A Dream for a Better World

Chinese crocodile lizard is one of the oldest reptiles on the earth. Body length of the animal ranges from 15cm to 30cm and the tail is about 23cm long. The Chinese crocodile lizard weighs from 50g to 100g. The whole body of Chinese crocodile lizard is olive green mixed with a little pink or orange as well as black spots. Abdomen surface of the Chinese crocodile lizard is white. Front part of the lizard’s head is relatively sharp and the back part is rectangular. There are golden circles around Chinese crocodile lizard’s eyes. As for its neck, it is quite obvious because there are clear lines between it and the head. At the sides of Chinese crocodile lizard’s tail, there are scales in vertical and horizontal alignment. Four limbs of Chinese crocodile lizard is strong and sturdy.
Chinese crocodile lizard is the unique species in China and the animal mainly lives in valleys with altitude less than 760m. There are strange stones, rocks and shrubs near to Chinese crocodile lizards’ habitat. In addition, leaves near their habitat have the same shape as that of the animal’s tail. Therefore, Chinese crocodile lizard could be well protected by those leaves as danger comes. Usually, Chinese crocodile lizards sleep upon twigs during daytime and come out in the early morning and at night. When Chinese crocodile lizard crawls, it looks funny because it always sways. As for the distribution area of Chinese crocodile lizards, people have ever found them in some regions of Guangxi and Guangdong province. In the year 2008, Chinese crocodile lizards were first found in the region which is located in south of the tropic of Cancer. At present, according to scientists’ estimation, there are no more than 950 Chinese crocodile lizards in the world. In fact, if more Chinese crocodile lizards are expected to appear on the earth, 500 ones should be alive at least. Although the number nowadays has exceeded 500, the situation can not make people optimistic.
Chinese crocodile lizard has great value for scientific research but its quantity is decreasing rapidly. To date, the reptile has been considered as a kind of endangered animal on the globe. Rapid decreasing of Chinese crocodile lizards can be contributed to the following factors. First, vast woods where Chinese crocodile lizards live have been destroyed, thus causing stream drying. Once the habitat has been damaged, the animal can not survive. Second, as a kind of rare and precious animal, Chinese crocodile lizard naturally can not avoid being hunted and killed. Third, Chinese crocodile lizard is considered as great medicine so people often hunt it to cure patients. In addition, Chinese crocodile lizard only produces two to eight babies once in a year. What is worse, some male Chinese crocodile lizards are lack of fertility. In such case, the rate of Chinese crocodile lizards’ natural reproduction is not high. Today, some natural reserves have been set up in Guangdong and Guangxi province. Even so, the government ought to take more measures to restrict illegal hunting and severely punish those who hunt and kill the precious animal.

Binturong is the largest viverridae animal in China as well as the second largest one among all kinds of viverridae animals in the world. Female binturongs are bigger than their male peers, similar with small bear in shape. Length of binturong’s tail is almost as long as that of its body, ranging from 70cm to 80cm. The long tail is also strong enough to wind tree branches so as to help the animal look for food. Bingturong weighs 8kg to 13kg so we can see the strength of its long and strong tail. Bingturong has long, sparse, coarse and fluffy hairs in black color, mixed with light brown. Bongturong is the only animal with plain hairs among all kinds of viverridae animals for other categories are born with stripes. The coarse and fluffy hairs on bingturong’s tail could play an role as the fifth hand because it could catch and hold things. In fact, there are only two kinds of carnivorous animals whose tails have the special function in the world. In eastern hemisphere of the earth, bingturong is the only mammal whose tail can catch and hold things. Bongturong has three kinds of subspecies of which peninsula subspecies scatter in Philippine and they are the largest subspecies. In foreign countries, people can trace bingturong in Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia and Philippine. In China, bingturong mainly lives in southwest part including Yunnan and Guangxi. In a word, bingturong lives in southern part of Asian tropical rainforest as well as monsoon forest with altitude no more than 800m. Although bingturong belongs to carnivorous animal, it doesn’t have sharp canine. Therefore, the animal mainly lives on fruits, birds’ eggs, small birds and animals.
In the past years, bingturong could not be widely found in China. At present, people can only find them in southwest part of Yunnan province and some border areas of south part of China. In Xishuangbanna, as the habitat has reduced, the quantity of binturong has rapidly decreased. In west part of Yunnan province, there are only about 10 bingturongs alive. It is estimated that there are less than 200 bingturongs in China and bingturong has become a kind of endangered animal. As for reasons of bingturongs’ decreasing, they are closely related with people’s unreasonable activities without any doubt. Destruction of primary tropical forest is considered as the first and major factor for bingturongs’ reduction. Since 1970s, vast original forest in southwest part of China has been destroyed rampantly. Consequently, habitats of the animal were destroyed and they faced great challenge for survival. In addition, bingturongs in China mainly spread in border areas with small quantity as well as fragmented distribution areas. In such circumstance, bingturongs are quite fragile. In other countries, bingturongs are also encountering the same misfortune. In Malaysia, local people even buy the animal as pet at home. Nowadays, bingturong has been listed as a kind of endangered and protected animal in the world and in some parts, the quantity of bingturongs starts to increase. Anyhow, we look forward to more good news.

Where people survive, there has been various toilets and America is not the exception. At present, America is undertaking changes of toilet culture quietly. According to statistics in the year 2000, the quantity of American people who lacked of indoor plumbing was down to 0.6%. even though a large number of Americans of 1.3 million were still making use of outdoor toilets. It was a great improvement from the year 1950 when 27% households did not have complete indoor plumbing. Nowadays, the quantity of indoor plumbing has increased rapidly without any doubt. What’s more, the indoor plumbing has become more and more luxurious. It is not necessary for people to solve problems in a small washing room any more, let alone the outdoor toilet.
Generally speaking, the acreage of indoor plumbing has doubled in the past decade. The importance of indoor plumbing in main bed rooms makes people would like to spend much on it. In some senior houses, two sinks made of marble, bathtub and bath pool are often set in the indoor plumbing. In addition, speakers, TV and stool equipped with washing tools can also found in the washing room. Fireplace is also installed in the plumbing of some houses. In such circumstance, people could enjoy wine and relaxation while taking bath in the bathtub. What a romantic sight! Obviously, the indoor plumbing has become a place where people could enjoy relaxation as well as happiness.
From outdoor toilet, small indoor washing room to big and luxurious plumbing, changes of Americans’ washing rooms comply with objective laws. To date, family in America is becoming smaller. On the contrary, the acreage of house is becoming bigger and bigger. People spend less and less in cooking at home but the kitchen has turned larger and larger. Equally, Americans spend less time in showering while the indoor plumbing starts to become luxurious. Before the year 1971, only 15% households in the country possessed two and half indoor washing rooms. Nowadays, more than half of households in America have reached the level. Experts, therefore, have estimated that a standard household would have three indoor washing rooms in the next ten years. As for luxurious and medium level households, they will need more than three washing rooms at home. Sociologists have also obtained some ideas from the laws of toilet changes in U.S.A. In the past, there was only single sink in the washing room first. Then double sinks appeared. Nowadays, double separate sinks come to people’s daily life. In addition, double-seat stools are becoming popular at present. In fact, in some luxurious houses, a smaller toilet with smaller sink as well as lockers is set inside the normal plumbing.
Indoor toilet has been considered as the private sanatorium in the modern world. Therefore, TV and microwave oven are also carried into the indoor plumbing. Some people even move gymnasium device to the washing room. As children have grown up and left their parents, the booming of changing spare room into plumbing also occurs quietly. In a word, outdoor toilet is becoming the distant memory in most American’s mind.

Sable, formally called martes zibellina, is a kind of marten animal which only originates from north part of Asia. Sable is famous for its skin which jointly with Ginseng and deer antler are considered as “the three treasures in northeast part of China”. The skin of sable is called mink that is quite expensive. Body length of sable is about 40cm with the tail length up to 12cm. Sable weighs about 1kg and its lifespan ranges from 8 years to 15 years. The small animal has four short limbs and the back limbs are a little bit longer than forelimbs. Curved claws of sable is flexible so the animal is very good at climbing trees. Sable has relatively big ears in triangle shape. Hairs of wild sables are brown black or brown while those fed by human beings have black, white, blue, yellow and other colors of hairs. In addition, hairs of sables are fluffy.
Sables mainly live in sub-boreal coniferous forest as well as coniferous broad-leaved mixed forest with low temperature and altitude up to 800m to 1600m. Sables often make nests in tree holes or on piles of stones. In fact, sables rarely stay in nests except when they produce babies. Say in other words, sables do not have fixed habitats. As sables make nests, their houses are like people’s homes containing warehouse, toilet and bedroom etc. They also keep houses quite clean and neat. Most sables live alone except mating period. Sables possess sensitive sense of hearing as well as vision. Once disturbed, they can disappear promptly. Sables can look for food both at daytime and night but they spend more time getting food at night. The lovely animal lives on squirrels, rats, voles, field mouse, rabbit, hare, pheasant, grouse, birds, bird eggs and insects etc. Sometimes, they also eat fish, various nuts and berries etc.
In north part of Asia, sables can be found in Ural Mountains, Siberia, Mongolia, Northeastern China and Hokkaido of Japan. In northeast part of China, sables are only traced in cold snowy forest of Heilongjiang and Liaoning province as well as north part of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In a word, the distribution area for sables is not vast and the quantity is also small. In recent years, the number of sables has decreased rapidly due to rampant hunting and killing, forest degradation and poison spraying. In addition, sables do not have great ability for reproduction. Among all kinds of furs in the world, mink is the most expensive one which is regarded as the “soft gold” in people’s mind. Actually, kings of China in ancient times also liked making mink as hats. Before the establishment of New China, sables in Daxinganling of northeast part of China had been extinct for years because of hunting. To date, the quantity of sables in other regions is also small and continues decreasing gradually. Sable, the endangered creature, has been categorized as an animal under China’s level one protection. Even so, further measures for protecting the precious animal are urgently needed and to be implemented.

Whooping crane is the unique species in north America. Whooping crane is also called cough crane and is the most sparsely and endangered crane in the world. It is estimated that there are no more than 2000 whooping cranes on the earth. Whooping crane has naked and red cheek as well as head. Its neck and flying feathers are black and feathers of other parts are black. In addition, legs and feet of whooping cranes are black. The body length of whooping crane is about 1.27m and the height is probably 1.5m. Whooping crane is the tallest bird in north America. Developed organs are salient features of the precious animal. Whooping cranes mainly perch upon wetlands of north America, especially in natural wetlands where whooping cranes could obtain enough water, food, entertainment and comfortable rest. The tall bird likes flying spirally into the sky leisurely. As the trachea develops quite well, hoot of whooping crane is resonant. As for the food of whooping cranes, they mainly live on crustacean, frogs and other kinds of small aquatic animals but they rarely eat fish. Courtship of whooping cranes is also very special because they often display hoot, fluttering, nodding and some amazing action when showing love. The dance which aims to get companions always starts from late autumn. Sometimes, whooping cranes also show the similar action mentioned above when they protect nests or tighten anus. As whooping cranes are 3 years old, they start to produce eggs. Whooping cranes could lay two eggs every year but only one could survive due to the fight between the both.
As a kind of precious bird on the earth, whooping crane encounters great challenge for survival. During the recent 100 years, as people have hunted them in a large number and taken away their eggs frequently, the number of whooping cranes has decreased rapidly. Like many other unlucky animals, whooping cranes’ habitats have also been seriously destroyed. In the year 1931, people found 21 whooping cranes in Mexico Gulf of Texas where whooping cranes spend the cold winter. However, 6 of them died aftermath due to a hurricane. In 1937, the U.S government purchased the land and set up the reserve. Hereafter, people found the nest of the whooping cranes in northwest part of Canada. Whooping cranes are in big trouble. In order to save the precious bird, people have made efforts to protect and keep it since the middle period of the 20th century. In 1966, the State Wildlife Management Agencies of U.S and Canada got an egg of the bird each to build a group of whooping cranes fed by human beings. People have followed the practice for many years and they have totally taken away 60 eggs. At present, there is a group of 25 whooping cranes made by the agencies in America. In 1982, the number of wild whooping cranes has increased to 90. So there were 127 whooping cranes on the earth including those fed artificially. Nowadays, the quantity of whooping cranes is still not large and the work to protect and breed the bird is a kind of long-term and difficult job.

Chinese three-striped box turtle is also called golden-headed turtle. The head of golden-headed turtle is slender and long and its back is smooth without any scales. Chinese three-striped box turtle has red-brown back as well as black breastplate. The shell of Chinese three-striped box turtle could completely close. Weight and age of sexual maturity of various golden-headed turtles are different due to their sex. Age of sexual maturity of wild female Chinese three-striped box turtles is about 6 to 7 years with weight up to 1250g to 1500g. Age of sexual maturity of male ones ranges from 4 to 5 years and they weigh about 700g to 1000g. If they are fed by people, they can grow faster because of abundant nutrients supply. In such case, the weight of female golden-headed turtle is about 1500g to 2000g and male ones weigh 1000g to 1500g. In the wild environment, Chinese three-striped box turtles mainly live in streams area of mountains and they are fond of sunny and quiet place with clean water. Chinese three-striped box turtles often build nests in shrubs near to streams and they come out at night most of the time. As people feed the animals, they have changed their habit and often come out during daytime. The turtle is a kind of gregarious animal. Doings of Chinese three-striped box turtles depends on temperature of the climate. As the temperature reaches 23℃ to 28℃, golden-headed turtles move around frequently. While the temperature is below 10℃, Chinese three-striped box turtles start hibernation. Chinese three-striped box turtles eat both animals and plants. As for animals, they prefer screw, fish, shrimp, tadpole, small mouse, snail and fly etc. Sometimes, they also eat bananas, pumpkins and roots and leaves of plants.
As for distribution area of Chinese three-striped box turtles, people have traced them in some tropical countries and regions, for example, Vietnam. In addition, they are also found in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan and Hong Kong of China. Some people ever found golden-headed turtles alive in markets of various cities in China. In recent years, the quantity of the turtle has decreased rapidly and people rarely see them alive. The following reasons could be attributed to the phenomenon. Firstly, Chinese three-striped box turtles have special economic value. At present, 500g golden-headed turtle can be sold more than 200RMB. Chinese three-striped box turtles are edible and are also used for medicine as well as viewing. People export the animal to other regions by tons. Over hunting has caused serious decreasing of Chinese three-striped box turtles. At present, a grown-up golden-headed turtle can be sold up to 1300 dollars. Secondly, Chinese three-striped box turtles have long lifespan, late sexual maturity as well as low reproductive rate. What is worse, eggs and small ones of the rare turtle have high mortality. In such case, the speed of reproduction of Chinese three-striped box turtles is much slower than that of death. Nowadays, people have taken measures to protect the rare turtle, for example, people in Guangxi province have started to feed golden-headed turtles artificially. Anyhow, it is a good start for Chinese three-striped box turtle protection.

Aye-aye is named because of its long fingers as well as toes. Aye-aye is similar with big mouse with body length up to 36mm to 44mm. The tail of aye-aye is longer than that of its body about 50mm to 60mm. The weight of aye-aye is 2kg. Aye-aye has long and thick body hairs which are 10mm long. Aye-aye possesses big ears and it only has 20 pieces of tooth whose structure is like those of mouse. In addition, legs of aye-aye are longer than its arms. Aye-ayes mainly perch upon big branches or trunks of trees of tropical rainforest and they build nests in tree holes as well as branches. At present, the tiny monkey has been traced in the costal forest of east part of Madagascar. Aye-ayes like eating insects, cranes, coco and mango. If fed by human beings, the rare and precious animal also eats banana, egg as well as jujube. When the animal gets food, it always knocks tree bark and gets close to it to hear whether there are worms or not. Aye-aye usually comes out at night along or in couple. Aye-aye looks differently from other animals. It looks like big mouse but when it jumps, it is similar with kangaroo. Reproductive peak for the animal focuses in February and March and aye-ayes produce babies every two or three years. In addition, they can only produce one baby one time.
Aye-aye is a kind of animal which could help to keep the ecological balance of forest. Even so, it is considered as the ominous animal by local people in Madagascar because its wow is quite nasty. Aye-aye wows crisply and it hears like that it cries. In addition, yellow eyeballs of aye-aye could give out mysterious glow at night, which looks like a dreadful ghost. Therefore, local people think that if aye-aye jumps onto their body, death would come to them. In such case, it is impossible for local people to be friendly to the animal and once they see aye-aye, they would kill it without any hesitation. What is more, people also press dead aye-ayes against stakes so as to drive the misfortune away. As human beings have killed precious aye-ayes in a large number, the quantity of the animal has decreased rapidly. In addition, about 1500 years later, people from other regions, for example, Indonesia, arrived in the area and started to cut down trees squirrelly. Vast forest became farmlands as well as ranches and the acreage of forest reduced less than 20% of the original forest before degradation. Consequently, ideal habitat for wildlife including aye-aye disappeared. Until 1960s, people hardly found the track of aye-aye. In the year 1966, two biologists from France at last successfully collected 9 aye-ayes which were put on an island 5km away from northeast part of Madagascar. Afterwards, people tried to find out more aye-ayes but unfortunately, searching work ended up in vain. Nowadays, people could only see the precious animal in some zoos.

Proboscis monkey has a formal name called nasalis larvatus. The main and obvious feature of the proboscis monkey is the big nose. Its nose is long and big but people at present still do not know what the function is. As male proboscis monkey grows older and older, its nose also becomes bigger and bigger. When they are excited, their noses would erect up or shake up and down. That is very funny. However, nose of female proboscis monkey is quite normal. Male proboscis monkeys are much larger than female ones. Body length of male proboscis monkeys is usually about 75cm with the length of tail up to 75cm but the length of female ones is just 60cm. In addition, the weight of male proboscis monkeys is twice of that of female ones. Male proboscis monkeys also have another unique feature which is the big and inflated belly. Some people who do not have enough knowledge upon proboscis monkeys often consider male ones as pregnant female proboscis monkeys. Proboscis monkeys like living in groups and they also have their own leaders respectively. Generally speaking, 10 to 30 proboscis monkeys often consist of a group. Unlike many other animals, proboscis monkeys are choosy for food. So it is not quite easy for them to find food when various fruits on trees are not mature. Proboscis monkeys have to walk some miles to obtain enough food every day. Compared with other primates, proboscis monkeys eat much more because there are various microorganisms which could ferment food in the stomach.
Proboscis monkeys originate from Kalimantan Island located in southeast part of Asia. At present, the north part of Kalimantan Island belongs to Brunei and Malaysia while south part is a part of Indonesia. Many mosquitoes and sand flies live in the region so the living environment is not good. However, proboscis monkeys like the place very much for they can get enough food. Although the environment is bad, the habitat for proboscis monkeys still belongs to the region with the most dense population in Kalimantan Island. Some big cities and towns and most large agricultural area concentrate in the region. Therefore, most habitats of proboscis monkeys have been destroyed by forest degradation. In such circumstance, the survival of proboscis monkeys has been seriously threatened. Even though proboscis monkeys have been protected by laws, hunting and killing never stop. The animal also can not be fed by people. Otherwise, it would die within a week. Most proboscis monkeys scatter in the area which belongs to Indonesia and people have never made survey for the quantity. But in Brunei, Sarawak and Sabah, the number of proboscis monkeys has decreased rapidly. In order to protect the precious animal, a natural reserve with acreage of 60 square meters, was built in Sarawak. The natural reserve extends to forest and leads to the central land of Kalimantan Island. People have taken various measures to protect the remaining animal but people have to verify whether they have made some achievements or not.

Iberian lynx is the largest existing feline in Europe at present and biologists generally consider it as one of the felines with the smallest quantity in the world. As Iberian lynx has mysterious whereabouts, people have little knowledge about it. Iberian lynx and Eurasian lynx are similar in shape but it is smaller. The weight of most Iberian lynxes ranges from 10kg to 15kg and the body length is about 85cm to 115cm. Iberian lynx has a cat face. The animal has well-developed sense of sight and smell so it could perceive preys 300m away. Hairs on the ears can help Iberian lynx probe various sound. Covered by the hairs, Iberian lynx also could attack enemies sneakily. Iberian lynxes are good at climbing and they sleep during daytime and come out to look for preys at night. Iberian lynx is a solo traveler in the nature. The rare animal lives on small mammals, birds, small reptiles and amphibians and 80% food of Iberian lynx is the hare. Male grown-up Iberian lynx eats a hare every day. As the quantity of hares in Spain has decreased rapidly, Iberian lynx has to hunt for other animals. Iberian lynxes mainly scatter on Iberian Peninsula located in southwest part of Europe and they live in mountains and forests of Spain and Portugal. At present, some Iberian lynxes are kept in Coto Donana National Park of Spain.
In the past, Iberian lynxes were found all over the Iberian Peninsula. But nowadays, the distribution area has become much smaller. According to some survey made by the World Conservation Union in 1990, Iberian lynx would be extinct before the year 2011. In 2000, people found 400 Iberian lynxes in the world but in the year 2005, there were only about 100 Iberian lynxes. At present, people are trying their best to take measures to protect Iberian lynxes but only 100 to 200 ones have been found in Iberian Peninsula. In fact, the decreasing of Iberian lynxes is caused by following reasons. First, people ever considered Iberian lynxes as harmful animal and killed them in large number. Although zoologists have launched the work to protect them in 1988, the situation was not good. Some farmers could still peel off the skin unscrupulously. Second, as the Spanish government has developed natural resources at random, the habitats of Iberian lynxes have been destroyed. In addition, many criminals like the skin of Iberian lynxes very much because it could be sold at great price. Third, a large amount of hares do harm to the agriculture so farmers inject a kind of mucinous pox virus into hares’ body. Therefore, many hares died. What is worse, after Iberian lynxes eat those hares, they will also die. In addition, some lucky ones have to suffer from hunger. Fourth, local government has built a highway through Coto Donana National Park. Consequently, some Iberian lynxes are killed by vehicles every year. In a word, the quantity of Iberian lynxes decreased by 80% from 1960s to 1980s due to people’s unreasonable activities. Now, Iberian lynx has been listed as an endangered animal but it seems a belated effort.

Crested ibis, considered as the auspicious bird in legend, is a rare and precious bird in the world. The whole body length of crested ibis is about 79cm and the weight is roughly 1.8kg. The feather of crested ibis is white and a part of its head is red. Crested ibis has long and sharp mouth. The leg of crested ibis is about 9cm. Crested ibis is very beautiful with elegant body as well as dignified and generous action. The bird is quite docile. Crested ibis mainly lives in mountain forests and hilly areas of temperate zone near to wetland such as paddy field, floodplain, ponds, streams and marshes etc. Crested ibis is unsociable, quiet and timid. The bird requires high standard for living environment and it just select big trees as habitat. In addition, paddy field and marshes can be found near to the habitat and it is absolutely very quiet around the habitat. Crested ibis sleeps at night in big trees and looks for food in some farmland without fertilizers and pesticides or clean streams during daytime. Crested ibis mainly feeds on fishes, amphibians, crustaceans, molluscs and some other tiny insects etc. In addition, it also eats some plants such as rice, seeds, leaves and cereal etc. Crested ibis rarely hoots unless it starts to fly occasionally. Crested ibis could produce babies when it is 3 years old. Some record displays that the longest life expectancy is 37 years.
Crested ibis ever widely scattered in East Asia and people could find it in east part of China, Japan, Russia and North Korea etc. Since 1950s, people’s activities have greatly changed the wild environment. Fertilizers and pesticides polluted the environment and forests were also seriously destroyed. In such circumstance, the quantity of crested ibis decreased rapidly. In 1920s, people thought crested ibis in Japan was extinct. At the end of 1960s, people could not find the bird in the Former Soviet Union. From 1970s to 1980s, crested ibis also disappeared in North Korea. Therefore, crested ibis is the exclusive bird in China. People ever traced crested ibis in many regions of China such as Jining, Liaoning, Beijing, Shanxi, Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Henan, Shandong, Fujian and Taiwan etc. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of crested ibis started to decrease rapidly and people generally thought that wild crested ibis had been extinct. However, a study group spent 3 years tracking the bird. Finally, in the year 1981, the last group of wild crested ibis was found in Shanxi province. Then people started to do research for artificial breeding. In 1989, human beings succeeded in breeding crested ibis for the first time. In 1995, there were 35 wild crested ibises and 25 ones fed by people. At present, there are about 2000 crested ibises in the world.
Crested ibis has high value for viewing so some people may still hunt for it. In addition, people are continuing destroying the ecosystem. Therefore, we can not be optimistic about the future of the bird so early and we also should not lower our guard to protect it.

California condor is the largest bird in north America. The weight of a grown-up California condor can be up to 22 pounds. The length of California condor is about 3m. When it spreads out wings, the width of California condor is about nine to ten feet. The big bird can fly up to 5000m altitude in the sky and it also looks for food by the flight of 225km every day. As we all know, California condor lives on carrion including remains of people and other animals.
12,000 years ago, many scavenging birds were extinct. However, California condors were very lucky and they escaped the misfortune successfully. Experts describe that California condor could still survive because they can eat various foods. Climate changing made animals which lived in north America live a hard life. At the same time, their natural enemy, the human beings started to entered into America. Various animals could not bear people’s rampant hunting as well as climate changing and they were extinct one by one. In such case, California condor could get enough food. Experts have make some experiments and found that some other condors just lived on terrestrial animals but California condor also ate dead seal and aquatic animals. A wide range of recipes give California condor long life.
California condor is one of the most endangered birds in North America. In the year 1940, people could find about 100 California condors in North America. In 1967, U.S Federal listed California condor as the endangered bird. At that time, it was estimated that there were only about 50 to 60 wild California condors in the world. In 1971 and 1973, U.S Federal issued laws to protect California condors and punished those who hunted or killed the precious bird. Even though the government took measures to protect California condor, the quantity of the bird still decreased rapidly. In 1975, the rescue team for condor protection was founded in California. In the year 1985, only 9 California condors were remained in the region and people decided to catch all of them for artificial raising and breeding.
From the year 1987 to 1991, all California condors were looped in San Diego Wild Animal Park and the Los Angeles Zoo Breeding Center. Fortunately, people got great success for artificial breeding. For example, people working in the breeding center made fake condor eggs to attract female California condors’ attention. In 1991, as enough California condors were successfully bred, people decided to send some of them back the nature for reproduction in the wild environment. At present, the total quantity of California condors is about 200. Even so, people still can not lower their guard to protect the endangered bird because California birds could be in danger at any time. For example, 3 baby California condors were ever trapped in the fire which occurred in the forest of California and another two nearby also suffered from heavy smoke. California condor is an endangered animal so every one is quite important for the nature and ecosystem.

Ivory-billed woodpecker, formally called campephilus principalis, is a kind of endangered woodpecker. Ivory-billed woodpecker is the largest woodpecker in North America and the height is about 50cm. The woodpecker is well known for its big mouth which looks like ivory. The feather of ivory-billed woodpecker is black and white. As the bird folds the wings, the white part looks like man’s heel. Ivory-billed woodpecker ever widely scattered in forests of southwest part of America and it is the exclusive species in America. Ivory-billed woodpeckers always migrate together with their lovers and they usually mate with each other from January to May. Female ivory-woodpeckers often lay two to five eggs at a time. As baby ivory-billed woodpeckers come out of shells, their parents would raise them till they are 2 months old.
At present, ivory-billed woodpecker has been listed as an endangered bird in the world and people can not get accurate data about the precious animal. In 1800, the quantity of ivory-billed woodpecker decreased rapidly due to human beings’ rampant hunting and killing. In 1920s, two ivory-billed woodpeckers were killed in Colorado and many people thought that they had been extinct. In the year 1938, it was estimated that only 20 ivory-billed woodpeckers live in the wild environment and six to eight of them lived in a private virgin forest. However, the forest was finally destroyed and the last female ivory-billed woodpecker was killed. Since 1980s, wetland and forest were nearly substituted with villages, towns and secondary forest because industrialization developed so fast. As ivory-billed woodpeckers’ habitats were destroyed, people rarely heard the sound of the bird. By the middle of 1990s, people generally thought that ivory-billed woodpeckers had been extinct.
However, in the year 2004, a person who enjoyed the sight of birds found a kind of bird he had never seen before. He wrote down features of the bird and found that it was the ivory-billed woodpecker which people had not seen for more than 60 years. Consequently, led by two ornithologists, more than 30 ornithologists started to trace the precious bird. After 7000 hours tracking, they had traced ivory-billed woodpeckers 15 times and took many photos and videos. According to the appraisal of experts from different countries, people firmly believed that ivory-billed woodpeckers still lived in the world. There is no doubt that sharp decreasing of ivory-billed woodpeckers is caused by people’s unreasonable activities. As people see a ray of hope, they start to aggressively take measures to protect the surviving bird. Recently, reserves and viewing area for ivory-woodpeckers have been set up. In addition, people have also launched research for ivory-billed woodpeckers’ breeding. The Secretary of Interior in America has claimed that they would spend about 10 million dollars protecting the bird. Actually, decreasing of birds can cause unexpected result for people. In 1977, 35,000 to 50,000 people suffered from rabies in the world and 30,000 of them were Indian people because the quantity of vulture decreased greatly while the number of wild dogs and mice increased rapidly. Anyhow, we hope more birds could be protected better.

Cheilinus undulatus is the largest coral fish in the word and coral reef in southeast Asia, west Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean is the origin of the precious animal. The color of cheilinus undulatus is gorgeous and well matches with the color of coral so it is also called coral fish. Cheilinus undulatus is a kind of large fish with the body length of more than 2m. The weight of Cheilinus undulatus is about 190kg and it has lifespan of more than 30 years. There are two kinds of Cheilinus undulatus and they are deep-sea cheilinus undulatus and freshwater ones. Deep-sea cheilinus undulatus may have ciguatoxin in the body. Unlike many animals, cheilinus undulatus can eat various food. Besides fishes, the animal also eat many invertebrates including toxic animals and those with thorns such as urchins, starfish with spine crown, hard scales of fish and sea hares etc. Cheilinus undulatus will not be affected by poison after they eat those toxic animals. However, if people eat cheilinus undulatus without cleaning the toxin inside the body, they would suffer from poisoning. Cheilinus undulatus has various means to catch preys, for example, if the prey hides inside coral reef, it will clamp the target tightly and drag it out.
Cheilinus undulatus has a special feature. A small part of cheilinus undulatus can change their sex although most of them keep the original sex. Cheilinus undulatus is large but it is quite moderate. People even can touch the lovely animal when diving. Therefore, it is not difficult for people to catch them. In past 30 years, the quantity of cheilinus undulatus has decreased by 50% at least. Actually, the animals does not have natural enemy and the natural mortality rate is very low. Experts think that people have killed a large number of cheilinus undulatus as delicious food so the number has decreased rapidly. The flesh of cheilinus undulatus is quite tender and people like it very much. In addition, the quantity of it is not much so cheilinus undulatus of 1kg can be sold at 200$. A plateful of lips can be sold up to 300$. Such great price motivates people to take a risk to catch the previous fish. In fact, in some areas, less than 10 cheilinus undulatus can be found within coral reef of 1 hectare. As people never stop hunting, cheilinus undulatus have been extinct in some regions.
Cheilinus undulatus should not be traded as economic fish. The fish has long lifespan and it has slow sexual maturation. If people hunt them in a large number, they will die out without future generations. Cheilinus undulatus like laying eggs in groups, so people could easily catch all of them at a time. At present, people could not breed cheilinus undulatus artificially and nearly all of them sold at the market are wild ones. Nowadays, cheilinus undulatus has been listed as a endangered animal but illegal trade and hunting still continue. What is more important, people have little knowledge about the current situation of the precious animal.