We can do nothing about animals which have become extinct but we can help prevent others from becoming extinct.

The giant panda has been adopted by the world wildlife fund as symbol of the conditions of rare and endangered animals throughout the world.

Walruses live long the icy shore of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They are hunted for their ivory tusks, hides and blubber.

Project Tiger, project elephant, and project snow leopard have been started by the Indian government to save endangered wildlife.

Pollution is anything that poisons the air, water, or land around us. Conservation means looking after the earth’s resources-plants, animals, air water and land.

Do you know that noise can kill?

We hear noises every day. Factories, airports and construction sites are noisy places. Even television and radio add to the noise if the volume is too loud. Constant loud noises can make you deaf and sick. Experiments with animals have shown that very loud noises can even kill!

Animals and plants are affected by pollution just as we are. Plants provide us with the oxygen we breathe without them; there would be no life on earth. If we continue to cut down trees there will be no oxygen left for us to breathe!

• The color of the beautiful Taj Mahal has changed from white to a yellowish grey because of the smoke from nearby factories.

Extinct animals

Dinosaurs were reptiles that lived on earth about 230 million years ago. There were over 300 different kinds of dinosaurs. One of the smallest dinosaurs was wannanosaurus. What a long name or one who was the size of chicken! Compare that with the size of the Seismosaurus. It was longer than many modern planes!

How do we know about dinosaurs that lived so many years ago?

Scientists called paleontologists study fossils found in the earth. Fossils are the remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago. Scientists have found enormous foot prints which tell us about the size of the dinosaur. The mammoth, a huge extinct mammal, was found frozen in the soil.

Environment fact file

If polluted air mixes with rain, it can make acid rain. This harms forests by damaging leaves of trees. Acid rain is harmful to the water in the soil, ponds and lakes. Trees become brown and turn sickly. Animals cannot find homes or food and slowly become extinct. Ponds and lakes become so acidic. Even the smallest fish, can survive in them.