Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.

Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting locations to stop, rest and feed. The scientists studied the migration, or flight, paths, of almost 1,500 species and decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.   The major danger for migratory birds is development in human society. Building and paving has covered over nature where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another. For example, a bird called the bar-tailed godwit migrates from its breeding grounds in the Arctic flying all the way to the southern earth in Australia and New Zealand stopping at Yellow Sea mudflats in China along the way.

One of the scientists who worked on the study says “many of these critical sites have been taken up owing to urban, industrial and agricultural expansion.” The problem, according to researchers, is that many of these small birds die along their migration because they don’t have a safe place to eat and rest to restore their energy for the next part of their journey. Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time conserving land. The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. In addition, many of the sanctuaries(避难所) are not wide enough to cover the paths of migratory birds.

One species that doesn’t exist any longer is the Eskimo curlew. “Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species,” one of the scientists says. The researchers say if one country might have preserved safe zones for migratory birds while a neighboring country might not, a bird might die.

One scientist who is not involved in the report says that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds. He says small changes--- like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of areas birds would be likely to use--- could make a big difference.

A new report shows that there are just 7,100 cheetahs now left in the wild. Cheetahs are in trouble now.

According to the study, more than half of the world’s surviving cheetahs live in one zone that covers six countries in southern Africa. Cheetahs in Asia have nearly died out. It’s thought that only fewer than 50 cheetahs live in Iran.

The cheetah runs across lands far outside protected areas. Some 77% of their habitat falls outside these protected areas. As a result, the cheetah struggles because these lands are increasingly being developed by farmers and the cheetah’s food is decreasing because of human hunting.

In Zimbabwe, the cheetah population has fallen from around 1,200 to just 170 in 16 years, with the main cause being major changes in land ownership.

Researchers say that the threats cheetahs are facing have gone unnoticed for far too long. “Given the nature of the cheetah, it has been difficult to gather information on them,” said Dr Sarah Durant, the report’s lead author. “Our findings show that the large space requirements for cheetahs and various threats faced by them in the wild mean that they are likely to be in danger of dying out.”

Another big concern about cheetahs has been the illegal trafficking (非法交易) of young cheetahs. The young cats can fetch up to $10,000 on the black market. Some 1,200 young cheetahs are known to have been trafficked out of Africa over the past 10 years but around 85% of them died during the journey.

If the cheetahs are to survive, then immediate efforts must be made.

I was mostly based in Samburu National Reserve, recording details of the population and leading collar (颈圈) operations. We put trackers (跟踪仪) around wild elephants’necks, so we can learn about their activities.

In May 2009, in the middle of the wet season, Rommel appeared again. And it was histurn to be placed a collar. We sent three cars out to search for him. There’s a river running through the park where many elephants gather in the mornings. At 10:30 am, one of my partners clocked Rommel.

A tranquillizer (镇静剂) was carefully shot into his body so we could safely place a collaron him, but for a bull of Rommel’s size it could take longer. After that, he turned away, heading in an unexpected direction and seemed to be near danger by killing himself in thewater. It would be a bad accident. Only by pulling his trunk (象鼻) from the river, could weensure his survival. The problem was that the river was a little bit changeable. Immediately, I decided to act. I jumped in and lifted his heavy, twitching trunk from the water with the help of lifeguards. The team tried to fit him with a collar, but we discovered that we didn’t have one big enough.

We couldn’t risk keeping him there while we created a bigger collar. So I struggled on, holding his trunk high with all my strength. And medicine that took away the efforts of the tranquillizer was delivered.

As soon as his ears started to move, a sign of coming to life, I dropped his trunk and moved to safety. Within a couple of minutes, he was back to life. That was one of my proudest moments