IELTS Reading and Writing

 Endangered and Extinct Species

The environment and endangered species are topics that come up often in the IELTS test.

Of course everyone knows that the panda bear is endangered. Sadly, the dodo is now extinct.

EXTINCT = They are all dead.
ENDANGERED = They are NEARLY all dead!

How about some other examples? What are the reasons for extinction?




 

Reading

Check out the following link which shows some information about 15 of the world's endangered and extinct species:

ENDANGERED AND EXTINCT SPECIES

Of course there is no need to memorise all of them for your test!
 
Look again and ask yourself the following questions:

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common?
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country?
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is?
4. What are the main causes of extinction?
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? 
6. What solutions are suggested?
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test?

 
 SCROLL DOWN FOR THE ANSWERS!

Writing review

Now try the following cause and solution writing task using the ideas you have just read as examples:

Nowadays many animal species are extinct or endangered. What are the main causes of this? What can we do to protect endangered animals?

You should write at least 250 words.
Spend around 40 minutes on this task.

TIP!

This topic contains many commonly misspelt words. Make sure you check the following words:

environment
species 
endangered
extinct
preserve
habitat
conservation










 ANSWERS

1. What do number 1,2 and 3 have in common? They are all fish which are eaten for food (sashimi).
2. Which animals on the list can you find in your country? Answers will vary. The Chinese Cobra can be seen in Taiwan.
3. Looking at the pictures, are most of the animals cute or ugly? Why do you think this is? Most of the animals look quite ugly. Perhaps we can say that people care more about protecting "cute" animals than ugly or dangerous ones?
4. What are the main causes of extinction? Habitat destruction (5,7,8,9,11,12,13,14,15), consumption as food (1,2,3,4), global warming (9)
5. Which industries are mentioned as causes? Fishing industry (1,2,3), Mining / Quarrying (7,9), Construction (8), Oil and Gas (12), Farming (13,14) 
6. What solutions are suggested? Marine reserves /protected areas (1,2,14), Fishing quotas (1), Better conservation efforts (4), Education to raise awareness (14)
7. Each animal has two names, the common name and the scientific name in Latin. Which one should you remember and use in your test? Just remember the common name. You don't need to know the Latin name and they are usually found together in the reading.

COMMON NAME: Pacific bluefin tuna 
(Scientific name: Thunnus Orientalis)