TOEFL iBT Integrated Speaking Task

Listening passage
The popular idea of the dodo as a creature hunted to extinction by hungry sailors is no longer regarded as accurate. The diaries and letters of 17th century sailors who visited Mauritius contain many references to the dodo and all them state that the meat of this creature was not only very tough and difficult to chew, but also tasted very bad. Other birds lived on Mauritius and they tasted very good, so it seems unlikely  that people would hunt the dodo when its meat tasted so bad. There is a more probable  explanation for the disappearance of the dodo which does not include hunting. Firstly, when Europeans came to Mauritius, they brought other animals with them. These included dogs, cats, rats, pigs and even monkeys. These animals developed a taste for dodo eggs and caused great destruction in the dodos nesting areas. This animal attack on the dodos natural habitat was accompanied by the damage caused by humans who cut down the forests where the dodos lived. It is now realized that it was the introduction of new species onto Mauritius and deforestation that led to the extinction of this rather interesting bird. (194 words)


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