Read the following passage and answer the questions by choosing the appropriate alternatives given below them.

 All over the world the wild fauna has been whittled down steadily and remorselessly, and many lovely and interesting animals have been so reduced in numbers that, without protection and help, they can never re-establish themselves. If they cannot find sanctuary where they can live and breed undisturbed, their numbers will dwindle until they join the dodo, the quagga, and the great auk on the long list of extinct creatures.

Of course, in the last decade or so, much has been done for the protection of wildlife: sanctuaries and reserves have been started, and the reintroduction of species into areas where it had become extinct is taking place. In Canada, for instance, beavers are now reintroduced into certain areas by means of aeroplane. But although much is being done, there is still a very great deal to do. Unfortunately, the majority of useful work in animal preservation has been done mainly for animals which are of some economic importance to man and there are many obscure species of no economic importance which, although they are protected on paper, are in actual fact being allowed to die out because nobody, except a few interested zoologists, considers them important enough to spend money on.

As mankind increases year by year, and as he spreads farther over the globe burning and destroying, it is some small comfort to know that there are certain private individuals and some institutions who consider that the work of trying to save and give sanctuary to these harried animals is of some importance. It is important for many reasons, but perhaps the best of them is this: man for all his genius, cannot create a species, nor can he recreate one he has destroyed. So until we consider animal life to be worthy of the consideration and reverence we bestow upon old books and pictures and historic monuments, there will always be the animal refugee living a precarious life on the edge of extermination, dependent for existence on the charity of a few human beings.

Which of the following types of animals does man chiefly protect?