📘 Part 3: Wildlife and education

This episode's vocabulary

Averse (adj.) - strongly disliking or opposed to something.

Vantage (noun) - a place or position giving a good view of something.

Outdoorsy (adj.) - (of a person) enjoying spending time outdoors, especially doing activities like walking and cycling.

In the thick of something (idiom) - in the most active or dangerous part of a particular situation or activity.

Documentarian (noun) - a person who makes documentaries.

Flora (noun) - the plants of a particular region, habitat, or period.

Fauna (noun) - the animals of a particular region, habitat, or period.

To run the risk of doing something (idiom) - to do something although something bad might happen because of it.

To buy (verb) - to believe that something is true.

Dubious (adj.) - hesitating or doubting, not to be relied upon.

Sheer (adj.) - complete and without restriction or qualification.

Fascination (noun) - the power to attract, charm, or interest strongly.

Cuddliness (noun) - the quality of being soft, warm, and pleasant to hug or cuddle.

Outlawed (adj.) - made illegal or banned by law.

Frankly (adverb) - in an open, honest, and direct manner.

Captive (adj.) - (of a person or an animal) having limited ability to move or act freely because of being kept in a space.

Enclosure (noun) - an area that is surrounded by a barrier, often used to keep animals in.

Contingent on/upon something (phrase) - depending on something else in the future in order to happen.

Nocturnal (adj.) - active during the night.

To wander (verb) - to walk around slowly in a relaxed way or without any clear purpose or direction.

Skittish (adj.) - easily frightened or likely to change quickly.

Questions and Answers

R: Surely, that's a question of what kind of person you are. I mean, if you're extremely averse to being out in the world, then the safe vantage point of the couch with the TV seems best. And if you're more outdoorsy, then being out in the thick of it would probably be more fun.

M: Are there many wildlife documentaries produced in your country?

R: Ooh, famously, yes. David Attenborough is a famous documentarian, and has been for the last 40 years at least. He's covered so many different places in the flora and fauna there. What a life...

M: What are possible impacts of only seeing wild animals in zoos on children's understanding of these animals?

R: I suppose they could fall into the trap of thinking that this is how animals behave in the wild, and so they're relatively safe when they go out in the world. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. They also run the risk of buying into the idea that this is the best way to treat the natural world, which is extremely dubious.

M: Why are most children interested in wild animals?

R: As many reasons as there are kids, it seems. I mean, for some it will be the sheer fascination of all these different forms of life and how they can live in circumstances which seem impossible for humans. And for others, it might be the cuddliness factor, and the animals seem so cute that they're almost drawn in this way, or they're almost created in the way that they have been drawn.

M: Should parents take their children to the zoo to see wild animals?

R: Well, that's a hard no. I think zoos and circuses should be outlawed, frankly. Can you imagine treating another human in that way? Not to mention the negative effects it has on the captive animals. And then you combine that with how children behave in these places, screaming and banging on the glass enclosures. Absolutely not.

M: Are wild animals easy to spot in your country?

R: Oh, that's probably contingent on what you're hunting for. I mean, nocturnal animals are going to be more difficult to find compared to the ones that wander around in the daytime. Even then, given how interactions between humans and wild animals usually go these days, a lot of those which are out in the day might be quite skittish themselves and run away. So overall, probably not close up, but maybe from a distance in the daytime, it would be quite easy.

Discussion

M: Hey! Rory, thank you very much for your answers! So first of all, dear listener, we are talking about wild life, which includes wild animals, wild birds, wild fish, and you can talk about animals in the wild, so not in zoos, just in their natural habitat, in their natural places of life. In forests, in the jungles, in the ocean. Watching documentaries. Documentaries are films about wildlife.

R: No. Documentaries are films about a factual, non-fictional subject. They're not just about wildlife.

M: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like factual things. So you can watch documentaries, or you can go into the wild. So go to the jungles and explore wildlife there. And if you are extremely averse to being out there. So to be averse.

R: But if you are averse to something, it just means you don't like doing it, or you don't want to do it.

M: Yeah. To be averse? Strongly dislike something. So some people are averse to the idea of travelling. So if you are extremely averse to being out in the wild or to be out there in the world, then it's safer to stay at home on your couch with the TV. But if a person is the outdoorsy type, so we say like, go out, go out of doors. So outdoorsy means a person who enjoys spending time outdoors. To spend time outdoors? To spend time outside. Into the wild, in the jungles. And doing some activities. Like walking, cycling. So for example, Rory is an outdoorsy type. He enjoys swimming in cold waters in Scotland, climbing mountains, diving with sharks.

R: In Scotland? Do we have sharks in Scotland?

M: I don't know. Perhaps. So outdoorsy. And if a person is the outdoorsy type, then going into the wild is fun. Dear listener. Do you know of any wildlife documentaries produced in your country? You should google, you should know. In Scotland, yes, there is a famous documentarian.

R: Well, I should say. This is in the United Kingdom David Attenborough is famous. I don't think he's Scottish. I think he's actually English.

M: Ooh, okay.

R: But I am laying claim to him for the purposes of answering these IELTS questions. Are you looking up David Attenborough now?

M: No, no. A famous documentarian. So a person who makes documentaries is called a documentarian. And you can say that he makes films about the flora and fauna. Okay? So pretty much about nature. So we say fauna, meaning all the animals that live in this area. And usually, we say flora and fauna together. Flora? Well, flowers. And like he studies the local flora and fauna. No article. And for example, we can say he studies the local flora and fauna. Then a crazy question. Children see wild animals only in zoos, okay? And what are possible effects of this on children's understanding? All right, dear listener? Do you get it? So a child sees wild animals only in zoos. What's the effect on children's understanding of these animals? And Rory told us that children could fall into the trap of something. Fall into the trap.

R: But that just means have the misunderstanding or the flawed reasoning about something.

M: So fall into the trap of doing something. Usually, we say that I fell into the trap of thinking that IELTS was easy. No. I misunderstood, I made a mistake when I started thinking that else was easy, right? Fall into the trap, or fall into someone's trap. So when children see wild animals only in zoos, they might fall into the trap of thinking that this is how animals usually behave. So this is how animals behave in the wild.

R: And it is absolutely not.

M: Yeah. In zoos usually we see animals who... They are tired, they don't move much, yeah, they're kind of like... Like this. Like zombies. But in the wild, they are shiny, they're strong, they, you know, they live their best life. They hunt. And children might fall into the trap of thinking that wild animals are relatively safe.

R: But of course, they are not.

M: Yeah. They also run the risk of buying into the idea. Run the risk of buying into the idea. So pretty much misunderstand, have this misunderstanding that this is the best way to treat the natural world. So children might think that putting animals in cages is the best way to treat the natural world, to kind of control it, like put wild animals into cages.

R: They could buy into the idea. And if you buy into something, in this context, it means you believe it.

M: Most children are interested in wild animals. And some people are into wild animals. Here we can use a synonym kids. Children, kids. Because speaking is informal. And what are the reasons? The sheer fascination. Fascination? Excitement, this interest. The sheer, we intensify the meaning. This like, the sheer fascination, just pure fascination, just fascination.

R: It's the name of a song.

M: Sheer is just used to emphasize how great, important or powerful something is. For example, like, oh, this is sheer nonsense. This is complete nonsense. Or it was sheer coincidence. It was just a coincidence.

R: And we knew all about coincidences here.

M: We invented coincidence.

R: Yes. We are the coincidence.

M: So for some kids, it could be the sheer fascination of wildlife. For others, it might be the cuddliness factor. Cuddliness. You know, like children?

R: The quality of being cuddly.

M: Cuddly, cuddly. Like give me a hug. You know, let's cuddle. So they are very, what, physical, they enjoy cuddling. And animals are all fluffy and nice.

R: Well, they look nice. I don't know if they actually are nice to cuddle into. Could you imagine cuddling a real bear?

M: An interesting idea that children might be into wild animals, because children think they could cuddle a bear. Like a teddy bear. And animals are fluffy, soft and nice. Seem nice, right? Maybe on TV, in films, in zoos, and children might want to cuddle them, because animals are cute and funny.

R: But that is absolutely the worst idea in the world.

M: Yeah, to cuddle a leopard. Parents take their children to the zoo. Okay? And the zoo is always the zoo. Go to the zoo. And here Rory told us about his opinion. He thinks that zoos and circuses. Circuses, you know, these kind of theaters with animals, should be outlawed. Outlawed? Should be illegal according to Rory. You might disagree, dear listener. And then Rory gave us an example, like imagine treating another human like this. So imagine like putting people in zoos. And here we can talk about captive animals.

R: Animals held in captivity. Enclosures. They're not free.

M: So I don't like when animals are kept captive.

R: Yes, or kept in captivity.

M: Yeah, kept in captivity. In cages, in zoos. I think animals should be free in the wild. And also very often we see that children behave in a crazy way in the zoos, they scream. They bang on the glass. They bang on the cages. Like... They kind of like, with their hands, they disturb the animals. Kind of like, have you seen Harry Potter part one? Remember when... What's his face? This Dudley. He was banging on the glass door. Like Snake. Move, move, Snake. So the same, lots of children do it like this. So not very nice towards animals.

R: The thing about that is, though, you see this in movies all the time, like children misbehaving at zoo. And you would think the general message would be, don't do that at the zoo, and yet, every time you go to the zoo, you see this kind of behaviour. So how can we reinforce this any further?

M: Yeah. And also, children tend to feed animals this illegal food. Like we know that you should not feed animals in zoos, but parents usually give children this food. So for a child to feed this, you know, bread to animals, but they mustn't eat this bread. So you see, dear listener? We are very negative about zoos.

R: Not a fan.

M: Yeah, you may have a different opinion. So if you feel that it's an exciting place. And also you can talk about an idea that this could be the only place for a child actually to see wild animals, right? To see that they exist. Are wild animals easy to spot in your country? To spot? Meaning to see. And Rory said that it depends on what you want to see, or it's contingent on what you want to see.

R: But that just means it depends.

M: Yeah, you can say it depends on this. Or it's contingent on this. So it depends on what you are hunting for. So what you want to see. And then he told us about this vocabulary, like nocturnal animals. Nocturnal are going to be more difficult to spot, more difficult to see, because nocturnal animals come out only at night, right? Nocturnal. They're active at night. For example, bats. Bats are nocturnal animals. Or if you want to see some, I don't know, birds or squirrels, they usually wander around in the daytime.

R: I couldn't think of what the opposite of nocturnal is.

M: Non nocturnal.

R: It's not that there must be another one. Ah, it's not... It's... Ooh, oh, wow. Diurnal? Diurnal. Diurnal. I'm gonna say diurnal. But that's the opposite of nocturnal. That means they're active in the day.

M: You also used the word skittish. Skittish? About people or animals means like nervous or easily frightened. For example, my horse is very skittish. Like I have a horse, and my horse is nervous or frightened. So my horse is very skittish because of this traffic, for example. A lot of cars. My horse gets really nervous. Or animals might be skittish because of the noise, because of the traffic. So in the city, in parks, in forests, they might be quite skittish, and they prefer to hide during the day, and you can't really spot them. You can't see them.

R: But this never happened with my horse in Kyrgyzstan. I had an amazing horse, very sensible horse, very calm, not skittish.

M: And you can say that in my country, you won't see wild animals close up during the day. Or maybe you can see them from a distance in the daytime. From a distance, yeah? Or you can go to some places. Like deep into the forest, or to special parks to see wild animals, but you can see birds, for example.

R: Oh, there's a special thing that you can build. It's called a hide. It's like the verb. Hide. But it's like a place where you camp out and you can... You're supposed to watch the animals in, in secrecy. And a hide is also a word for the skin of an animal. So there you go, one word and three different meanings. Don't look up hide as in the skin of the animal, Maria. You won't be happy what you see.

M: No, I know what a hide is. Right, dear listener! Thank you so much for listening! Okay? Now you are full of wild vocabulary. Okay? Yeah, just go online check up the names of animals, wild animals that you can see in your country. Pick some words, snow leopards. Rhinoceros, maybe in your country.

R: There's all these rhinos wandering around Scotland.

M: Oh, yeah. Like, we can see rhinoceros. They're pretty common. They just walk along the streets, you know, every day.

R: Yeah, why not?

M: And then the examiner is going to like look at you like what?

R: You're crazy.

M: Are you crazy? Do other people see rhinoceros or only you?

R: Are the rhinoceroses in the room with us now?

M: Yeah, dear listener, thank you very much! And we'll get back to you in our next episode! Okay? Bye!

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