Extinct and Endangered Animals for Kids What we can do to protect endangered species

extinct and endangered animals for kids today we are going to talk about extinct and endangered animals do you know what those words mean let's find out one of these animals is extinct and the other is endangered can you guess which is which let's start with the dinosaur have you ever seen real life dinosaur walking around unless you are around 65 million years old the answer is no because there are no dinosaurs living on the earth today that is because they are extinct okay what about our other animal are there giant pandas still around on earth if you said yes you are right you may have even seen one at zoo unfortunately there are not lot of giant pandas left which means that they are in danger of becoming extinct just like the dinosaurs this means that giant pandas are endangered these terms can be little confusing but never fear we are going to learn even more interesting facts starting right now extinct means that certain kinds or species of animals no longer live anywhere in the world they have died out sometimes like with the dinosaurs huge event causes something called mass extinction which happens quickly over very short period of time scientists believe that many organisms along with the dinosaurs died out when large asteroid collided with the earth this is an example of mass extinction usually though extinction happens slowly over long period of time there are two main reasons that extinction occurs naturally or because of human interaction let's look at each of these separately natural occurring extinction happens when animals do not adapt to natural changes in their environment this can happen in few different ways climate change new predators or the loss of food sources are all naturally occurring causes of extinction an example of this type of extinction happened ten 000 years ago to the woolly mammoth which died out because of climate change and the disappearance of its habitat human interaction is another form of extinction and typically happens due to overhunting or habitat destruction pollution deforestation and moving animals to areas where they are not typically found all contribute to extinction as does the over hunting of species to the point where they can no longer reproduce enough young to survive here is an interesting fact the dodo bird became extinct due to over hunting and because other animals moved into its habitat the passenger pigeon also became extinct because of overhunting along with the destruction of its habitat today there are many animals that are in danger of becoming extinct mostly due to human causes and when this happens the animals are considered endangered endangered animals have super low populations and most of the reasons why the numbers are so low are similar to the reasons why animals become extinct which makes sense because at some point most extinct animals were endangered before they died out today some animals are so endangered that they can only be found in zoo or animal preserve and not in the wild here are some of the most endangered animals in the world black rhinos orangutans bengal tigers blue whales sea lions giant pandas mountain gorillas chimpanzees and many others right now there are more than 7 000 species of animals that are endangered or at the risk of becoming extinct you might be thinking are there some ways that can help protect these endangered animals and guess what there definitely are doing simple things to help the environment like recycling saving energy and planting garden can all help there are ways you can even sponsor an endangered animal if we all work together we can make difference now that we have learned lots of new cool facts let's review true or false extinct animals still live on earth that's false extinct animals like the dinosaurs no longer live on the earth fill in the blank one example of an endangered animal is the giant panda name one way you can help protect endangered animals recycling saving energy planting garden sponsoring an animal fill in the blank scientists believe that dinosaurs became extinct because of mass blank event extinction nice job everyone animals are an important part of our planet and it is up to us to help protect them however we can whether it is being responsible about hunting protecting our environment or contributing money to help endangered animals every little bit helps you can make real difference and help our planet and the animals living on it to thrive hope you had fun learning with us visit us at learnbright.org for thousands of free resources and turnkey solutions for teachers and homeschoolers you