用英语介绍一种濒临灭绝的动物

Rhinos (犀牛)
There are five species of rhinos - two African and three Asian. The African species are the white and black rhinos. Both species have two horns. Asian rhinos include the Indian and the Javan, each with one horn, and the Sumatran, which has two.
White rhino is the second largest land mammal next to the elephant. The five species range in weight from 750 pounds to 8,000 pounds and stand anywhere from four and a half to six feet tall.
Biologists estimate that wild rhinos live up to 35 years. In captivity, a rhino may live 40 years.
Rhinos are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants. White rhinos, with their square-shaped lips, are ideally suited to graze on grass. Other rhinos prefer to eat the foliage of trees or bushes.
As solitary creatures, both male and female rhinos establish territories. Males mark and defend their territories. Rhinos use their horns not only in battles for territory or females but also to defend themselves from lions, tigers and hyenas.
Rhinos rank among the most endangered species on Earth. Valued for their horns, they face a serious threat from poaching. Some cultures believe that the powdered rhino horn will cure everything from fever to food poisoning and will enhance sexual stamina.
----------------
POPULATION:
Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis): 2,400
White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum): 7,500
Sumatran Rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis): 400
Javan Rhino (Rhinoceros sondaicus): fewer than 100
Indian Rhino (Rhinoceros unicornis): more than 2,000
(kidsplanet)

The report was presented in connection with the Red List of Threatened Species. The World Conservation Conference announces the Red List each year. The list contains almost forty five thousand animals and plants. Of those, almost seventeen thousand, or about thirty eight percent, are threatened with extinction.

KoalasKoalas,an iconic symbol of Australia,face extinction as rapid urbanization along the eastern seaboard destroys their fragile habitat,environmental activists have warned.The Australian Koala Foun...

Many animal populations facing threats
A worldwide study has found that almost twenty-five percent of wild mammals are in danger of permanently disappearing. Scientific researchers considered all known mammal populations. The researchers say permanent disappearance threatens at least one thousand one hundred forty-one species or groups of animals. Mammals are the closest relatives to human beings.
The researchers are blaming loss of habitat, or living space, and hunting for threatened land mammals. They say water mammals suffer more from pollution, being hit by ships and caught in fishing nets.
One thousand seven hundred experts worked on the study. They are from one hundred thirty countries. Their findings were reported at the World Conservation Conference of the International Union for Conservation of Nature in Barcelona, Spain.
The report was presented in connection with the Red List of Threatened Species. The World Conservation Conference announces the Red List each year. The list contains almost forty five thousand animals and plants. Of those, almost seventeen thousand, or about thirty eight percent, are threatened with extinction.
Some scientists say the report provides evidence that Earth's wildlife is going through widespread extinction. The last such period may have taken place millions of years ago, when dinosaurs became extinct.
Jan Schipper led the writing of the report. He directs the I.U.C.N.'s program that observes animal populations worldwide.
Mister Schipper says up to thirty six percent of mammals could be facing extinction. He says this is true because not much information exists about some species. At least seventy-six mammals have permanently disappeared since fifteen hundred.
The director general of the I.U.C.N., Julia Marton-Lefevre, says human activity could cause loss of hundreds of species. She says that is a frightening sign of what is happening to habitats. Still, the report said human efforts also could help save some species. Miz Marton-Lefevre is calling for action to make that happen.
For study purposes, the I.U.C.N. divides animals into groups. The scientists call animals that have disappeared, or almost disappeared, extinct or nearly extinct. A frog-like creature called Holdridge's toad was declared extinct. It lived only in Costa Rica.
Other divisions depend on the amount of threat the animals face. The animals in most danger are considered critically endangered.
For example, the Iberian lynx is called critically endangered. As few as eighty-four adult members of the large, cat-like animals remain alive.
The Red List identifies the second most threatened animals as endangered. The scientists named a Southeast Asian animal, the fishing cat, as among the endangered. Part of the fishing cat's wetland habitat no longer exists.
A new study suggests the last woolly mammoths in Siberia were native to North America. Scientists had believed these mammoths came from Europe or Asia.
The study involved genetic evidence from the remains of the ancient animal. Woolly Mammoths share an ancestor with modern-day elephants. The mammoth is recognizable for its long hair and large tusks.
Woolly mammoths disappeared thousands of years ago, after Earth's most recent ice age. But mammoths were able to survive for thousands of years. During this period, they slowly changed to live in extremely cold climates.
Scientists believe the ancestors of woolly mammoths came from Africa. As the African mammoths moved north to Eurasia, scientists believe, they grew long hair to protect them from the extreme cold of Siberia.
To better understand these animals, an international research team examined genetic material from more than one hundred woolly mammoth remains. The remains were found in North America, Europe and Asia. These fossils came from woolly mammoths that lived between forty-four thousand and eleven thousand years ago.
Hendrik Poinar is a molecular evolutionary geneticist at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. He and his team examined genetic material from fossilized teeth and pieces of bones from woolly mammoths. They also examined results of earlier woolly mammoth studies.
Until recently, many scientists believed that mammoths came from Europe and Asia because that is where the oldest fossils were found. Earlier studies of the mammoths involved only one continent at a time. The researchers discovered that mammals traveled back and forth several times between Eurasia and Alaska over thousands of years. The animals were able to travel on a land bridge that connected Siberia and Alaska during low sea levels.
The researchers discovered that the mammoths were divided in three major groups. One group lived mainly in Asia. Another group lived mainly in the Americas. And, a third group lived in both places. They believe the American mammoths traveled back across the Bering Strait and in time replaced the other populations of mammoths.
The researchers believe the animals moved the great distances in search of food. A report with their findings was published in Current Biology. Other researchers disputed the findings. They say the study is based on only limited information.