Question

     Have you are wondered why soldiers are always clad in green? This is to enable them to camouflage themselves during wartime. Hiding in the jungles, their green attire blends into the surrounding trees and shrubs, making it difficult for the enemies to spot them.

        Long before man-made use of camouflaging, insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators. By having body colour close to those of the rocks and dried leaves, they can escape from being pursued by the predators.

       Butterflies and moths have developed a variety of camouflage strategies since they are quite defenceless and their predators are abundant. Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help certain butterflies and moths to hide among heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.

   Fortunately, not all insects choose the art of disguise to escape from their predators; otherwise, the world would be so dull and colourless. There are insects which assimilate the bright body colours of bees and wasps to escape from being pursued by their predator. Long ago, birds have already learnt to avoid brilliantly coloured wasps and bees in fear of their painful stings. Hence, over millions of years, many harmless insects have assimilated the bees and wasps by imitating. their bright body colours and shapes. In this way, they appear dangerous and hence ward them off.

      The beefy, not only appears like the bumblebee in terms of body colour, even its hums sound similar too. The only difference is that the beefy does not have a stirring and is hence harmless. The hoverfly is another insect which imitates. the body colours of the wasps. Their bodies are striped yellow and black. The only deviations are that hoverflies do not have stings, and they have only one pair of wings each while wasps have two pairs each. These variations are hardly noticed by the predators and hence help them to escape.

A1. Complete the table with the information from the passage : (2)

Insects	Similarity	Difference
Bumblebee - Beefy
Wasp - Hoverfly

A2. Complete the tree diagram : (2)

 

A3. Find out : (2)

‘Nature has given a self-protection mechanism to insects’.
Find out at least two examples from the passage to prove this statement. 

A4. Vocabulary - (2)

Find the words from the passage for :
(i) animal or bird that hunts other for food
(ii) to get free from danger
(iii) to prevent something from harming
(iv) to make a copy

A5. Personal response - (2)

‘Soldiers disguise themselves to prevent enemies to spot them’.
Give two more examples when the disguising technique is used by humans.

A6. Grammar - (2)

Rewrite the following sentences in the ways instructed :
(i) They have only one pair of wings.
(Make it negative without changing the meaning)
(ii) Insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise to escape from the clutches of their predators.
(Replace infinitive with gerund and rewrite)

(B) Summary : (3)

Summarise the above extract with the help of the points given and suggest a suitable title.
Camouflage of soldiers and insects - reason and ways for disguising - assimilation of insects - need of imitation.

Answer 1

A1.

Insects	Similarly	Difference
Bumblebee-Beefy	Body colour and hums sound	Beefy does not have a sting & hence it harmless.
Wasp – Hoverfly	Body colour (yellow & black stripes)	Hoverflies do not have stings and they have the only a pair of wings each while wasps have two pairs each.

A2. 

A3. 

The examples from the passage to prove the statement- 'Nature has given self-protection mechanism to insects’ are :
(i) By having body colour close to those of the rocks and dried leaves, they can escape from being pursued by the predators.
(ii) Possessing wings which resemble dried leaves help certain butterflies and moths to hide among heaps of dried leaves when predators are around.

A4. 

(i) predators
(ii) escape
(iii) tactics
(iv) imitates

A5. 

The examples of the disguising technique used by humans are:
(i) Native American Hunters wore wolf skins to stalk buffalo.
(i) The cloaks of invisibility used for magic shows or duplicate the person.

A6. 

(i) They do not have more than one pair of wings.
(ii) Insects have already adopted the tactic of disguise for escaping from the clutches of their predators.

(B) 

                        The Deceptive marking

Camouflage is used by soldiers in order to protect them from the enemies and also to be safe from the
insects who are camouflaging in the jungle in between the rocks, trees, shrubs and dried leaves. Soldiers use this technique so that they can hide in the jungle area and their enemies could not spot them easily and attack. Nature has given insects the art of disguise naturally like having body colour or possessing wings which resemble dried leaves or rocks. So that they can escape from being pursued by the predators. The assimilation of insects is done as their bright body colour and shapes so that they appear dangerous and hence ward them off. There are several similarities and differences between beefy, bumblebee, hoverfly, wasp and other insects. The need for imitation in insects is required because their variations are hardly noticed by the predators and it helps them to escape