美国国家公共电台 NPR--A litter of critically endangered red wolf pups surprises scientists

A litter of critically endangered red wolf pups surprises scientists

Transcript¹

There are about 250 endangered red wolves in the U.S. Recently, a litter of four was born in captivity² — an unexpected, but welcome surprise since the male was thought too old to breed.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For about 30 years, officials in western Kentucky have been running a red wolf recovery program. Scientists there have been trying to save the critically endangered animal. Recently, they delivered some good news. This past spring, a litter of pups, nicknamed the Fantastic Four, were born, which was a surprise to the staff. The male wolf who fathered them was thought to be too old. Derek Operle with member station WKMS has more.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

DEREK OPERLE, BYLINE³: With only a little more than 250 red wolves in the world, births aren't all that common and are usually planned. But at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, 12-year-old Jasper defied expectations to become the oldest breeding red wolf on record. He and mate Ember are parents to four bouncing baby pups.

(SOUNDBITE OF WOLVES BARKING)

OPERLE: The recreation area's lead naturalist⁴ John Pollpeter says red wolves used to be at the top of the food chain across the American South and were a familiar sight to residents before the late 1800s.

JOHN POLLPETER: When Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett and John James Audubon - when they were painting or writing about a wolf, they were writing about the red wolf.

OPERLE: Red wolves are the most endangered canid in the world. With only around 20 known specimens⁵ in the wild, most are in captivity at facilities across the country. With distinctive⁶ reddish-colored fur on its neck and legs, a typical adult red wolf is around 4 feet long from tip to tail and weighs about 80 pounds - a little bigger than a German shepherd. What makes it really special, Pollpeter says, is it can only be found in the American South.

POLLPETER: The red wolf is purely⁷ American, but also purely only Southern.

OPERLE: Widespread extermination⁸ campaigns, some led by the U.S. government, and habitat loss were the biggest contributors to the species' population decline. Some experts, like red wolf species survival plan coordinator⁹ Chris Lasher¹⁰, link past attitudes toward the red wolf directly to European fairy tales.

CHRIS LASHER: They thought they were - based on all those old stories that we hear, like "Little Red Riding Hood¹¹" and "The Three Little Pigs" and those type of things, that the red wolf was an evil animal that was going to, you know, attack children and attack pets and kill their livestock¹². And nothing's further from the truth.

OPERLE: Lasher works at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. He coordinates¹³ with scientists and naturalists¹⁴ across the country to plan red wolf breeding programs and repopulation efforts. North Carolina is the home of the only wild population of red wolves since wildlife managers started rereleasing them there in 1987. DeLene Beeland wrote a book about red wolves, hoping it would spark more conversation about saving the country's only native wolf species. She thinks the name should be changed to the American red wolf.

DELENE BEELAND: Most people know gray wolves are a European species that crossed into North America in what we call a biological invasion. But they didn't evolve here. And I think that's a really important distinction. You know, this is America's red wolf, and we need to save it.

OPERLE: To release more red wolves into the wild, Lasher says more genetic¹⁵ diversity and a bigger population base are needed. That means more wolves in captivity at places like zoos and recreation areas.

LASHER: We need a minimum of 330 animals under human care to be able to provide animals to multiple recovery locations. Right now, we only have space for about 260 animals under human care.

(SOUNDBITE OF WOLVES BARKING)

OPERLE: The pups at Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area will stay with their parents and siblings¹⁶ for at least 18 months. Then they'll be transferred to a zoo to be part of a breeding program or begin training for release into the wild.

For NPR News, I'm Derek Operle in Cadiz, Ky.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

5 specimens   

n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人

参考例句：

• Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
• The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 extermination   

n.消灭，根绝

参考例句：

• All door and window is sealed for the extermination of mosquito. 为了消灭蚊子，所有的门窗都被封闭起来了。 来自辞典例句
• In doing so they were saved from extermination. 这样一来却使它们免于绝灭。 来自辞典例句

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 lasher   

n.堰，堰下的水溏，鞭打者；装石工

参考例句：

11 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

12 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

13 coordinates   

n.相配之衣物；坐标( coordinate的名词复数 )；（颜色协调的）配套服装；[复数]女套服；同等重要的人（或物）v.使协调，使调和( coordinate的第三人称单数 )；协调；协同；成为同等

参考例句：

• The town coordinates on this map are 695037. 该镇在这幅地图上的坐标是695037。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 naturalists   

n.博物学家( naturalist的名词复数 )；（文学艺术的）自然主义者

参考例句：

• Naturalists differ much in determining what characters are of generic value. 自然学者对于不同性状决定生物的属的含义上，各有各的见解。 来自辞典例句
• This fact has led naturalists to believe that the Isthmus was formerly open. 使许多自然学者相信这个地蛱在以前原是开通的。 来自辞典例句

15 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

16 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分