Watching wild animals makes us pleased, cheer us up and, sometimes, even make us frightened. But do you know they can teach us? Wild geese, for example, teach a very good lesson about teamwork.

In fall, Canada wild geese fly south to get away from Canada’s cold winter weather. They lift off in no order. Yet very quickly they form a V shape, with one bird leading the flock. Scientists have discovered that wild geese flying in a V shape can help them to save energy. In this way, they can fly 70 percent farther without rest than those flying alone.

What can human learn from this?

Be an encourager. We have found that wild geese make sound in flight to encourage those that have fallen behind to keep up with the speed. Team members should communicate with each other while working towards a common goal.

Take turns. The wild goose out in front has the hardest job as it has to break up the air currents(气流). When it gets tired, it moves behind, and another goose moves to the front. By sharing the role, the flock can travel a long distance (距离). Teams can get advantages from the same idea. Based on their experience and skills, people can take turns sharing the leadership role.

Set a good example. When wild geese are on the ground, if something frightens the leader, it might fly off. So does the flock. But if the leader stays calm, the flock will do the same. Wild geese and people usually imitate their leaders. When leading, we must remember that our actions and feelings will be passed on to our followers.

Whether it is in our personal lives or our work, we need other people. We are encouraged by their enthusiasm (热情) and energy. If we face the difficulties alone, the risks are greater. Like wild geese, when we work together, our burdens are lighter.

On the western tip of Australia, there is a place named Shark Bay. At least 28 kinds of sharks are swimming through the clear water there—the largest in the world. Tiger sharks especially are common visitors to Shark Bay. They move their 15-foot-long（4.5 metres）bodies through the seagrass, sometimes catching huge sea cows for a meal. Although tiger sharks are dangerous to them, they are important to the health of the ocean ecosystem. In fact, they could also be our powerful friends in stopping climate change.

It all comes back to the seagrass that moves with the waves in Shark Bay. This seagrass is food for the sea cows, which each eats about 40 kilograms of seagrass a day. By controlling the sea cow population, tiger sharks in Shark Bay help the seagrass beds grow. A good seagrass bed stores twice as much CO₂ per square mile as forests do on land.

But globally, tiger shark numbers are becoming smaller, including some populations in Australia. Off Australia’s north-east coast of Queensland, it is said that tiger sharks have fallen by at least 71%, largely because of overfishing and bycatch（误捕）. A reduction in tiger sharks means more seagrass eaten and less carbon stored in the ocean.

In Shark Bay, the tiger sharks were able to achieve the balance by keeping sea cow numbers down, and not all the bay’s seagrass was lost. But here comes the question: What if sharks disappeared from the bay? The need to understand how they support their ecosystems becomes even more urgent（紧迫的）.