"The dodo was abird that couldn't fly. ...»  Whoosh! The window flew wide open. Mina 

sat up, and through the window she saw a dodo,  a real live dodo, right there in her yard! 

"I existed over four hundred years ago," the dodo said. "But then terrible things happened.  

Sailors arrived. They cut down the forests, so there was nothing for us to eat,  

and they had cats that killed us.  Dodos didn't survive. We all died." 

The dodo made a sniffing noise and sat down.

There was a sound of hooves, and into the yard galloped a quagga, missing the dodo's head by a centimeter. 

"I existed 150 years ago," said the quagga,  with a tear in its eye.

"Quaggas were a species of zebra, but hunters killed us and made our skins into bags, and farmers ate us.

These humans exploited us. Eventually, we all became extinct."

The quagga stood by Mina's swing, swishing its tail.

Soon came a sound of water gushing and a flip-flap of flippers. From the bottom of Mina's pool emerged a sea wolf. It looked like a big seal. 

"I've been looking for you!" said the sea wolf to the dodo.

"Sea wolves haven't existed for almost 70 years." "Why's that?" asked the dodo. 

The sea wolf flopped out of the pool. A puddle of water spread across the grass. 

"We were hunted by explorers, fishermen, and hunters who killed and ate us.

They made shoes and boots from our skin, and used  our fat to cook with. That's why!"  

"I'm very sorry," said the dodo. The dodo felt  bad that these sea mammals had suffered so much.

Suddenly, a crashing noise made Mina jump.  

'There at the gate was a woolly mammoth.  With one big push, it stumbled into the yard. 

"Sorry about the noise," it said. "I've been looking for you! I lived thousands of  years ago, but now I'm extinct."

"Why's that?" asked the quagga. 

"No one is sure," replied the mammoth. "Scientists  think the weather changed, changing our habitat.  

We ate grass, but as the atmosphere grew warmer,  forests spread and there was less grass to eat.» 

Mina heard wings flapping. Seconds  later, an elephant bird came crashing  

through the trees and landed beside the  pool, splashing water over the dodo. 

"I weigh half a ton," the  elephant bird said proudly.  

"I'm the heaviest bird that's ever existed.  You could make 30 omelets from one of my egg

But I've been extinct for over a thousand years."

Well, the animals all looked miserable,  but before they had time to say another word,

a tiger came roaring in. "Ah-hah!" it said, peering around with its bright, fiery eyes. "I have many friends here." 

"Are you extinct, too?" asked the elephant bird. "Not yet," replied the tiger, flashing its shiny  teeth.

"But I'm rare and endangered! Tigers are  lucky. They have sanctuaries where they can live." 

The dodo, the quagga, the sea wolf, the woolly  mammoth, and the elephant bird all stared at  the tiger. "Sanctuaries?" they asked. "Yes, sanctuaries," replied the tige.

"They are places where no one can hurt you." "What a great idea!" thought Mina. "Maybe  

if we have sanctuaries, fewer  animals will become extinct." 

The window blew shut, and Mina woke up with a start. There was no one and nothing to see,  

except the book by her bed.