『新东方在线托福阅读』为托福考生准备了ETS托福TPO/【学术文章】#20阅读练习：According to the passage, what makes jumping from one tree crown to another difficult for small mammals?真题题目及答案解析，TPO/【学术文章】#20阅读原文范文音频翻译

托福TPO/【学术文章】#20阅读原文According to the passage, what makes jumping from one tree crown to another difficult for small mammals?题目答案及解析-新东方托福官方网校手机版

The word “supplement” in the text is closest in meaning to

According to the passage, which of the following is true about the small mammals in the rain forests?

In discussing animal size, the author indicates that

According to the passage, what makes jumping from one tree crown to another difficult for small mammals?

The Challenges for Small Mammals in the Rainforest Canopy The canopy, the upper level of the trees in the rain forest, holds a plethora of climbing mammals of moderately large size, which may include monkeys, cats, civets, and porcupines. Smaller species, including such rodents as mice and small squirrels, are not as prevalent overall in high tropical canopies as they are in most habitats globally. Small mammals, being warm blooded, suffer hardship in the exposed and turbulent environment of the uppermost trees. Because a small body has more surface area per unit of weight than a large one of similar shape, it gains or loses heat more swiftly. Thus, in the trees, where shelter from heat and cold may be scarce and conditions may fluctuate, a small mammal may have trouble maintaining its body temperature. Small size makes it easy to scramble among twigs and branches in the canopy for insects, flowers, or fruit, but small mammals are surpassed, in the competition for food, by large ones that have their own tactics for browsing among food-rich twigs. The weight of a gibbon hanging below a branch arches the terminal leaves down so that fruit-bearing foliage drops toward the gibbon’s face. Small climbing animals may reach twigs readily, but it is harder for them than for large climbing animals to cross the wide gaps from one tree crown to the next. A macaque or gibbon can hurl itself farther than a mouse can. The forward movement of a small animal is seriously reduced by the air friction against the relatively large surface area of its body. Finally, for the many small mammals that supplement their insect diet with fruits or seeds, an inability to span open gaps may be problematic.