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Meg: Have you ever heard of the IUCN Red List?
Kaito No, I've never heard of it. What is it?
Meg
: The Red List gives us information about endangered animals, birds, plants, and so on.
Kaito: What animals are on the list?
Meg : Pandas, cheetahs, and gorillas, for example.
Kaito Really? I didn't know that.
Meg: Some animals and birds in Japan are also on it. I want everyone to know that.
Let us give you one example from the Red List. It is the crested ibis, or toki in Japanese.
Up until the Meiji era, we could see many ibises around this country.
However, the population of ibises in Japan rapidly decreased. People hunted
their beautiful feathers, and development destroyed their environment. It was difficult for
them for
them to survive.
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Some gorillas are also on the Red List. According to a study, the largest gorillas in the
Congo may die out soon. There are many reasons, such as hunting, logging, and mining.
15 Surprisingly, our electronic devices are one of these reasons.
To make these devices, we need some special metals. Some of these metals come from
the gorillas' habitat. (3)
If we use more devices, more of their habitat may be destroyed.
These gorillas may not survive. We have to understand this.