.

No, I don't. I don't want people to think I'm predatory.

But people see you as a shark as a like, deadly shark. Oh, that's true, dear listener. Look at him. He's like a shock. But in fact, Rory is a friendly dog.

That doesn't make sense. I don't understand where you're getting this from.

From the dark corners of the internet.

Shall we talk about vocabulary?

Yes, so...

Oh, we already did.

You said that tigers are distinguished. Can I say that I like snow leopards because they are distinguished.

Yeah. Well, they stand apart from other animals quite readily, don't they?

I really like their camouflage.

Yes, camouflage is just something that helps animals hide. So tigers have stripes to make them blend in with the grass. Blend in is a phrasal verb by the way.

Oh, there he goes. Do we have any phrasal verbs with animals like...

Oh, yes. If you ferret out the truth that means that you find the truth.

Nice, ferret out. Ferret is an animal. Yeah. Ferret out.

You can beaver away which means to work hard.

Oh, yes, beaver away. I love beavers. Beavers, they are this little animal. Well, not quite little.

It's an animal with a big flat tail in its teeth. It's got two big front teeth and it cuts down trees. You have beavers in Russia.

Yeah, yeah, we do, we do. l love beavers, beaver away. Work really hard. Yeah. We've been beavering away on our Podcourse on phrasal verbs. Oh, nice.

But now we'll leave you to beaver away on the vocabulary from this episode.

Thank you very much for listening. Now we know who Rory really is, and, and what.

That's all.

That's it. Thank you very much for listening. Now we know who Rory really is and you've just brushed up your wild animal vocabulary.

So you're ready to take a walk on the wild side with your IElTS speaking exam.

We have all model answers and vocabulary for all three of the IELTS speaking test on our premium, so check out our IELTS speaking for success premium for speaking part two and three. In this week's premium in part two, Rory is describing a time he had to communicate in a foreign language. And in part three, we are talking about using foreign languages in general.

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