A Trip Back in Time

Why might Columbian mammoths have not been "woolly"?

• they are made of heavy wool

• they are mammals with large amounts of fur

• they may not have had shaggy fur or hair due to the warm weather in Texas

• there are skeletal remains that prove they were not wooly

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Based on the first two paragraphs, what will the focus of the article be?

A Trip Back in Time

1 When you think of Texas, the first thing that comes to your mind may not be giant mammoths. Thousands of years ago, during the Ice Age, Columbian mammoths roamed what is now Texas. These mammoths stood as tall as 14 feet high, weighed more than 20,000 pounds, and had little fur (unlike their woolly cousins found elsewhere). In 1978, people in Waco, Texas, uncovered fossil remains that represent the nation’s first and only recorded evidence of a herd of Columbian mammoths.

The Making Of A National Monument

2 In 2015, President Barack Obama signed an order that established Waco Mammoth National Monument, making the historic landmark part of the National Park System. Visitors to the site can view the large skeletal remains of several Ice Age animals, including the Columbian mammoths.

• what the land that would one day become Texas was like during the Ice Age

• a new national monument in Texas where mammoths were discovered

• how long the excavation of the Waco Mammoth site took

• an executive order signed by Barack Obama that established the National Park Service

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According to the selection A Trip Bank in Time, who discovered the Waco mammoths?

• a young man

• a young woman

• two young men

• two young women

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Where was the discovery of the mammoths made?

• near the Bosque River near Waco

• during the Ice Age

• nearby Baylor University

• in the Mammoth National Monument National Park System

In paragraphs 5-7 of A Trip Back in Time, what three theories about what caused the mammoth's deaths are emphasized.

Theories And Thoughts

5 There are several theories as to how the animals perished, but scientists have not been able to prove any of them to date. They have not uncovered any evidence that humans were involved in the animals’ deaths, and most of the remains appeared undisturbed by predators or scavengers. The initial hypothesis was that a catastrophic event took place that killed all the animals instantly. Further research disproved this theory, indicating that not all the animals found at the site died at the same time.

6 A second theory is based on the belief that the animals died in a series of events spread over many years, rather than one catastrophic event. This theory proposes that a second event took place at a later date. During this event, a saber-toothed cat and an unidentified animal died and were buried. A third event took the lives of the bull and two other mammoths. The three events are believed to have spanned 15,000 years. Scientists also believe that all three events were the result of the river rising and the animals becoming trapped.

7 A third, more recent theory is that the animals died from a disease related to the river. The river helped sustain the animals and was perhaps the only “watering hole” within miles. As a result, it became infested with bacteria from animal waste, causing disease to spread among the animals who drank the water. Scientists came to this conclusion based on tests done on the fossil teeth found at the site.

• a meteor

• a catastrophic event

• a series of floods

• river-related diseases

• a massive mud slide

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What does the photo at the end of the selection reveal to the readers?

• a lump of mud preserved from the massive mud slide

• an image of a catastrophic event

• how visitors can see the animals' remains and the position of the mammoths when they died

• the First Lady Laura Bush

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Which sentence best expresses the controlling idea of the selection?

• A new national monument in Texas discovered how Ice Age animals like Columbian mammoths lived and died.

• A new national monument in Texas allows visitors to excavate animal fossils, including Columbian mammoth remains.

• A new national monument celebrates the role Columbian mammoths played in Texas during the Ice Age.

• A new national monument opened in Texas after the discovery of the remains of Columbian mammoths and other Ice Age animals.

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Based on the photograph at the end of the selection, the reader can conclude that visitors —

• are allowed to help researchers identify the fossils of Ice Age animals

• can search for their own fossil remains at the original excavation site

• are often alarmed and frightened by the size and shape of the Ice Age animals

• can see the bones arranged like they might have been when the animals died

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Read the dictionary entry below.

sustain \ sə-'stān \ v

1. to give support or relief

2. to supply with food or water

3. to carry

4. to prove or confirm

Which definition is correct for the word sustain as it is used in paragraph 7?

7) A third, more recent theory is that the animals died from a disease related to the river. The river helped sustain the animals and was perhaps the only “watering hole” within miles. As a result, it became infested with bacteria from animal waste, causing disease to spread among the animals who drank the water. Scientists came to this conclusion based on tests done on the fossil teeth found at the site.

• to give support or relief

• to supply with food or water

• to carry

• to prove or confirm

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The author’s main purpose for writing this article is to —

• inform readers about a new national monument

• evaluate different scientific theories

• illustrate how mammoths died in Waco, Texas

• convince readers that theories can be false

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