Tree-hugging koalas - Practice Exam

C1 Advanced · Open Cloze · Advanced Expert Student's Resource Book, Pearson Education

For questions 1–8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap. Use only one word in each gap. There is an example at the beginning.

Australian researchers have discovered (0) ___ it is that koalas hug trees. Thermal imaging shows that the trunks of some acacia and eucalyptus species are as (9) ___ as five degrees cooler than their surroundings in hot weather. The research team (10) ___ use of a thermal camera and a portable weather station in (11) ___ to assess the conditions available to the koalas in different places within the woodlands they inhabit. (12) ___ the team discovered was that during heatwaves, the animals were more likely to hug the trunks and lower branches than in cooler weather, (13) ___ they tended to live higher in the canopy. Also, in times of extreme heat, the animals tended to abandon eucalyptus trees in (14) ___ of acacias, the species with the coolest trunks. Koalas are vulnerable to thermal stress and (15) ___ to a quarter of some populations have died in heatwaves. What's more, the findings (16) ___ well turn out to be significant to a wider range of tree-dwelling animals, as climate change brings more extreme weather.

Tree-hugging koalas

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