There are still many secrets to find out about in nature. We uncovered one of them last week. A nature lover found a new species of orchid in Japan. It is rare to find new plants in Japan. The country's trees and flowers are well documented. Scientists studied the new orchid. They believe it grows in parks and gardens across Japan. It is pink and white. Its delicate petals look like they are made from glass. A professor from Kobe University said: "The discovery of new species in common places means it is necessary to keep exploring, even in everyday places."
There are 28,000 orchid species worldwide. The new orchid belongs to a class called Spiranthes. This class is the most common orchid in Japan. A Japanese poem from the year 759 mentions it. The professor said he and his colleagues were "thrilled to have identified a new species". He was excited because it wasn't found in a rainforest or jungle. The discovery of the new orchid is good news. However, many orchids are endangered. This is because of habitat loss. We need to protect nature to stop flowers disappearing. If we lose more orchids, the world will be less colourful.
Try the same news story at these levels:
Orchids - Level 0, Orchids - Level 1 or Orchids - Level 3
Sources- https://edition.cnn.com/2023/03/17/asia/japan-new-species-orchid-scn/index.html
- https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/17/japans-most-familiar-orchid-is-found-to-have-near-identical-cousin
- https://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/research_at_kobe_en/NEWS/news/2023_03_17_01.html
Make sure you try all of the online activities for this reading and listening - There are dictations, multiple choice activities, drag and drop activities, sentence jumbles, which word activities, text reconstructions, spelling, gap fills and a whole lot more. Please enjoy :-)