Endangered and Threatened Species.doc

Part I: Reading Passage 1: Endangered and Threatened Species What Are Endangered and Threatened Species? A century ago, a bird called the passenger pigeon lived in North America. There were so many passenger pigeons that people often saw great flocks of them flying overhead containing thousands, even millions, of birds. Today, there is not a single one left. What happened? The passenger pigeon became extinct. All living passenger pigeons disappeared from the earth entirely. The passenger pigeon became extinct for two reasons. First, the forests where it lived were cut down to make way for farms and cities. Second, many pigeons were shot for sport and because they were good to eat. At that time, there were no hunting laws to protect endangered species like there are now. The passenger pigeon is one of the many plants and animals that once lived on our planet and have become extinct. For example, dinosaurs, mammoths, and saber-toothed tigers all became extinct long ago. More recently, the dodo bird and the sea mink also have disappeared. Extinction has been going on since life began on earth. But today, extinction is happening faster than ever before. There are approximately 1300 endangered or threatened species in the United States today. Endangered species are those plants and animals that have become so rare they are in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened species are plants and animals that are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. How Does Extinction Happen? Species disappear because of changes to the earth that are caused either by nature or by the actions of people. Sometimes a terrible natural event, like a volcano erupting, can kill an entire species. Other times, extinction will happen slowly as nature changes our world. For example, after the Ice Ages, when the great glaciers melted and the earth became warmer, many species died because they could not live in a warmer climate. Newer