17 Extinct Animals

Extinct Animals by Keiko Hirami Table of Contents Chapter 1 Animals of the Past page 2 Chapter 2 The Woolly Mammoth page 4 Chapter 3 The Dodo page 7 Chapter 4 The Tasmanian Tiger page 10 Chapter 5 Save Animals Today page 14 Glossary/ Index page 15 Comprehension Check page 16

灭绝的动物作者Keiko Hirami目录第1章过去的动物第2页第2章长毛象第4页第3章渡渡鸟第7页第4章塔斯马尼虎第10页第5章拯救动物第14页词汇表/索引第15页理解检查第16页

Chapter 1 Animals of the Past Have you ever seen a living dinosaur? Of course not! Dinosaurs are extinct. They no longer exist. All of the dinosaurs died out about 65 million years ago. No one really knows why. Some scientists think it was because Earth's climate changed. Many other animals are also extinct. Some became extinct in ancient times. Others became extinct less than 100 years ago. Let's learn about some of them. Dinosaurs are The biggest animals that have ever lived on land.

第一章过去的动物你见过活着的恐龙吗? 当然不是!恐龙灭绝了。 它们已经不存在了。所有的恐龙都在大约6500万年前灭绝了。 没有人真正知道原因。一些科学家认为这是因为地球的气候变化。 许多其他动物也灭绝了。 有些在古代就灭绝了。 还有一些在不到100年前就灭绝了。 让我们来了解其中的一些。 恐龙是曾经生活在陆地上的最大的动物。

Chapter 2 The Woolly Mammoth The woolly mammoth looked like an elephant. But woolly mammoths were even bigger! Like elephants, woolly mammoths had tusks and a trunk. Unlike elephants, they had long, shaggy hair all over their bodies. The tusks of the woolly mammoth were much more curved than an elephant's tusks. This museum model shows what scientists think a mammoth looked like. Woolly mammoths lived during the Ice Age. Their long hair kept them warm. They used their tusks to scrape ice and snow off plants they ate. Prehistoric people hunted mammoths for food. They also used their bones to make huts, tools, and jewelry.

长毛象长得像一头大象。 但是长毛象更大!像大象一样，长毛象也有象牙和鼻子。 与大象不同的是，它们全身长满了又长又蓬松的毛发。 长毛象的象牙比大象的象牙弯曲得多。 这个博物馆模型展示了科学家们认为猛犸象的样子。 长毛猛犸象生活在冰河时代。 他们的长发使他们感到温暖。 它们用獠牙刮去食用植物上的冰雪。 史前人类猎杀猛犸象作为食物。 他们还用自己的骨头建造小屋、工具和珠宝。

Prehistoric people painted pictures of mammoths on cave walls. You can still see them today. Woolly mammoths became extinct around 10,000 years ago. This may have happened because Earth's climate changed. Scientists believe another valid theory is that too many people were hunting woolly mammoths. Chapter 3 The Dodo Have you ever heard the saying, "Dead as a dodo"? People say this because the dodo is extinct. Dodos were big birds that lived on the island of Mauritius (MAW-rish-uhs). They became extinct more than 400 years ago. Dodos used to live on Mauritius.

史前的人们在洞穴墙壁上画猛犸象。 今天你仍然可以看到它们。 长毛猛犸象大约在一万年前灭绝。 这可能是因为地球的气候发生了变化。 科学家们相信另一个有效的理论是太多人猎杀长毛象。 第三章渡渡鸟你听过“死得像渡渡鸟”这句话吗? 人们这么说是因为渡渡鸟已经灭绝了。 渡渡鸟是生活在毛里求斯岛上的一种大鸟。 它们在400多年前就灭绝了。 渡渡鸟过去生活在毛里求斯。

Dodos had large legs, short wings, and very big beaks. Each one was the size of a large turkey. Dodos laid their eggs on the ground. Dodos were unable to fly or run. This made them very easy to catch. People who landed on Mauritius killed dodos for food. This is the lush island where dodos lived. The only dodos we can see today are models in museums. But hungry people were only part of the problem. In 1644, people brought cats, dogs, and pigs to Mauritius. These animals ate the dodos and their eggs. By 1690, less than 50 years later, the dodo bird was extinct.

渡渡鸟的腿很大，翅膀很短，嘴巴也很大。 每一个都有一只大火鸡那么大。 渡渡鸟在地上产卵。 渡渡鸟不能飞也不能跑。 这使得他们很容易被抓住。 在毛里求斯登陆的人杀死渡渡鸟作为食物。 这是渡渡鸟生活过的郁郁葱葱的岛屿。 我们今天能看到的渡渡鸟只有博物馆里的模型。 但饥饿的人只是问题的一部分。 1644年，人们把猫、狗和猪带到毛里求斯。 这些动物吃渡渡鸟和它们的蛋。 到1690年，也就是不到50年后，渡渡鸟灭绝了。