Animals are disappearing at hundreds of times the normal rate, primarily because of shrinking habitats.

Habitat loss - driven primarily by human expansion as we develop land for housing, agriculture, and commerce - is the biggest threat facing most animal species, followed by hunting and fishing.

Even when habitat is not lost entirely, it may be changed so much that animals cannot adapt. Fences fragment a grassland or logging cuts through a forest, breaking up migration corridors; pollution renders a river toxic; pesticides kill widely and indiscriminately.

To those local threats one must increasingly add global ones: Trade, which spreads disease and invasive species from place to place, and climate change, which eventually will affect every species on Earth - starting with the animals that live on cool mountaintops or depend on polar ice.

All of these threats lead, directly or indirectly, back to humans and our expanding footprint. Most species face multiple threats. Some can adapt to us; others will vanish.

- followed by = you use followed by to say what comes after something else in a list or ordered set of things: theo sau là …

- to adapt /əˈdæpt/ (v) = to change your behaviour in order to deal more successfully with a new situation: thích nghi

- logging /ˈlɔːɡɪŋ/ = the work or business of cutting down trees for their wood: việc khai thác gỗ

- to break up = to separate into smaller pieces: phá vỡ

- pesticide /ˈpestɪsaɪd/ (n): a chemical used for killing pests, especially insects: thuốc trừ sâu

- to spread disease: làm lây lan dịch bệnh

- an invasive species = an organism that is not indigenous, or native, to a particular area: loài du nhập, loài xâm lấn (loài mà không phải bản xứ của vùng đó)

- to depend on something = to rely on something: phụ thuộc vào …

- to face multiple threats: đối mặt với nhiều mối đe dọa

- to vanish /ˈvænɪʃ/ (v) = to stop existing: biến mất