  The dynamics of entanglement between three - level atoms coupled to the
common vacuum is investigated. We show that the collective effects such as
collective damping, dipole - dipole interaction and the cross coupling between
orthogonal dipoles, play a crucial role in the process of creation of
entanglement. In particular, the additional cross coupling enhances the
production of entanglement. For the specific initial states we find that the
effect of delayed sudden birth of entanglement, recently invented by Ficek and
Tanas [Phys. Rev. A 77, o54301(2008)] in the case of two - level atoms, can
also be observed in the system. When the initial state is entangled, the
process of spontaneous emission causes destruction of correlation and its
disentanglement. We show that the robustness of initial enatnglement against
the noise can be changed by local operations performed on the state.
