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2018 ‫מועד אביב‬ - 49 - ‫ פרק שנ י‬- ‫ אנגלית‬

Text II (Questions 18-22)

(1) Humpback whales are among the largest animals in the world's oceans. They are
also notable for migrating the longest distances of any marine mammal. The whales
spend their summers feeding in polar waters and their winters mating and giving birth in
tropical or subtropical regions. In the course of this annual cycle, they swim thousands

(5) of kilometers through open ocean.

A team of researchers led by Travis W. Horton of the University of Canterbury in
New Zealand decided to map the exact migration routes of specific humpback
populations and the amount of time spent at each stop along the way. Between 2003
and 2010, the scientists put radio-transmitting tags onto 16 humpbacks and monitored

(10) their routes. One group of whales swam through the Atlantic Ocean between Antarctica
and Brazil; another traveled through the Pacific Ocean between Antarctica and the Cook
Islands. The scientists were surprised to discover that the huge mammals spent time in
places that had not previously been known as whale habitats.

While examining their data, the researchers came upon an even bigger surprise.
(15) They found that each whale swam in a series of long, astonishingly straight lines. The

humpbacks stayed on course with an accuracy seldom equaled by even the best
navigational instruments. They accomplished this despite swimming through strong
ocean currents and storms, which could easily have sent them off course.

How do the humpbacks do it? Other migrating animals are believed to find their

(20) way according to the earth's magnetic field or the position of the sun. However, each of

these methods results in a curved route, not in straight lines. Horton and his colleagues

think that the whales may use a completely different system, which they are determined

to discover.

Questions

18. An appropriate title for this text would be -

(1) The Habitats of the Humpback Whale
(2) Humpback Whales: The Ocean's Largest Mammals
(3) Using Radio-Transmitting Tags to Study Humpbacks
(4) Humpback Whales: Where They Go and How They Get There

)‫© כל הזכויות שמורות למרכז ארצי לבחינות ולהערכה (ע"ר‬

.‫ בלא אישור בכתב מהמרכז הארצי לבחינות ולהערכה‬- ‫ כולה או חלקים ממנה‬- ‫ או ללמדה‬,‫אין להעתיק או להפיץ בחינה זו או קטעים ממנה בכל צורה ובכל אמצעי‬