IELTS Reading Short Answer Questions | Example 10

Communicating In Colour

A. There are more than 160 known species of chameleons. The main distribution is in Africa and Madagascar, and other tropical regions, although some species are also found in parts of southern Europe and Asia. There are introduced populations in Hawaii and probably in California and Florida too.

B. New species are still discovered quite frequently. Dr. Andrew Marshall, a conservationist from York University, was surveying monkeys in Tanzania. Accidently, he stumbled across a twig snake in the Magombera forest, which, frightened, coughed up a chameleon and fled. Though a colleague persuaded him not to touch it because of the venom’s risk, Marshall suspected it might be a new species and took a photograph to send to colleagues, who confirmed his suspicions. Kinyongia Magombera, literally “the chameleon from Magombera,” is the result, and the fact it was not easy to identify is precisely what made it unique. The most remarkable features of chameleons are their ability to change colour and ability rivalled only by cuttlefish and octopi in the animal kingdom. Because of this, colour is not the best thing for telling chameleons apart, and different species are usually identified based on the patterning and shape of the head, and the arrangement of scales. In this case, it was the bulge of scales on the chameleon’s nose.

1. Africa, Madagascar & tropical region
2. While surveying monkeys in Tanzania
3. By head’s patterns and shape / arrangement of scales