An endangered species is any type of plant or animal that is in danger of disappearing forever. If a species, or type, of plant or animal dies out completely, it becomes extinct.

Can you imagine our planet without apes and other animals?

The seven billion of us on the planet today share our world with the last remaining great apes. The chimpanzee, bonobo and gorilla in equatorial Africa, and the orangutan in Indonesia represent the last surviving tips of what was once a great lineage that dominated Earth’s ecosystem for millions of years. But in the 21st century, they are in terrible trouble, in free fall toward extinction. It is possible that before the century’s end, one or more of the great ape species will hang on only in very tiny numbers in protected wildlife sanctuaries.

The threats faced by great apes are many. They are hunted for meat in central and western Africa. Gorillas have died by the thousands in central Africa from outbreaks of Ebola and other emerging viruses. Their forest homes are cut down to make way for farms, plantations and villages.

Nowadays, there is a movement to declare some basic form of human rights protection for the great apes, because they are genetically, psychologically and emotionally so much like us. Meanwhile, in their natural habitat they continue to decline. Warmer oceans and overfishing have affected sea life. Corals and the Banggai cardinalfish are on the list for the first time.

The gharial is a crocodile that lives in India and Nepal. More than half of all gharials have disappeared in the last 10 years. These animals and many others appear in the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ Red List, which provides the conservation status of plant and animal species around the world. The IUCN is an international organization that protects plants, animals and habitats.

These are just a few of the 41,415 species on the IUCN Red List, and 16,306 of them are endangered species threatened with extinction. This includes both endangered animals and endangered plants.

However, the news is not all bad. Thanks to The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources’ protection efforts, the Mauritius echo parakeet is bouncing back.

“This shows that conservation can work.”

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Accessed on: July 5th, 2017. (Adapted.)



Read the text again and complete the information below.

a) Problem:

b) Reasons:

c) Threat faced by the great apes:

d) Group fighting the problem:

e) Number of species on the IUCN’s Red List:

f) Number of endangered species threatened with extinction: