Why does the speaker say, “we are not really protecting one animal”?
Listen to an Oral Presentation · ELPAC Grades 9–10 listening. The correct answer, and the reasoning behind it.
A presentation on an academic topic, followed by three or four questions.
Listen to the student presentation. Then answer the questions.
The Otter and the Forest
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Show transcript
Good morning. My presentation is about one of the smallest marine mammals on the California coast, the sea otter, and why scientists call it a keystone species.
A keystone species is one whose effect on its surroundings is much larger than its numbers would suggest. Take it away, and the whole system changes shape.
Sea otters eat sea urchins, which are small, spiny animals that feed on kelp. Kelp is a giant seaweed that grows in underwater forests, and those forests shelter hundreds of kinds of fish and other animals.
When otters were hunted for their fur in the eighteen hundreds, they disappeared from most of the coast. With no otters to eat them, the urchins multiplied. They chewed through the bases of the kelp, and in many places the forests were replaced by bare rock covered in urchins. Divers call these places urchin barrens.
A small group of otters survived along the Big Sur coast. Once they were protected, they slowly spread. In the stretches of coast the otters reached, the kelp grew back. In stretches they did not reach, many barrens remain.
So when people ask why it matters to protect one small animal, my answer is that we are not really protecting one animal. We are protecting the forest it keeps standing.
The question
Choose the best answer.
Why does the speaker say, “we are not really protecting one animal”?
- To admit that sea otters are not actually endangered.
- To argue that people should protect urchins as well as otters.
- To point out that protecting otters also protects the kelp forest and everything living in it.Correct answer
- To explain that there are several different species of sea otter.
Why “To point out that protecting otters also protects the kelp forest and everything living in it.” is correct
This tests interpreting a speaker's closing line in light of the whole talk. The phrase restates the definition of a keystone species from the beginning: the otter's effect reaches far beyond itself. The next sentence, 'We are protecting the forest it keeps standing', spells out what 'not really one animal' means.
Why the other answers are wrong
- To admit that sea otters are not actually endangered. — The speaker never discusses whether otters are endangered today; the line is about their effect, not their numbers.
- To argue that people should protect urchins as well as otters. — Urchins are what otters keep in check, so protecting them is the opposite of the speaker’s point.
- To explain that there are several different species of sea otter. — Only one kind of otter is discussed, and the line is about the forest, not about other otters.
Practice more of this
More listening practice for Grades 9–10, or see the ELPAC practice test for grades 9–10. For other grades, see free ELPAC practice tests by grade.
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