Questão de Inglês — Significado de Palavras e Expressões (Sinônimos, Antônimos, Parônimos, Denotação, Conotação, etc.) — FUNDATEC 2020

Flying foxes are dying en masse in Australia’s extreme heat

The 30,000 gray-headed flying foxes in Yarra Bend Park, just outside the heart of Melbourne, Australia, were having a fairly^(I) normal early spring. In September and October, prime birthing season for the 11-inch long megabats, many of the flying foxes had returned to the park from their winter migration up the coast. Females were birthing pups as normal, says biologist Stephen Brend, who is In charge of monitoring gray-headed flying foxes at Yarra Bend Park, which is home to a significant colony of the bats. “But then it got too hot, too quickly” says Brend.

Incapable of surviving the extreme, relentless^(II) heat that gripped Melbourne in December, the flying foxes were dying. Across three days just before Christmas, when temperatures exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit, 4,500 of the park’s gray-headed flying foxes perished — 15 percent of the colony’s population. The tragedy in the park echoes scenes of wildlife suffering across the country and puts a spotlight on the perils of extreme heat, which for some species can be just as deadly as fire. Australia’s endemic animals are falling victim to the heatwaves and fires that are ravaging^(III) the country at an unprecedented scale. It’s the hottest and driest summer in Australia in recorded history. As the planet warms, large-scale fires are becoming more frequent, and bushfire seasons are getting longer.

For gray-headed flying foxes, which are classified as vulnerable to extinction, the Yarra Bend event is not isolated. “The colony in Adelaide suffered even worse,” says Brend.

on January 4, many thousands of flying fox babies died across multiple roosts in and around the Sydney region in New South Wales, where the temperature reached a record-breaking 121 degrees Fahrenheit. Professor Justin Welbergen’s team, which monitors flying fox heat stress conditions, is calculating a final death toll.

This summer’s extreme heat and extreme fires, which have imperiled Australia’s entire eastern coast “risk wiping out the 2019 generation” of newborn bats, Brend says.

Some 80 percent of flying fox pups are born in October. They were young and vulnerable when heat waves and wildfires broke out late last year. Flying foxes play a vital role in the forest. They carry seeds and pollinate trees, gardening the forest by night. “Bats need the forest and the forest needs the bats,” says Brend. And it’s still the middle of summer in Australia. “We’ll battle on for our upside down friends, but things look very grim” says Lawrence Pope, a rescuer.” “In this horror year, all species are suffering.” Brend says.

“We’re hot, and they’re hot, and it’s a nightmare.”

Adapted from: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2020/01/

flying-foxes-are-dying-en-mqasse-in-australias-extreme-heat/

Consider the best synonyms to the following words respectively, regarding their meaning in the text.

I. fairly.

II. relentless.

III. ravaging.

Select the alternative with the correct answers.