IN DANGER OF EXTINCTION

• The koala is an endangered species. An   endangered species is a certain kind of animal that does not have enough members of its kind to survive unless it is protected. Animals that are not protected may become extinct, or completely die out. Interestingly, the koala is partly to blame for its own condition as an endangered creature.

• When you were younger, were you a picky eater? Did your parents have to force you to eat things that were good for you?  Hopefully you listened to what they taught you and ate up your dinner. Koalas are too stubborn for their own good!

• Koalas live in tall eucalyptus trees, also known as gum trees. Lucky for them, they eat the leaves of the eucalyptus tree. Since there are over 600 different varieties of eucalyptus tree, the koala should have no trouble finding food. However, koalas are even pickier than you ever were about what they eat.  Out of the 600 varieties, they will only eat the leaves of about 120 kinds of eucalyptus trees.  Really, they are even pickier than that. The koalas of a specific area will only eat about four or five different kinds of eucalyptus leaves. They would actually rather starve than eat the other kinds. Now that’s stubborn!  The biggest problem right now is that the brush land where many koalas live in Australia is being cut down to make room for houses and cities.

 Name:__________________________________

Answer the following questions based on the  reading passage. Do not forget to go back to the passage whenever necessary to find or confirm   your answers.

1)  What does it mean when an animal is extinct?

2)  Imagine if you were like a koala and ate only one kind of food. What kind of food   would it be?  

3)   What is another name for a gum tree?

4)   Why do you think the koala is so picky?

5)  What would you tell people to get them to stop cutting down the brush land where koalas live?