Endangered species

Preview audio:

storyj.mp/abcp9vjy5t34

Frank Zeller of AFP wrote: “Many of Vietnam's wild areas have become denuded habitats, sometimes dubbed "empty forests." More than 300 animal species have disappeared and over 100 are threatened. With virgin rainforests now reduced to a patchwork, fewer than 100 tigers, 100 wild elephants and 10 rhinos are believed to survive in the wild in Vietnam, their gene pools already too small to ensure their survival here.”

denude: /dɪˈnuːd/ trơ trụi

dub: /dʌb/đầm lầy

patchwork: chắp vá

It is estimated that there are about 200 tigers left in Vietnam. The number of animals has declined as a result of loss of habitat and hunting to obtain the bones, skin and claws for Chinese medicines. In the 1990s lots tiger skins and teeth were available in Ho Chi Minh City.

An impoundment in the Mekong Delta for a water growing tree called the melaleuca has also been adopted as a feeding place by flocks of rare eastern sarus cranes. The numbers of these birds, which once were widespread, have dwindled to around a thousand, primarily from loss of wetland habitat.

impoundment: nhốt, giữ nước

melaleuca: cây mê la min

sarus cranes: sếu đầu đỏ

dwindle: thu nhỏ lại

Margie Mason of Associated Press wrote: “There once was a magic golden turtle that lived in Hanoi's most enchanted lake. In real life, the last giant soft-shell turtle living in Hoan Kiem Lake probably will die alone, and at least one biologist says the species will then be extinct. The giant turtle was believed so powerful, it snatched a divine sword from a warrior king and returned it to the gods of the depths nearly six centuries ago.