Aftermanyyearsontheendangeredlistofanimals,Japan’sAmami...

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After many years on the endangered list of animals, Japan’s Amami Black rabbit can finally breathe a sigh of relief — That’s because this year, the rare animal is no longer in danger of dying out!

The effort to save the dark-furred rabbit, often called “a living fossil”, began in 1921, when the Japanese government promoted it to the status of “natural monument”. This meant that it could not be hunted down for food. However, when that did not work, it got yet another promotion to “special natural monument”, which meant that the rabbit could not be trapped or hunted.

While that helped, it was not enough — By 2004 with only 2,000-5,000 specimen (样本) left in the wild, the Amami rabbit was officially declared endangered! The reason for the serious population decrease was due to loss of habitat caused by forest clearing for home and agriculture use and the introduction of a new species not native to the island — the Mongoose. Brought in to get rid of the snake population, the Mongoose instead seemed to prefer the black rabbit. In 2005, the government carried out a strict mongoose capture (捕获) order and slowly but surely, the rabbit started to come back.

This rabbit live in a rather unusual lifestyle. Its ideal habitat is a forest that features both trees and large grasses — the former to find acorns (橡树子) to feed on and the latter, to hide its babies. That's because to protect them from being eaten by their enemies, the Amami rabbit buries them deep into the ground among the grasses and covers them up with dirt during the day. Then, in the middle of the night, still keeping a vigilant eye out for their enemies, it digs them out from their hiding place and feeds them. No wonder the animal is sometimes called “midnight rabbit”.

Though many measures have been taken to stop this furry animal from being wiped out from the world, there are many more that are still in danger. We surely hope that officials in other parts of the world try their best to save the endangered species.

61. The status of “natural monument” means ____________.

A. you can’t kill them B. you can’t capture them

C. you can’t catch them for food D. you can’t trap or hunt them

62. Why was the rabbit still in danger after it was promoted to “special natural monument”?

A. Because it was always eaten by snakes.

B. Because people still wanted to capture it for food.

C. Because the rabbit lives in a rather unusual lifestyle.

D. Because of loss of habitat and a new species.

63. In Amami rabbit’s ideal habitat, large grasses are used _____________.

A. to feed on B. to protect its babies

C. to hide themselves D. to give birth to babies

64. The underlined word “vigilant” in the fourth paragraph can be replaced by ____________.