IELTS Speaking Part 2 | Cue Card | Wild Animal
This is a typical IELTS Part 2 cue card speaking question. You have to talk for one to two minutes on this topic and you should make sure that your answer covers all the points in the question.
In the IELTS speaking test, you are given one minute to plan and think what you want to say about the topic before you are asked to speak.
Your goal for the IELTS speaking test should be to be able to speak for 2 minutes on the topic. This will give you the best opportunity for a high IELTS speaking score.
Describe an interesting wild animal from your country
You should say:- where you learned about this animal
- what it looks like
- where it lives [or where you saw it]
IELTS Part 2 Cue Card Answer | Describe a wild animal
Hedgehogs are a native wild animal in the UK. There is a variety of different species that can be found in other regions around the world also. In the UK there are approximately 1,500,000 hedgehogs. I first learned about them through a project at school.
The hedgehog is quite small and its most distinctive feature is its spines. These are hollow and stiffened by the presence of keratin. Unlike some animals, the spines on a hedgehog are non-poisonous and they don’t have barbs either.
The hedgehog uses these spines as a self-defense mechanism when it feels threatened – it rolls itself into a ball so that all the spines are pointing outwards to ward of predators. Although you can’t pull out the spines from a hedgehog – during their growth period they naturally shed their baby spines and these are replaced by adult spines, and this process is referred to as ‘quilling’.
A typical hedgehog weighs around 2 kilograms and is about 23 centimetres long with a tail of about 4 centimetres. The underneath of the hedgehog doesn’t have any spines but its underbody is covered with a rough kind of fur, and on the end of its feet it has small claws.
Hedgehogs are very good at burrowing or digging, and also climbing, swimming and running, in fact they can run a distance of around 6 miles in about an hour.
As for where they live, or their habitat, they mainly construct nests using leaves and moss in parks, fields, farmland and also in gardens and they usually build their nests near good food sources.
Hedgehogs are omnivorous and insectivores, in other words they eat insects such as worms, frogs and snails as well as berries, grass roots, mushrooms and other similar foods. They are generally nocturnal creatures and hibernate over the winter period from about November until April.
In the UK, the hedgehog is a protected species so people are not allowed to trap or kill them. Although they are protected - they are not considered an endangered species because there are still lots of them, even though there are less nowadays than in the past.
For me, the hedgehog is interesting because we rarely see them - becasue they're nocturnal animals - and yet they're one of the most common wild animals in the country.
How would you answer this IELTS speaking question about describe a wild animal?
- Which animal would you describe?
- Could you talk about a wild animal from your country for 2 minutes in the IELTS speaking test?