AY Honors/Endangered Species/Answer Key

Endangered Animals

Skill Level 2
Approved 2/2005
North American Division
2001 Edition

1. Define the following terms:

Endangered

A species that has almost gone extinct.

Extinct

A species that has died out completely. When the last specimen dies, that creature is said to have become extinct.

Habitat

A specific place or the natural conditions in which a given species lives.

Biome

Any major regional biological community such as that of forest or desert.

Food chain

A food chain describes a single pathway that energy and nutrients may follow in an ecosystem. They usually start with a primary producer and end with a top predator. Here is an example of a food chain:

phytoplankton → copepod → fish → squid → seal → Orca

This "chain" can be described as follows: Killer whales (Orca) feed upon seals, that feed upon squid, that eat small fish, that feed on copepods, that feed on microscopic algae.

Poacher

A person who illegally hunts an animal in order to kill it.

2. Write Genesis 1:28 in your own words.

Genesis 1:28 is presented below in several translations. It might help to have your group read several versions of the text before they attempt to put the verse in their own words.

NIV

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

NKJV

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

CEV

God gave them his blessing and said: "Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people and bring it under your control. Rule over the fish in the ocean, the birds in the sky, and every animal on the earth."

NASB

God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

3. List four factors that have caused animals to become endangered.

Pollution

Pollution can kill off a species very rapidly, by killing all living members through contamination or sterilizing them. It can also occur over longer periods at lower toxicity levels by affecting life span, reproductive capacity, or competitiveness. DDT played such a role in killing off bald eagles and other birds by thinning the egg shell walls of affected birds, thus lowering the survivability of offspring. Since this effect was discovered, DDT has been banned in many parts of the world and affected bird populations are recovering.

4. Name four animals that are now extinct.

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  Atlantic Gray Whale, 1750

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  Dodo, 1662

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  Great Auk, 1844

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  Moa, circa 1500

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  Quagga, 1883

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  Passenger Pigeon, 1914

• Steller.gif

  Steller's Sea Cow, 1768

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  Thylacine, 1936

7. List ten endangered animals. Tell where they live and why they have become endangered.

When teaching this honor to a group, you could go to the library ahead of time and check out several books on the various endangered animals, or on endangered animals in general. You will need enough books so that each Pathfinder can have one (or they could share them in groups of two), and you need to make sure that you have information on at least ten endangered animals. You could instead bring in a set of encyclopedias. During class, pass the books around and have each Pathfinder look up the information on the animal featured in that book. It is important that the Pathfinders do this research themselves rather than having it handed to them. Below is a list of some well-known endangered mammals (although mammals are not the only type of endangered animals).

African Elephant Asian Elephant Bighorn Sheep Black Rhinoceros Black-footed Ferret Blue Whale

Chimpanzee Giant Panda Gorilla Humpback Whale Leopard Orangutan

Red Panda Red Wolf Sea Otter Snow Leopard Sumatran Rhinoceros Tiger

8. Do two of the following activities:

b. Watch a video about an endangered animal. List what animal(s) you saw, where they normally live, and why they have become endangered.

Below is a list of videos you might be able to use. These have not been reveiwed by the authors of this answer book so you may want to screen them before showing them to your Pathfinders. If you have seen any of these, please edit this section with a review.

• Save the Endangered Species Series Choices Inc, Released October 1, 2002. Run Time: 150 minutes

• National Geographic's America's Endangered Species: Don't Say Good-Bye National Geographic Home Video, Released June 9, 1998. Runtime: 60 minutes

• NOVA: Shadows of the Condor WGBH Educational Foundation. Run Time: 60.0 minutes

c. Choose an endangered animal and write or give orally a short report about it.

Tell where it normally lives, why it has become endangered, what is being done to save it, and any other special details about this particular animal that you have learned.

e. Do an environment circle.

With a group of 10-20 persons, form a loose circle with people evenly spaced within. Have each person represent something in the environment such as animals, grasslands, forests, etc. Then take a spool of heavy thread or string and connect each person to others in the circle. Have the leader start cutting the connections and start taking individuals out of the circle and see how the remaining persons are affected by the loss. Help the group to see that each thing in nature is very necessary to the survival of everything else in nature.