Animals & Nature · Unit 16

Conservation and Endangered Species

Extinction risk, habitat loss, protection and recovery

Extinction is normal; the current rate is not. This unit is about why species are being lost now and what actually works to stop it.

It covers extinction risk and how it is assessed, the main threats, protected areas and species programmes, the role of zoos, and the recoveries that show intervention can work.

This unit breaks down into 20 short steps and 117 questions, starting at difficulty 3 and building to 4. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 20
Questions: 117
Difficulty: 3-4

What this unit covers

Protecting Species and Places
Comeback Stories
Extinction and Risk
Threats to Wildlife
People, Zoos and Choices

Where this fits

Follows Ecosystems and Biodiversity. Connects to Geography's Environment and Sustainability.

Where people slip

Habitat loss is the dominant threat, well ahead of hunting or trade. Conservation that protects places usually achieves more than conservation that protects individual animals.

How the unit is structured

Conservation and Endangered Species runs as 20 short steps that unlock in order. 15 are practice rounds and 5 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 3 and climb to 4 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 20 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 117 in the unit altogether.

Comeback Stories

Choose all that applyLevel 3
1. Which are recovery success stories? Pick all that apply.
- Humpback whalecorrect
- Giant pandacorrect
- Sea ottercorrect
- The dodo
Humpback whales, giant pandas and sea otters have all improved with protection.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
2. What does reintroduction mean in conservation?
- Returning a species to where it once livedcorrect
- Moving a species to a new continent
- Removing a species
- Renaming a species
Returning a species to an area where it used to live but had disappeared.
True or falseLevel 3
3. Some species saved from the brink of extinction have recovered strongly.
Answer: True
True. Humpback whales and several bird species have rebounded.
Type the answerLevel 3
4. Which large seabird of California was saved by an intensive captive breeding programme?
Answer: California condor
The California condor fell to a handful of birds before recovery began.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
5. What is a captive breeding programme?
- Breeding endangered animals in care to build numberscorrect
- Breeding pets for sale
- Catching all wild animals
- Feeding wild animals in parks
Breeding endangered animals in zoos or centres to build up numbers, sometimes for release.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
6. Which prepare captive animals for release? Pick all that apply.
- Training with live preycorrect
- Teaching predator avoidancecorrect
- Gradual soft release with supportcorrect
- Hand-feeding indefinitely after release
Live prey training, predator avoidance and soft release all help.

Extinction and Risk

Choose all that applyLevel 3
7. Which raise a species risk of extinction? Pick all that apply.
- A very small populationcorrect
- A narrow geographic rangecorrect
- Slow reproductioncorrect
- A wide varied diet
Small population, narrow range, slow breeding and specialised diet all raise risk.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
8. What does extinct mean?
- No individuals of the species remain alivecorrect
- The species is rare
- The species has moved away
- The species is asleep
A species is extinct when no individuals remain alive anywhere.
True or falseLevel 3
9. The dodo is an example of a species driven to extinction after people arrived on its island.
Answer: True
True. Hunting and introduced animals wiped it out.
Type the answerLevel 3
10. What is the international list that rates how threatened species are called?
Answer: Red List
The Red List is maintained by conservation scientists worldwide.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
11. What does endangered mean?
- At very high risk of extinction in the wildcorrect
- Already extinct
- Very common
- Living only in zoos by choice
An endangered species faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
12. Which criteria assess extinction risk? Pick all that apply.
- Population sizecorrect
- Rate of declinecorrect
- Extent of rangecorrect
- Popularity with the public
Population size, rate of decline, range size and fragmentation are all assessed.

People, Zoos and Choices

Build the sentenceLevel 3
13. Build a sentence about conservation.
Answer: Protecting habitats helps many species at once
Protecting habitats helps many species at once.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
14. Which actions support conservation? Pick all that apply.
- Choosing sustainably sourced productscorrect
- Supporting protected areascorrect
- Recording wildlife for citizen sciencecorrect
- Buying products from endangered species
Choosing sustainable products, supporting reserves and recording wildlife sightings all help.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
15. What does the term human-wildlife conflict describe?
- Problems when wildlife and people clash over land or livestockcorrect
- A sporting event
- A type of protected area
- A breeding programme
Problems arising when wild animals damage crops, livestock or property, or threaten people.
Put in orderLevel 3
16. Put these steps of a species recovery plan in order.
Answer: Assess the population and threats -> Write a recovery plan -> Take action on the main threats -> Monitor the response -> Adapt the plan as needed
Assess, plan, act, monitor, adapt.
Sort into groupsLevel 3
17. Sort each action by whether it helps or harms wildlife.
Answer: Planting native wildflowers = Helps wildlife; Creating a pond in a garden = Helps wildlife; Dropping plastic litter = Harms wildlife; Buying products made from ivory = Harms wildlife
Small choices add up across millions of people.
Fact or fibLevel 4
18. Conservation succeeds more often when it addresses the reasons people harm wildlife.
Answer: True
True. Enforcement alone rarely solves the underlying pressures.

Protecting Species and Places

Choose all that applyLevel 3
19. Which help protect wild species? Pick all that apply.
- Protected areascorrect
- Trade restrictionscorrect
- Habitat restorationcorrect
- Draining wetlands for building
Protected areas, trade laws, anti-poaching work and habitat restoration all help.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
20. What is a nature reserve?
- An area protected for wildlifecorrect
- A farm for growing crops
- A city park with no wildlife
- A hunting ground
An area protected so that wildlife and habitat can survive there.
True or falseLevel 3
21. Laws can make it illegal to harm or trade certain species.
Answer: True
True. Protection laws exist in most countries.
Type the answerLevel 3
22. What is the international agreement controlling trade in endangered species called?
Answer: CITES
CITES regulates cross-border trade in protected wildlife.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
23. How do wildlife rangers help protect animals?
- They patrol, deter poaching and monitor wildlife
- They feed every animal daily
- They build cities
- They sell wildlife products
They patrol reserves, deter poachers and monitor wildlife populations.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
24. Which make a protected area effective? Pick all that apply.
- Genuine enforcementcorrect
- Reliable fundingcorrect
- Support from local communitiescorrect
- Being declared without any management
Enforcement, funding, community support and adequate size all matter.

Threats to Wildlife

Choose all that applyLevel 3
25. Which are major threats to wildlife? Pick all that apply.
- Habitat destructioncorrect
- Overhunting and overfishingcorrect
- Pollutioncorrect
- Nature reserves
Habitat loss, hunting, pollution and climate change are the main drivers.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
26. What is the single biggest cause of wildlife decline worldwide?
- Loss of habitatcorrect
- Volcanic eruptions
- Zoos
- Bird song
Habitat loss, mostly from farming and development, affects more species than anything else.
True or falseLevel 3
27. Illegal wildlife trade is a major threat to many species.
Answer: True
True. Elephants, pangolins and rhinos are all heavily affected.
Type the answerLevel 3
28. What is the illegal hunting of protected animals called?
Answer: poaching
Poaching targets species for ivory, horn, skins or the pet trade.
Multiple choiceLevel 3
29. Why is the pangolin so heavily trafficked?
- Its scales and meat are in high demandcorrect
- It is dangerous to people
- It damages crops
- It is very common
Its scales and meat are in demand, making it the most trafficked wild mammal.
Choose all that applyLevel 4
30. Which harms do invasive species cause? Pick all that apply.
- Preying on native speciescorrect
- Outcompeting natives for foodcorrect
- Introducing new diseasescorrect
- Improving native population health
Predation, competition, disease and habitat change are all caused by invasives.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 8 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Build the sentence
Choose all that apply
Fact or fib
Multiple choice
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Conservation and Endangered Species

117 questions across 20 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Conservation and Endangered Species

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

What Is a Keystone Species?Why some animals matter far more than their numbers suggest, with the sea otter and beaver examples explained.August 28, 2026 · 6 min read

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