She read the first few words of her book

"The dodo was a bird 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 400 years ago." the dodo said .

"But then terrible things happened.

Sailors arrived. They cut down the forest, 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.

"Quagas 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-flop 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 is 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 is that?" ask 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 eggs!

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? ask 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  tiger.

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 blue shut and Mina woke up with a start . 

There was no one and nothing to see,

except the book by her bed.