If you are searching for the Why we need to protect polar bears IELTS Reading answers, this page gives you everything in one place: the complete passage, all thirteen questions, the official answer key, and a clear explanation for every answer. This passage is taken from Cambridge IELTS 16, Academic Test 1, Reading Passage 1 (Questions 1–13).

The passage argues that polar bears deserve protection for two reasons: their unusual biology could unlock medical breakthroughs for humans, and field observations reveal intelligence and emotions that people rarely credit to bears. The question set opens with seven True/False/Not Given statements, then a table completion task that tests whether you can pull single words accurately from paragraphs five to seven.

Read the explanations slowly and notice exactly why each wrong option fails. When you are done, the full Cambridge IELTS 16 Academic Reading Test 1 answers page collects all three passages, and the Step Pyramid of Djoser walkthrough covers Passage 2 of the same paper.

Reading Passage 1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on Reading Passage 1 below.

Why we need to protect polar bears

Polar bears are being increasingly threatened by the effects of climate change, but their disappearance could have far-reaching consequences. They are uniquely adapted to the extreme conditions of the Arctic Circle, where temperatures can reach —40°C. One reason for this is that they have up to 11 centimetres of fat underneath their skin. Humans with comparative levels of adipose tissue would be considered obese and would be likely to suffer from diabetes and heart disease. Yet the polar bear experiences no such consequences.

A 2014 study by Shi Ping Liu and colleagues sheds light on this mystery. They compared the genetic structure of polar bears with that of their closest relatives from a warmer climate, the brown bears. This allowed them to determine the genes that have allowed polar bears to survive in one of the toughest environments on Earth. Liu and his colleagues found the polar bears had a gene known as APoB, which reduces levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDLs) – a form of ‘bad’ cholesterol. In humans, mutations of this gene are associated with increased risk of heart disease. Polar bears may therefore be an important study model to understand heart disease in humans.

The genome of the polar bear may also provide the solution for another condition, one that particularly affects our older generation: osteoporosis. This is a disease where bones show reduced density, usually caused by insufficient exercise, reduced calcium intake or food starvation. Bone tissue is constantly being remodelled, meaning that bone is added or removed, depending on nutrient availability and the stress that the bone is under. Female polar bears, however, undergo extreme conditions during every pregnancy. Once autumn comes around, these females will dig maternity dens in the snow and will remain there throughout the winter, both before and after the birth of their cubs. This process results in about six months of fasting, where the female bears have to keep themselves and their cubs alive, depleting their own calcium and calorie reserves. Despite this, their bones remain strong and dense.

Physiologists Alanda Lennox and Allen Goodship found an explanation for this paradox in 2008. They discovered that pregnant bears were able to increase the density of their bones before they started to build their dens. In addition, six months later, when they finally emerged from the den with their cubs, there was no evidence of significant loss of bone density. Hibernating brown bears do not have this capacity and must therefore resort to major bone reformation in the following spring. If the mechanism of bone remodelling in polar bears can be understood, many bedridden humans, and even astronauts, could potentially benefit.

The medical benefits of the polar bear for humanity certainly have their importance in our conservation efforts, but these should not be the only factors taken into consideration. We tend to want to protect animals we think are intelligent and possess emotions, such as elephants and primates. Bears, on the other hand, seem to be perceived as stupid and in many cases violent. And yet anecdotal evidence from the field challenges those assumptions, suggesting for example that polar bears have good problem-solving abilities. A male bear called GoGo in Tennoji Zoo, Osaka, has even been observed making use of a tool to manipulate his environment. The bear used a tree branch on multiple occasions to dislodge a piece of meat hung out of his reach. Problem-solving ability has also been witnessed in wild polar bears, although not as obviously as with GoGo. A calculated move by a male bear involved running and jumping onto barrels in an attempt to get to a photographer standing on a platform four metres high.

In other studies, such as one by Alison Annes in 2008, polar bears showed deliberate and focussed manipulation. For example, Annes observed bears putting objects in piles and then knocking them over in what appeared to be a game. The study demonstrates that bears are capable of agile and thought-out behaviours. These examples suggest bears have greater creativity and problem-solving abilities than previously thought.

As for emotions while the evidence is once again anecdotal, many bears have been seen to hit out at ice and snow — seemingly out of frustration — when they have just missed out on a kill. Moreover, polar bears can form unusual relationships with other species, including playing with the dogs used to pull sleds in the Arctic. Remarkably, one hand-raised polar bear called Agee has formed a close relationship with her owner Mark Dumas to the point where they even swim together. This is even more astonishing since polar bears are known to actively hunt humans in the wild.

If climate change were to lead to their extinction, this would mean not only the loss of potential breakthroughs in human medicine, but more importantly, the disappearance of an intelligent, majestic animal.

Questions 1–13

Questions 1–7

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?

In boxes on your answer sheet, write

TRUE if the statement agrees with the information

FALSE if the statement contradicts the information

NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this

1. Polar bears suffer from various health problems due to the build-up of fat under their skin. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

2. The study done by Liu and his colleagues compared different groups of polar bears. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

3. Liu and colleagues were the first researchers to compare polar bears and brown bears genetically. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

4. Polar bears are able to control their levels of bad cholesterol by genetic means. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

5. Female polar bears are able to survive for about six months without food. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

6. It was found that the bones of female polar bears were very weak when they came out of their dens in spring. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

7. The polar bear’s mechanism for increasing bone density could also be used by people one day. TRUE FALSE NOT GIVEN

• A — TRUE
• B — FALSE
• C — NOT GIVEN

Questions 8–13

Complete the table below.

Choose ONE WORD ONLY from the passage for each answer.

Write your answers in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

• Reasons why polar bears should be protected People think of bears as unintelligent and 8 ………… . However, this may not be correct. For example: In Tennoji Zoo, a bear has been seen using a branch as a 9 ………… . This allowed him to knock down some 10 ………… . A wild polar bear worked out a method of reaching a platform where a 11 ………… was located. Polar bears have displayed behaviour such as conscious manipulation of objects and activity similar to a 12 ………… . Bears may also display emotions. For example: They may make movements suggesting 13 ………… if disappointed when hunting. They may form relationships with other species.

Why we need to protect polar bears IELTS Reading Answers

Questions and Answers

Where two letters are shown for a single question, either order is accepted, exactly as in the official answer key.

Detailed Explanations for Why we need to protect polar bears Answers

Questions 1–7

1. FALSE — The opening paragraph states the opposite: humans with similar fat levels would suffer, but “Yet the polar bear experiences no such consequences.” That final sentence of paragraph one directly contradicts the statement.

2. FALSE — Liu and colleagues did not compare groups of polar bears with each other; they compared polar bears with brown bears, “their closest relatives from a warmer climate, the brown bears”. The comparison sits in the second paragraph.

3. NOT GIVEN — The passage never says whether earlier researchers had compared the two species genetically, and it never calls Liu and colleagues the first to do anything. Because no sentence addresses priority, the answer is NOT GIVEN rather than TRUE or FALSE.

4. TRUE — Paragraph two explains that polar bears carry a gene that manages cholesterol: “a gene known as APoB, which reduces levels of low-density lipoproteins”. Controlling bad cholesterol through a gene is exactly what the statement describes.

5. TRUE — The third paragraph describes the winter den and notes that “This process results in about six months of fasting”. Surviving those months while feeding their cubs confirms the statement.

6. FALSE — Paragraph four reports the opposite finding: when the females left the den, “there was no evidence of significant loss of bone density”. Weak bones on emergence would contradict this sentence.

7. TRUE — The same paragraph ends with the human application: “many bedridden humans, and even astronauts, could potentially benefit”. A future medical use is precisely what the statement claims.

Questions 8–13

8. violent — The gap follows the word unintelligent, and paragraph five pairs the two ideas: bears “seem to be perceived as stupid and in many cases violent”. The table summary reuses the first adjective, so the second completes the pair.

9. tool — The GoGo example in paragraph five describes a bear “making use of a tool to manipulate his environment”. The branch in the zoo story is the object the sentence needs.

10. meat — Still in the GoGo anecdote, the bear used the branch “to dislodge a piece of meat hung out of his reach”. The branch knocked down the meat, which fills the gap about what fell.

11. photographer — The wild bear example ends with a jump towards a person: the move was “to get to a photographer standing on a platform four metres high”. The platform detail in the table points straight to this word.

12. game — In paragraph six, Annes watched bears stacking objects and knocking them over “in what appeared to be a game”. The behaviour the table calls activity similar to a game is described in exactly these words.

13. frustration — The emotion example comes from paragraph seven, where bears strike the ice “seemingly out of frustration” after losing a kill. The one word that names the emotion completes the final gap.

Key Vocabulary from Why we need to protect polar bears

Study Tips

Questions 1–7 are True/False/Not Given, and the biggest score-killer here is treating NOT GIVEN as a maybe. Before answering, find the exact sentence the statement paraphrases; if the passage never says who first compared polar bears and brown bears genetically, the answer is NOT GIVEN, not FALSE. Our True/False/Not Given strategy breaks this decision into three quick steps.

The table in Questions 8–13 is kind to careful scanners: every answer sits in paragraphs five to seven, in order. Underline the words around each gap, then scan for the synonym, because unintelligent becomes stupid and movements suggesting becomes hit out at. The keywords and synonyms method shows how to build these pairs fast.

Respect the ONE WORD ONLY rule literally: multi-word ideas such as problem-solving abilities cannot be squeezed into a single gap, so the test wants the one word that fits. Copy your word exactly as it is spelled in the passage, and review the table completion strategy guide before your next attempt.

Practice More Cambridge Tests

You have just worked through a real Cambridge passage, and that is exactly how scores climb. Simply IELTS built the free IELTS reading course to walk you through every question type on this page, step by step. You can also try this passage as an interactive reading exam under timed conditions, then keep going with the Step Pyramid of Djoser answers for Passage 2.

Want more practice at this position? Every Reading Passage 1 test on the site follows the same Cambridge format, and each one includes a complete answer key with explanations.