Where does Australia's wildlife hide? People often think that endangered plants and animals are tucked away in a protected park somewhere in the wilderness. Yet, we know that many…

Where does Australia's wildlife hide? People often think that endangered plants and animals are tucked away in a protected park somewhere in the wilderness. Yet, we know that many species, threatened with extinction, live much closer to us - in our own neighborhoods. Scientists began their research to find out exactly how much threatened wildlife lives in Australian citles. They overlapped maps of species habitats with maps of urban areas and discovered that half of the threatened animals and a quarter of the threatened plants live in citles! If we care about giving them a chance to survive, we need to learn to share our space with them. The continent Australia is home to many animals and plants found nowhere else in the world. Scientists call them "endemic species". Many of them are threatened with extinction because they have lost their natural homes or have to deal with pollution and foreign hostile species. There in Australia people have been working hard to protect these threatened animals and plants. They had to figure out which species are under threat. The Australian government has designated over 1200 plants and 400 animals as "threatened". Over the years, many different scientists and nature explorers have collected data about these species' distribution (i.e. where they live) and created distribution maps. The government also has maps with data about where people live. Using these data, scientists identified 99 cities in Australia. They found that Australian cities cover a relatively small area: less than a quarter of 1% of the continental territory. Half of the threatened animals and a quarter of the threatened plants live in cities. The data also showed the following: all Australian cities harbor rare plants and animals; threatened species tend to live closer to the coast and in the edges of cities, half of all studied species - 258 - were found in only one city on the entire continent; more endangered species live in urban areas than in non-urban areas: on average, there are 10 threatened species per square kilometer in cities compared to only 3 in non-cities; Sydney was the most popular home for threatened species (124 live there). Researchers have come up with a few possible reasons why endangered species roam the cities. Firstly, he areas where we built our cities had high biodiversity. Many cities were established fairly recently - within last 100 years - so wildlife are still hanging on there. Secondly, citles feature a lot of different landscapes: suburban reaidential areas, dense urban development and parks plenty of different habitats for every taste. Finally, for many animals, it might be easier to find food and water in urban areas than in the "wilderness". So it is possible that we find more threatened species because more eyes are on the lookout for them. They might just be going undetected in the countryside. Our study showed that cities are not wildlife dead-zones. On the contrary - they are biodiversity hotspots and very important for conservation. If we want to protect endangered plants and animals from extinction, we should allow space for them in our cities! People around the world are already working on urban conservation. There are many ways to make our cities wildlife-friendly: allow development (building stores, roads, houses) only in certain parts of the cities; have green corridors of trees and plants between parks so that animals can travel to find food; protect big old trees with hollows, plant more trees and have green roofs covered with plants to provide more wildlife habitats; for cities on the coast, lead dogs on a leash on beaches so that they do not disturb migratory birds. 10 Endangered animals should be taken away to nature reserves. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 11.There are more endangered plants than animals in the cities of Australia. 1)True 2) False 2) Not stated Ответ: 12 A great number of plants and animals of Australia are unique. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 13 All the cities of Australia are home to threatened species. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 14 Half of all studied species live in Sydney. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 15 We may fail to see endangered species in the wild. 1) True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 16. Australians have set up a conservation programme in the cities. 1)True 2) False 3) Not stated Ответ: 17 There is nothing we can do to protect endangered species in the city. 1)True 2)false 3) Not stated Ответ: