ACT English Practice Test 25

The following paragraphs may or may not be in the most logical order. You may be asked questions about the logical order of the paragraphs, as well as where to place sentences logically within any given paragraph.

The Reappearance of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker

[1]

In the spring of 1999, a university Q1 student—also an avid hunter—stalked wild turkeys in the woods of Louisiana’s Pearl River Wildlife Management Area. Turkey license in hand, he did not expect to discover a far more rarer bird, one that had been Q2 declared extinct in 1994. The student’s report of seeing a pair of ivory-billed woodpeckers eventually leading Q3 to an exhaustive search for the supposedly lost species in the vast 35,000-acre wilderness.

[2]

Extensive logging and unregulated hunting in the 1800s decimated the population of the ivory-billed woodpecker in theQ4 native habitat of the Southeastern United States. By the 1920s, the species, which is the ivory-billed woodpecker, Q5 had been given up as extinct. By 1938, however, around 20 individuals were known to exist in an isolated tract of old-growth forest in Louisiana. Despite pleas from four state governments and the National Audubon Society, logging began in the forest, and Q6 by 1944 the last known ivory-billed woodpecker had disappeared from the ruined habitat. The only evidence of the species survival Q7 before its rediscovery at the end of the century was an unconfirmed recording of its distinctive call made in Texas in 1967.

[3]

[1] New hope of finding an ivory-billed woodpecker arose from the 1999 sighting. [2] This hope led a team of biologists to conduct an extensive search for the elusive bird in 2002. Q8 [3] Evidence of active woodpeckers was found in markings and large cavities in tree trunks. [4] They made a sound recording originally believed to be the distinctive double-tap sound of the elusive bird; but determined it later Q9 it was likely the echoes from a gunshot. [5] In the end, existence of the ivory-billed woodpecker could not be proven. Q10

[4]

[1] Subsequent deployment of remote listening devices and motion-sensing cameras finally gave scientists the evidence they needed to confirm existence of the bird, so then in 2004 Q11 , a large woodpecker was videotaped. [2] Its wings, flight, and plumage Q12 were cited as evidence that the bird was indeed an ivory-billed woodpecker. [3] Furthermore, the Arkansas researchers noted evidence of active woodpeckers in markings on trees, and they also documented several bird sightings. [4] Fearing birdwatchers flooding Q13 , further searches were conducted in secret, as was the rush by the privately funded Nature Conservancy to purchase potential woodpecker habitat in the Arkansas wilderness. [5] Additional audio evidence was gathered to support the claim of the bird’s existence, and in 2005, a detailed report of the findings was published in a major scientific journal. [6] While there remain skeptics, the ornithology community now generally accepted Q14 the existence of the ivory-billed woodpecker. [7] As such, it is no longer considered extinct, but rather extremely endangered.

Q15