1. A jaguar is a large cat that lives in the tropical rainforest. Make a list of the features that you would include in a zoo enclosure for a group of five of these animals.

2. Some people say that keeping animals in zoos is cruel and should be against the law. Other people believe that zoos are important.

• Make two lists of reasons for and against zoos
• Compare your lists with someone else’s
• Write down your own viewpoint
• Interview other people in the class and record their views

3. Coming back from your holidays, you see a notice at the airport explaining that it is against the law to bring animals or plants into this country. Explain how bringing living creatures into this country could cause problems for plants or animals that already live here.

4. Japanese knotweed grows rapidly in this country because it does not have any predators. Why would you not recommend the following methods of controlling knotweed:

• spraying with a herbicide
• cutting the plants with a hedge trimmer

5. Biological control is an environmentally friendly way of controlling insects that damage crops. Find out how biological control works.

6. In Britain, environmental activists have released American mink kept in fur farms. They believe it is cruel to keep animals for their fur. What problems could releasing these animals cause for local populations of mice, voles and shrews?

7. Many animals are difficult to observe in the wild. Describe three ways of keeping tabs on a population without having to be able to see the animals.

8. Explain why the number of red squirrels in England has declined by 75% in the last 30 years.