Like many creatures, humpback whales migrate long distances for feeding and mating purposes. How animals manage to migrate long distances is often puzzling. In the case of humpback whales, we may have found the answer: they may be navigating by the stars, much as early human sailors did. What we know about humpback whales makes this a distinct possibility.
First, humpback whales seem to be intelligent enough to use stars to navigate by. Whales' brains have a high degree of complexity'a common determiner of intelligence. This suggests that the whales' brain power far exceeds that of most other animals. The whales' well-developed cognitive ability seems to provide a sound basis for the ability to use a complex, abstract system of sensory stimuli such as the night sky for orientation.
Second, humpback whales migrate in straight lines. Animals can maintain movement in a straight direction for long distances only if they orient themselves by some external objects or forces. Many birds and other terrestrial creatures, for example, use physical landmarks to help them stay on track as they migrate. Whales, which swim in the open ocean, cannot rely on land features; they could, however, rely on stars at night to provide them with external signs by which to maintain direction over long distances.
Third, humpback whales exhibit an unusual behavior: they are sometimes observed floating straight up for minutes at a time, their heads above the water as though they were looking upward. The behavior is known as spy-hopping, and it is very rare among marine animals. One explanation for the function of spy-hopping is that the whales are looking at the stars, which are providing them with information to navigate by.
Both the reading passage and the lecture are related to how humpback whales migrate for long distances. While the reading points out that they may be navigated by the stars, the lecturer casts doubts on the author's explanations.
Firstly, the author propose that the humpback whales are intelligent enough to navigate by the stars. Yet, the lectures doubts this because there is no absolute connection between intelligence and using star as navigation. A good example is that ducks also have this ability to use star to guide their way, however their cognitive ability is not especially prominent. Thus, the lecturer believes that it is only an instinct rather than a sign of intelligence, which disputes the author's point.
Also, though the author believes that the humpback whales migrate in straight lines because they navigate by stars, another explanation is provided by the lecturer. Since there is a kind of sensitive substance called bio-magnitide, which can help these whales' orientation, there are chances that the whales actually migrate according to the earth magnetic field.
Lastly, the lecture considers it doubtful that the humpback whales sky-hop to follow the stars. For some shark that also sky-hop, they don't migrate. Thus, there is no clear connection between sky-hopping and star navigation. Also, the whales also sky-hop during the day. So, for the lecturer, this explanation is a pure speculation than a solid evidence.
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement The ability to maintain friendships with a small number of people over a long period of time is more important for happiness than the ability to make many new friends easily Use specific reasons and ex 66
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement?Because people are busy doing so many different things, they do very few things well.Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer. 70
- Do you agree or disagree with the following statement In the past it was easier to identify what type of career or job would lead to a secure successful future 70
- In 1957 a European silver coin dating to the eleventh century was discovered at a Native American archaeological site in the state of Maine in the United States Many people believed the coin had been originally brought to North America by European explore 73
- Some parents offer their school age children money for each high grade mark they get in school Do you think this is a good idea 70
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 7, column 136, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
... For some shark that also sky-hop, they dont migrate. Thus, there is no clear connec...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, first, firstly, however, lastly, may, so, thus, while, kind of
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 12.0 10.4613686534 115% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 2.0 5.04856512141 40% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 7.30242825607 41% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 12.0772626932 83% => OK
Pronoun: 19.0 22.412803532 85% => OK
Preposition: 19.0 30.3222958057 63% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 5.01324503311 239% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1223.0 1373.03311258 89% => OK
No of words: 230.0 270.72406181 85% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.31739130435 5.08290768461 105% => OK
Fourth root words length: 3.89432290496 4.04702891845 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.69203473969 2.5805825403 104% => OK
Unique words: 129.0 145.348785872 89% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.560869565217 0.540411800872 104% => OK
syllable_count: 375.3 419.366225166 89% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 3.25607064018 61% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 1.25165562914 240% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.51434878587 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 13.0662251656 99% => OK
Sentence length: 17.0 21.2450331126 80% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 41.1934388985 49.2860985944 84% => OK
Chars per sentence: 94.0769230769 110.228320801 85% => OK
Words per sentence: 17.6923076923 21.698381199 82% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.0 7.06452816374 85% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 4.09492273731 98% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 4.19205298013 24% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 7.0 4.33554083885 161% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 4.45695364238 67% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 4.27373068433 70% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.231192608795 0.272083759551 85% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0860547431855 0.0996497079465 86% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.074380966014 0.0662205650399 112% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.15400548073 0.162205337803 95% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.074042693587 0.0443174109184 167% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.5 13.3589403974 94% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 54.22 53.8541721854 101% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.9 11.0289183223 90% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.28 12.2367328918 109% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.32 8.42419426049 99% => OK
difficult_words: 56.0 63.6247240618 88% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 10.7273730684 79% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.8 10.498013245 84% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.2008830022 80% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Rates: 81.6666666667 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.5 Out of 30
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.