Just have a look around you. You will see there are lots of different plants and animals on Earth. We say there are differend species. Sadly humans do not always care and will destroy the anumal or plant or the place it lives, which is called the habitat.
If there are nothing left of a specific species, we say it is extinct.
This is really sad if your think about it, because in future we will only see these animals or plants on pictures.
A lot of plants and animals are not extinct but they are on the 'endangered list', which means there is not a lot of them left on Earth and if we do not look after them, they will very quickly become extinct.
- Do research and see if you can find out more about some species that are extinct
Sometimes it does happen that certain species go extinct because of 'natural occurences' like volcanoes and change in climate.
- Read more about this topic on http://www.ducksters.com/animals/how_animals_become_extinct.php
If a species become 'naturally extinct' it means they could not adapt (change and fit in) to the changes that took place. Lets say some animals live in an area where it is very hot. If the weather suddenly changes and the whole area becomes frozen, some animals will not be able to survive the cold and they can become extinct. A new type of disease can also break out which the animals or plants are not equipped to fight and they will die.
We all know about the dinosaurs that went extinct due to natural causes, but another animal is the Dodo.
Lets learn a bit more.
The Dodo was a type of bird found on the Island of Mauritius in the 17th century and just like the ostrich it could not fly. It was very easy for people to catch it, since it was not very fast and within a 100 years this bird was extinct. Another sad example how people can destroy nature.
Have a look at the video on animals that were hunted and became extinct because of the interference of humans.
- while you watch the video make some notes so that you can name the extincted animal and the reason why they are extinct
We as humans have a responsibility towards nature and to conserve (protect) it. At this stage there is still 'biodiversity' (different types of animals and plants) but in certain areas we do not have this biodiversity.
We need to understand that we are dependent on nature and even though nature can survive without humans around, we cannot survive without nature. We need it for food, shelter and medicine.