📙 Part 2: Describe a wild animal you have seen

This episode's vocabulary

Coast (noun) - the land next to or close to the sea..

Predator (noun) - an animal that hunts, kills, and eats other animals.

Apex predator (noun) - a predator that exists at the very top of the food chain.

Encounter (verb) - to meet someone unexpectedly.

Do someone/something justice (idiom) - to treat someone or something in a way that is fair and shows their or its true qualities.

Dorsal (adj.) - of, on, or near the back of an animal.

Sheer (adj.) - used to emphasize how very great, important, or powerful a quality or feeling is; nothing except.

Glory (noun) - great beauty, or something special or extremely beautiful, that gives great pleasure.

Crop up (phrasal verb) - to occur or appear, esp. unexpectedly.

Hot spot (noun) - a place that is popular.

Migration (noun) - the process of animals travelling to a different place, usually when the season changes.

Portray (verb) - to represent or describe someone or something in a painting, film, book, or other artistic work.

Nutritious (adj.) - containing many of the substances needed for life and growth.

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Questions and Answers

M: Rory will describe a wild animal he has seen. He will say what the wild animal looks like, where he can see it, what it likes to eat and do and why he likes it. Rory, could you start speaking now, please?

R: I'd like to talk about great white sharks since I've been cage diving with them off the coast of South Africa. And that was about five years ago. But the creatures themselves haven't changed in millions of years since they're the apex predators of their environment. Well, unless they encounter orca whales. But we should focus more on the sharks here, to be honest with you. I have to say I've seen them up close and they're absolutely massive. They grow up to six and a half metres long. That's over three average sized people in length. There are smaller ones. Typically, males are smaller than females, but even the smallest are over three metres in length, which is still a lot bigger than I think every person. I don't think anyone's over three metres tall. The pictures and videos of them really don't do them justice. When you get into the water with them and you see their dark grey dorsal sides and their white underbellies, you appreciate the sheer size of them. And like all of its glory. They crop up a lot in warmer waters but I think South Africa is a particular hot spot for them because of the abundance of prey. Especially during the migration periods of the fish species that live in the area. And to be honest with you, they eat everything. Some have been found with car number plates in their stomachs, for example. This is quite common behaviour for sharks. They usually feed on large fish and seals. Some movies portray them as man eaters, but generally they aren't interested in people. Since we're not as nutritious as animals or at least as the animals I previously mentioned. Despite being so well covered in various media, very little is actually known about them. For example, there are not many, or at least I don't think there are many recordings of like the reproductive process, for example. Despite this, perhaps because of this sense of mystery I absolutely loved seeing them since I'm fascinated by predatory animals and how they move, especially given how large many of them are. And they're almost always graceful. I think if it wasn't for the size and the appearance of their faces, they'd actually be quite relaxing to watch.

M: What about your friends? Do they like these animals?

R: I don't know. I've not asked them.

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Discussion

M: Well, you should.

R: But I used present perfect simple so I haven't asked them. Which is still higher level grammar structure than saying no.

M: Yeah, dear listener like for IELTS purposes you should know what your friends think about your favorite wild animal or a wild animal that you want to talk about during your IELTS exam. So Rory has talked about a great white shark. Wow. The great white shark. Again, for the purposes of this exam, you should think about one wild animal that you want to talk about. And the question might be, describe a wild animal you've seen, a wild animal you like, your favorite wild animal. Yeah, a wild animal you'd like to see. And it could be just one wild animal. Rory, you were in a cage underwater having great white sharks around you.

R: Yeah. I wasn't the only one in the cage, there were like five other people there.

So they put you in a cage and you were wearing a gas tank?

R: No, I had a snorkel, I think.

M: A snorkel? Wow.

R: Well, you don't need a scuba gear when you're in the water, because when you're in a cage it's attached to the boat. You can, it's not necessary.

M: So like swimming with sharks, right? That was the activity? Swimming with sharks?

R: Cage diving.

M: Cage diving. Oh my God.

R: And it was off the coast.

M: Off the coast.

R: Off the coast. In the water next to the land you're off the coast.

M: Wow. And Rory saw these massive creatures. They were absolutely massive.

R: Yes. Which describes how big they are because they are the apex predators, which means they are at the top of the food chain. They're like they have no other predators except for great white sharks, which have been preyed on by orca whales.

M: Yeah, you guys. So you just need to research. You need to do some research about your animal, about your wild animal and know, is it an apex predator. And a predator is somebody who eats other animals.

R: And then you have to describe their different parts. So the dorsal side is the upper part of an animal and underbelly is the underside. I think I've just burnt Maria's brain.

M: Wow, geeky.

R: We use the word sheer again to describe the size, which means the sheer size. Means just very big.

M: Yeah. Just like you appreciate the sheer size of them.

R: And then we use the phrase, the verb, they crop up. So it just means you see them often in warm water. In the case of great white sharks it's South Africa.

M: They crop up in warmer waters or they crop up in colder waters? So they leave.

R: Well they live in warm water but like colder waters also have big sharks.

M: And you said like South Africa is a particular hotspot for them.

R: Mm hmm. So hot spot is where a lot of something is. A hot spot for great whites, hot spot for English teachers. That's usually the bar.

M: And the what he's prey?

R: An abundance of prey. Prey is what animals eat, an abundance of something just means a lot. But don't say a lot. Say abundance of.

M: During the migration periods.

R: Migration periods are the times when animals travel from one place to another place

M: They usually feed on... and then you say what they usually eat. Like these animals usually feed on fish, they feed on mice.

R: And they're in movies, and the movies portray these animals as something, so this just means they show them as something.

M: Because like everybody has seen the movie, the Jaws or the jaw, the jaws.

R: Jaws.

M: Oh, just Jaws. About sharks, remember? Like sharks ate everybody.

R: No. One shark.

M: One shark?

R: On the subject of eating. They don't eat animals which are not as nutritious, which just means it gives them the the relevant...

M: Nutrients.

R: Nutrients for living. Another part of living is reproduction. And you can talk about the reproductive process, which is just how animals have sex and have babies, basically.

M: How they mate. Mating processes.

R: Yeah, you can talk about mating.

M: And you can describe this animal as predatory. So it's a predator or predatory animals.

R: Yes.

M: They can also be graceful.

R: To describe how they move

M: Gracefully, they move gracefully.

R: And then I love your last sentence. If it weren't for the size they'd be quite relaxing to watch.

M: And that's a nice conditional way to end. A nice, graceful conditional to end on. And actually that's a good way of ending thing. Like if it wasn't for this, then I think that would happen.

R: Very natural.

M: And now we've provided a lot of vocabulary for you to chew on with your jaws.

R: With your predatory jaws. Yum yum yum.

M: We'll move on to part three. See you in the next episode.

R: Bye!

M: Bye!

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