IELTS Listening Part 4: Sea Otters and Kelp Forests

Part Four. You will hear a lecture about sea otters and kelp forests.

Bagian empat. Anda akan mendengar kuliah tentang berang-berang laut dan hutan kelp.

You have some time to look at questions thirty-one to forty.

Anda punya sedikit waktu untuk membaca soal nomor tiga puluh satu sampai empat puluh.

Now listen carefully and answer questions thirty-one to forty.

Sekarang dengarkan baik-baik dan jawab soal nomor tiga puluh satu sampai empat puluh.

Good afternoon. Today's lecture is about one of my favourite animals, the sea otter.

Selamat siang. Kuliah hari ini membahas salah satu hewan favorit saya: berang-berang laut.

Yes, they're adorable. But they're also surprisingly important!

Ya, mereka menggemaskan. Tapi mereka juga ternyata sangat penting!

Sea otters live along the coasts of the North Pacific.

Berang-berang laut hidup di sepanjang pesisir Pasifik Utara.

They spend almost their whole lives in the water, often floating on their backs.

Mereka menghabiskan hampir seluruh hidupnya di air, sering mengapung telentang.

They even hold hands while they sleep, so they don't drift apart!

Mereka bahkan berpegangan tangan saat tidur supaya tidak terpisah!

Their home is the kelp forest, an underwater forest of giant seaweed.

Rumah mereka adalah hutan kelp, hutan bawah laut dari rumput laut raksasa.

Kelp can grow up to half a metre in a single day.

Kelp bisa tumbuh hingga setengah meter dalam satu hari.

So why do otters matter so much to these forests?

Lalu, mengapa berang-berang begitu penting bagi hutan ini?

The answer is sea urchins.

Jawabannya adalah bulu babi.

Urchins eat kelp, and without predators, their numbers explode.

Bulu babi memakan kelp, dan tanpa pemangsa, jumlahnya meledak.

Whole forests can disappear, leaving what scientists call urchin barrens.

Seluruh hutan bisa lenyap, menyisakan apa yang disebut ilmuwan "gurun bulu babi".

Sadly, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, otters were hunted for their fur.

Sayangnya, pada abad kedelapan belas dan kesembilan belas, berang-berang diburu untuk diambil bulunya.

By 1911, only around two thousand were left in the world.

Pada tahun 1911, hanya tersisa sekitar dua ribu ekor di seluruh dunia.

And as the otters vanished, so did many kelp forests.

Dan saat berang-berang menghilang, banyak hutan kelp ikut lenyap.

Fortunately, hunting was banned, and the otters slowly returned.

Untungnya, perburuan dilarang, dan berang-berang perlahan kembali.

And wherever they came back, the kelp forests recovered too!

Dan di mana pun mereka kembali, hutan kelp juga pulih!

This is why ecologists call the sea otter a keystone species.

Inilah sebabnya para ahli ekologi menyebut berang-berang laut sebagai spesies kunci.

A keystone species has a huge effect on its environment, compared to its numbers.

Spesies kunci punya pengaruh besar pada lingkungannya dibandingkan jumlahnya.

Remove it, and the whole system can collapse.

Singkirkan dia, maka seluruh sistem bisa runtuh.

Next time, we'll ask whether wolves played a similar role in Yellowstone.

Lain kali, kita akan membahas apakah serigala punya peran serupa di Yellowstone.

Right, that's all for today. Thank you!

Baik, sekian untuk hari ini. Terima kasih!

That is the end of Part Four.

Sekian Bagian Empat.