(from Global Geography: Activities for Teaching the Five Themes of Geography Developed by the Massachusetts Geographic Alliance Social Science Education Consortium, 1990)

• HABITAT DISTRUCTION: People all over the world are destroying animal habitats at a rapid pace. The population of the world is growing very quickly. As a result, people need more farms to grow food and more land to build homes. As people use more land, more animals lose their homes. Animals need protected places to raise their young. If there is not enough cover or if too many people live nearby, some species will stop producing young.
• OVERHUNTING: In many parts of the world today, people do not have to hunt for food. Nevertheless, animals are still hunted for sport or for products like furs and oil. Because of the efficiency of human hunters, any animal can be overhunted to the point of extinction.
• POLLUTION: Species are also endangered due to pollution. Poillution happens when something finds its way into the environment that does not belong there. Chemicals and artificial materials destroy habitats. Some of the worst chemical pollutants are insecticides such as DDT (dichlor-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) and PCBs (poly-chlorinated biphenyls).
• ACCIDENTAL KILLS: Many animals are killed accidentally by cars and boats. When a wild animal wanders onto a highway, it many times doesn't make it to the other side. Three endangered species in Florida alone have become frequent victims of accidental kills. The Key deer and the Florida panther are killed on roads and highways. The Caribbean manatee, a peaceful water creature, has been mowed down and injured by the propellers of motor boats. Environmentalists say there are probably only 1,000 surviving manatees in Florida. In one year alone, 105 were reported killed in accidents.

1. Have students find the locations of the endangered species and place them on a world map. They should provide a key for the map, giving the names of the species, their locations, and the causes of their possible extinction.
2. Students can further illustrate their maps with drawings of the various endangered species.
3. Have students prepare reports, oral presentations, and/or bulletin board displays on selected endangered species. Students can research specific endangered species and describe why they are endangered and what measures, if any, are being taken to protect them.
4. Have students take specific actions to save endangered animals. These activities could include fundraisers, letter writing, or teaching classes of younger children.

you'll never find a dodo bird for sale. You might be able to find the bones of a dodo in a museum, and you can see drawings of a dodo in books, but you will never find a live one. Dodo birds lived on the island of Maritius, 500 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. European explorers discovered the bird in the late 1500's. By the late 1600's, they had driven it to extinction.

The dodo was a very odd-looking bird. It was somewhat turkey-like, but larger, with an odd shaped bill. It had probably descended from doves that had colonized the island thousands of years earlier ~ probably blown there by storms. On Maritius, the dodo had no natural enemies and so evolved no natural defenses. It couldn't fly and it wasn't very smart. When explorers came, their dogs easily killed the bird. The sailors eventually added the bird to their diets. Hunting a dodo was simple. The sailors walked up behind the bird and bashed its head with a club.

It wasn't surprising that the dodo bird died out. It was later remembered like a mythical animal such as a sea serpent or dragon. Later, a box of dodo bones proved they really did exist.

The dodo fit its environment well, but when it was disrupted by other animals ~ dogs, pigs, and especially human beings ~ the bird was unable to cope. The dodo can be seen as symbolic of all endangered species ~ unable to adapt or cope in a world increasingly dominated and changed by human beings.

When a species becomes extinct, no power or amount of money can bring it back.

Today, there are many endangered species (plants and animals) that could also be gone soon: species like the African cheetah, the South American otter, the Chinese panda, the Arctic polar bear, and almost every species of whale.

When species like these are in danger of extinction, they are classified as "endangered species." The most important reasons for the endangerment of species are: (1) habitat destruction, (2) overhunting, (3) pollution, and (4) accidental killing.