Panther
Read the passage given below carefully.
1. To ensure its perpetuity, the ground is well held by the panther both in space and in time. It enjoys much wider distribution over the globe than its bigger cousins and procreates sufficiently profuse to ensure its continuity for all time to come.
2. There seems to be no particular breeding season of the panther, although its sawing and caterwauling are more frequently heard during winter and summer. The gestation period is about ninety to hundred days (Whipsnade, ninety-two days). The litter normally consists of four cubs, rarely five. Of these. generally, two survive and not more than one reaches maturity. I have never come across more than two cubs at the heels of the mother. Likewise, graziers in the forest have generally found only two cubs hidden away among rocks, hollows of trees, and other impossible places.
3. Panther cubs are generally in evidence in March. They are born blind. This is a provision of Nature against their drifting away from the place of safety in which they are lodged by their mother, and exposing themselves to the danger of their being devoured by hyenas, jackals, and other predators. They generally open their eyes in about three to four weeks.
4. The mother alone rears its cubs in seclusion. It keeps them out of the reach of the impulsive and impatient male. As a matter of fact, the mother separates from the male soon after mating and forgets all about their tumultuous union. The story that the male often looks in to find out how the mother is progressing with her cubs has no foundation except in what we wish it should do at least.
5. The mother carries its cubs about by holding them by the scruff of their neck in its mouth. It trains them to stalk and teaches them how to deliver the bite of death to the prey. The cubs learn to treat all and sundry with suspicion at their mother’s heels. Instinctively the cubs seek seclusion, keep to cover and protect their flanks by walking along the edge of the forest.
6. I have never had an opportunity to watch mother panther train its cubs. But in Pilibhit forests, I once saw a tigress giving some lessons to its little ones. I was sitting over its kill at Mala. As the s set, the tigress materialized in the twilight behind my machan. For about an hour, it scanned a surveyed the entire area looking and listening with the gravest concern. It even went to the r where my elephant was awaiting my signal. The mahout spotted it from a distance and drove elephant away.
7. When darkness descended upon the scene and all was well and safe, the tigress called its cubs by emitting a low has-on. The cubs, two in number and bigger than a full-grown cat, soon responded. They came trotting up to their mother and hurried straight to the kill in indecent haste. The mother spat at them so furiously that they doubled back to its heels immediately. Thereafter, the mother and its cubs sat under cover about 50 feet (15 m) away from the kill to watch, wait, look, and listen. After about half an hour’s patient and fidget less vigil the mother seemed to say ‘paid for’. At this signal, the cubs cautiously advanced, covering their flanks, towards the kill. No longer did they make a beeline for it, as they had done before.
8. The mother sat watching its cubs eat, and mounted guard on them. She did not partake of the meal.
(I) On the basis of your understanding of the above passage complete the statements are given below with the help of options that follow:
(a) To protect its cubs the mother panther hides them………….
(i) among rocks
(ii) in the branches of the trees
(iii) behind the tree trunks
(iv) at its heels
(b) The male panther ……………………
(i) is protective of its cubs
(ii) trains its cubs
(iii) watches the progress of the mother
(iv) is impulsive and impatient
(II) Answer the following questions briefly.
(a) How many cubs does the mother panther rarely deliver?
(b) What may happen if the panther cubs are not born blind?
(c) Why did the mahout drive his elephant away?
(d) Why did the tigress spit at its cubs?
(e) From the narrator’s observation, what do we learn about the nature of the tigress?
(f) Why does the panther not face the risk of extinction?
(III) Find words from the passage which mean the same as each of the following:
(a) moving aimlessly (Para 3)
(b) came down / fell (Para 7)
Ans. (I) (a) (iv) at its heels
(b) (iv) is impulsive and impatient
(II) (a) The mother panther rarely delivers five cubs.
(b) If panther cubs are not born blind, they may just drift away from their place of safety and get devoured by predators.
(c) The mahout drove his elephant away as he spotted the panther from a distance scanning the area.
(d) The tiger spat at its cubs as part of the training to keep them off the kill until she would ‘ give them a signal. The tigress always gives its cubs a lesson or two on how to cautiously is, eat the kill.
(e) We learn that the tigress alone rears its cubs in seclusion, keeps them out of reach of the male. Takes on the responsibility to train them to stalk, kill, keep cover and protect j themselves.
(f) The panther does not face the risk of extinction because firstly it enjoys a much wider distribution over the globe than its bigger cousins and secondly it procreates enough to ensure its continuity for all time to come.
(III) (a) drifting
(b) descended
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