SSC CGL Tier-2 8th August 2022 English

Read the passage and answer the questions given after it.

The savanna landscape is typified by tall grass and short trees. It is rather misleading to call the savanna ‘tropical grassland’, because trees are always present with the luxuriant tall grass. The terms ‘parkland’ or ‘bush-veld’ perhaps describe the landscape better.

Trees grow best towards the equatorial humid latitudes or along river banks but decrease in height and density away from the equator. They occur in clumps or as scattered individuals. The trees are deciduous, shedding their leaves in the cool, dry season to prevent excessive loss of water through transpiration, e.g. acacias. Others have broad trunks, with water-storing devices to survive through the prolonged drought such as baobabs and bottle trees. Trees are mostly hard, gnarled and thorny and may exude gum like gum arable. Many trees are umbrella shaped, exposing only a narrow edge to the strong winds.

Palms which cannot withstand the drought are confined to the wettest areas or along rivers. Vegetative luxuriance reaches its peak in the rainy season, when trees renew their foliage and flower. In true savanna lands, the grass is tall and coarse, growing 6 to 12 feet high. The elephant grass may attain a height of even 15 feet! The grass tends to grow in compact tufts and has long roots which reach down in search of water. It appears greenish and wellnourished in the rainy season but turns yellow and dies down in the dry season that follows.

The grass lies dormant throughout the long, rainless period and springs up again in the next rainy season. In between the tall grass are scattered short trees and low bushes. As the rainfall diminishes
towards the deserts the savanna merges into thorny scrub. In Australia, this scrubland is particularly well represented by a number of species: mallee, mulga, spinifex grass and other bushes.

The savanna, particularly in Africa, is the home of wild animals. It is known as the ‘big game country’ and thousands of animals are trapped or killed each year by people from all over the world. Some of the animals are tracked down for their skins, horns, tusks, bones or hair, others are captured alive and sent out of Africa as zoo animals, laboratory specimens or pets. There is such a wealth of animal life in Africa that many of the animal films that we see at the cinema are actually taken in the savanna. There are, in fact, two main groups of animals in the savanna, the grass-eating herbivorous animals and the fleshing-eating carnivorous animals. The herbivorous animals are often very alert and move swiftly from place to place in search of green pastures.

They are endowed with great speed to run away from the savage flesh-eaters that are always after them. The leaf and grass-eating animals include the zebra, antelope, giraffe, deer, gazelle, elephant and okapi.

Many are well camouflaged species and their presence amongst the tall greenish-brown grass cannot be easily detected. The giraffe with such a long neck can locate its enemies a great distance away, while the elephant is so huge and strong that few animals will venture to come near it. It is well equipped with tusks and trunk for defence.

The carnivorous animals like the lion, tiger, leopard, hyena, panther, jaguar, jackal, lynx and puina have powerful jaws and teeth for attacking other animals. Their natural colorings of light
yellowish-brown, often with stripes like the tiger or spots like the leopard, match perfectly with the tawny background of the savanna. They often hide themselves in shady spots up in the
branches or amidst the tall bushes, and many wild animals, as well as hunters themselves, are caught unawares in this manner.