There are many brave and talented people who work in different branches (分科;分支) of science. Extreme (另类的) scientists are people who work in very difficult and dangerous places. They don't work in a1all the time like other scientists do. Instead, they search2information that can only be gathered through firsthand experiences. These scientists have to explore deep, dark caves, swim with sharks or act as swan mothers. The number of great white sharks in the world3smaller now. They are one of4animals on Earth.
Scientists need to find out how many sharks5now. Sometimes scientists have to get very close to a shark. The easiest and6way to do this is from inside a shark cage.7, sometimes sharks attack the cage. They shake it, and bend the bars with their sharp8. The trumpeter swan is the largest swan in the world, but it9until it nearly became endangered birds. Because of this, parents swans10younger swans to migrate before.
Scientists have to teach the younger swans how to do it. They teach the swans to follow a plane which looks like a lead swan. Extreme scientists are always trying to discover something new.
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Living places The home of the elephant is in the deep forest. It is the largest of all land animals, and is found both in Asia and Africa. One of the main places in Asia where the elephant lives is the island of Ceylon. The huge forests on the island become the home of elephants. The trees grow thick and tall. They make many parts almost dark, while bright sunlight is above and around them. |
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Living habits The elephant likes the deep part and the coolest places of the forest. There he will stand swinging his ears, to drive away the flies; or he will pull down a branch (树枝) from a tree to fan himself. He likes bathing, and to be near a lake or running water. There he takes in the water with his trunk, and spreads it all over his body. |
| Food The elephant enjoys the fruits in the forest, and also the leaves of the trees. There is plenty of food for him in the forests, though he is not always happy with what he finds there. |
| Ways of movement When a group of elephants move about in the forest, the oldest goes first. The young elephants and their mothers are in the middle, where they are safest. Then all move along with a great noise, the branches of the trees bending and breaking before them. Though the elephant is usually harmless, no one dares to attack (袭击) a group of them moving through the forest. |
| How people treat them In Asia the elephant is trained to work. At one time the African elephant also was trained. Soldiers in ancient times often went to fight on the backs of African elephants. But now the elephant that lives in Africa is illegally (非法地) hunted mainly for its valuable ivory. In order to protect them, governments around the world have developed laws to stop this. |
Lately, people have entered the forests where chimpanzees live. The chimpanzees have been getting sick because of people's diseases. In addition, people are hunting chimpanzees. Their number is becoming smaller and smaller. Chimpanzees live in the plains and forests of Africa. They eat many kinds of foods, from plant leaves and seeds to insects and even other small animals. Chimpanzees' favourite food is fruit.
Chimpanzees are very clever and they can use tools well. They can catch bugs by using sticks, and break nuts by using rocks.
The world's forests are much smaller than they were before. Roads were built in deep forests, so people start to enter forests where chimpanzees live. That may lead to many problems. One problem for chimpanzees is that they can easily catch people's diseases and die. Chimpanzees are much closer to people than monkeys.
As it's easier for people to enter forests, they hunt more often. Young chimpanzees are caught to be pets or for scientific researches. The young ones are taken away from the forests, and the adults are killed. Chimpanzees are likely to disappear in the future.
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The world's most endangered animals |
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Welcome to The World's Most Endangered Animals website. Here you can find some information about the increasing number of all the endangered animals in the world. |
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The top reason for animals becoming endangered is the loss of the living space because human beings need more space to build homes for the increasing population. |
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Some endangered animals The African elephant The African elephant is the largest elephant of the three kinds of elephants. It lives in different places from hot deserts to high rainforests in Africa. The giant panda It looks very cute with black and white colour. Although scientists do not know why these special bears are black and white, some guess that the giant pandas' colour can help protect themselves in the wild. They have a very restricted (有限的) diet. Giant pandas can be as dangerous as any other bear. The great white shark (大白鲨) This kind of shark has been blamed (责备) because it attacks people more than any other shark does. But a research study shows that most human beings who are attacked by the great white shark are quickly set free at last. |
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What we should do People should stop killing endangered animals, and join some organizations that aim to protect endangered animals and raise money for the organizations. |
In nature, you may see many insects and animals of different colours. Have you ever wondered why?
Locusts are super delicious food for birds, but it is not always an easy job for birds to catch them. It is neither because locusts are good jumpers or runners nor because they are smarter than their enemies. The reason is that the colours of locusts change with the colours of crops. When crops are young, locusts look green. But when autumn comes, locusts change to the yellow and brown colour as crops do.
Brown bears, tigers and other animals move quietly through forests. They can't be seen easily by their enemies. This is because they have colours similar to the trees. For the same reason, polar bears that live on a land of snow and ice are white. Butterflies and bees living among the flowers are colourful like flowers. Soil insects are mostly dark coloured and they live under the soil in a dark and wet environment. However, insects with colours different from plants can easily be found and eaten by others. So in order to survive, they have to hide themselves in the daytime and appear only at night.
Have you ever noticed some even stranger acts? The ink fish in the sea can send out some very black ink when it faces danger. As the ink spreads over, its enemies will find themselves suddenly in a dark world. At the same time the ink fish immediately swims away. That is how it keeps itself safe though it is not strong at all.
Have you ever heard of friendships among animals? At a zoo in Germany, an unusual friendship developed a cat and a bear.
No one is quite sure how the friendship first began. One day, some (worker) in the zoo noticed a black cat was in the bear's cage, and the two animals were playing together peacefully. They were surprised well the small cat seemed to get along with the large bear. The bear keeper allowed the cat (stay) with the bear. And later the pair and their unusual friendship (become) a hot topic at the zoo.
After several years, a new cage (build) for the bear. However, the cat was still in the same cage, so it walked around (angry) and cried to be with the bear. The bear keeper finally took pity on the cat let it stay with the bear. The cat and the bear got (close) than before. They often sat together and shared meals in the sun.
Sometimes it may be natural for animals (have) their own ideas about making friends. These may surprise humans, who usually expect animals to form relationships with others of the same species.
When IDr. Karen McComb came to Amboseli Park, her first task was to learn the names of the one hundred or so elephants most often seen.
Scientists working in the park have learned to study elephants by watching them up close. They have a list of almost one thousand elephants. There are records for all of the elephants born since 1972. Amboseli was a good place for Dr. McComb to study animal communication. Elephants were a great subject because their lifestyle depends on communication.
Dr. McComb and her team had learned a lot about elephant communication, but they kept on thinking about one puzzling watch. Some families were better at distinguishing calls of friends from those of strangers.
What made some families smarter than others? The scientists searched their records for an explanation. To their surprise, there was only one factor of importance: The "smartest" families always had the oldest grandmothers. A family, as it did in all other activities, waited for some signal from the grandmother when they heard a strange contact call. And older, more experienced grandmothers were better at telling whether other elephants were strangers or friends just by their calls.
That was an important discovery. It showed how an elephant family depends on the experience of the grandmother.
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Let's protect wild animals!
Why are some wild animals in danger?
1）Lose their homes;
2）Be killed for money.
Why is it important to protect wild animals?
1）We can't live without them;
2）They can keep the balance (平衡) of nature.
What can we do to protect wild animals?
1） …
2）…
Hello, everyone!
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Thanks for listening!
