animals in danger

THE GIANT PANDA

The giant panda has a black-and-white coat. Its body looks like a bear. It has black fur on its ears, eye patches, legs, arms and shoulders.

THE GIANT PANDA The rest of the animal’s coat is white. The

giant panda’s thick, wooly coat keeps it warm in the cool forests where it lives.

THE GIANT PANDA

The giant panda lives on the mountains of central China.

THE GIANT PANDA

The pandas eat mainly bamboo. Sometimes they eat leaves, honey, eggs, oranges, bananas or even fish and meat.

THE GIANT PANDA Pandas are

mammals. They have babies, they don’t lay eggs. Pandas can have 1-2 babies a year but after that they need to wait 2 years before they can have anymore.

THE GIANT PANDA

• A female giant panda can have 6 babies in her lifetime. Baby pandas stay with their mothers until they are 5 months old.

THE GIANT PANDA

The panda is an endangered species. There are about 260 pandas living in zoos. Wild pandas are about 2,000 in the world.

THE GIANT PANDA

One of the reasons pandas are in danger is because people cut down the forests where they live.

THE GIANT PANDA Another reason is that they are being poached and killed by traps which are placed for other animals.

THE GIANT PANDA

Farmers want more and more land to grow different products, so they cut down lots of bamboo. Pandas are also killed for their fur to make rugs.

THE GIANT PANDA

Other ways to save pandas are:# Join organisations who help

endangered animals. # Protect the pandas’ habitats.# Help the giant pandas in zoos

have more babies. # Let pandas free in the wild.

THE PENGUIN

Penguins live mainly in Antarctica. They are black and white. They are birds that cannot fly. Their wings have changed into flippers.

THE PENGUIN

Penguins spend half of their lives on land and half in the oceans. They are excellent swimmers. They are also great divers! Penguins come out of the water about every minute for air, but can hold their breath for up to 20 minutes.

THE PENGUIN

There are 17 kinds of penguins. The largest penguin is the Emperor penguin. It is about 1 metre tall and weighs 35 kilos.

THE PENGUIN

Penguins eat fish, squid and other forms of sealife they find in the water.

THE PENGUIN

Penguins live together in groups to stay safe, keep warm and protect their babies. There are hundreds of male penguins in a group.

THE PENGUIN Female penguins lay

one or two eggs at a time. Then, they go to find food and leaving the male to watch the nest. When the female comes back (in about two weeks), the male goes for food, leaving the female with the egg.

THE PENGUIN

When the chick (baby penguin) gets out of the egg, it starts calling so that its parents learn to recognise its voice.

THE PENGUIN

When the chick is strong enough, both parents go to the ocean. The chicks stay with the other penguins. When the parents return with food they recognise their chick by its voice.

THE PENGUIN

The main dangers for penguins are: Oil spills: Oil covers penguins’ feathers as they

swim and the oil can poison them.   Tourists: People sometimes disturb the

penguins. They can even break their eggs by accident.