美国国家公共电台 NPR San Diego Rhino Finds A New Home In Tanzania

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

A rhinoceros² born and raised in San Diego is getting adjusted to its new home in Tanzania. The eastern black rhino¹ could play a key role in efforts to repopulate the critically endangered species in the wild. Erik Anderson of member station KPBS has details.

ERIK ANDERSON, BYLINE³: Senior keeper Sandy Craig unlocked the door to the San Diego Zoo Safari⁴ Park livestock⁵ barn.

(SOUNDBITE OF GATE UNLOCKING)

ANDERSON: More than a hundred rhinos⁶ have been born here, and most roam in natural-style open exhibits with other animals. On this day, Craig and keeper Mike Veale brought treats to an 8-year-old eastern black rhino named Eric, who's confined to the barn. There are only 740 of the animals left in the world.

SANDY CRAIG: Hey. Who's my favorite rhino? Who's my favorite?

ANDERSON: The 2,500-pound bull is a bit sassy, even after months of close-quarter work. It's still too dangerous to get in the same enclosure. But Veale and Craig frequently reach their hands between big metal bars in the livestock barn.

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANGING)

MIKE VEALE: Good boy, Eric. Good boy.

(SOUNDBITE OF METAL CLANGING)

CRAIG: Target.

ANDERSON: That target command gets his attention. And that clang - it's his horn hitting the posts in his pen. Chomping⁷ on his reward is as close as a person might get to a rhino thank you, but that's not what keepers are looking for. Craig and Veale worked for months to train Eric to get him comfortable with them and the crate⁸ that carried him to Africa.

VEALE: Normally, we would just let him be a rhino out in the field and have fun doing his own thing, and we would work with him in a behavioral context.

ANDERSON: But Eric has had several months of special training.

STEVE METZLER: He's not a typical zoo rhino.

ANDERSON: Steve Metzler is the Safari Park's curator of mammals. He says it is not like Eric's been living in a small, confined space.

METZLER: He's been living with Cape⁹ buffalo¹⁰ and with African antelope¹¹ and African birds, and so his life here is actually pretty similar to what his life is going to be in Africa.

ANDERSON: This rhino's parents were prolific¹² breeders, so Eric's genes¹⁴ are overrepresented in the captive U.S. black rhino herd¹⁵. That meant he wasn't likely to be allowed to breed here. But his gene¹³ line doesn't exist in Tanzania, and there's hope that Eric becomes a key part of the effort to reintroduce wild black rhinos to the Western Serengeti. Eric's journey last weekend from San Diego to Tanzania lasted just short of three days - 68 hours.

BEVERLY BURDEN: That was quite the feat¹⁶.

ANDERSON: Beverly "Beezie" Burden works at the African Reserve managed by the Singita Grumeti Fund. We reached her by cell.

BURDEN: It involved two trucks, three different airplanes, five countries and I think something like 10,000 miles. So he came quite a long way, but he did it and we did it, and it happened with a great amount of celebration when he landed here.

ANDERSON: The rhino is getting the local diet and has already been released from a small indoor holding pen to a larger outdoor enclosure.

BURDEN: We also have to monitor and figure out different diseases that we have in Tanzania that he wouldn't have been exposed to, from ticks or tsetse flies. So all of that is being monitored.

ANDERSON: A successful transition to living in Africa is the first part of the mission. Breeding is the second. Conservationists in Tanzania have already identified a female eastern black rhino, and they hope the pair is prolific. For NPR News, I'm Erik Anderson in San Diego.

(SOUNDBITE OF MONO:MASSIVE'S "ATTILA")

1 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

2 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

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 safari   

n.远征旅行(探险、考察)；探险队，狩猎队

参考例句：

• When we go on safari we like to cook on an open fire.我们远行狩猎时，喜欢露天生火做饭。
• They went on safari searching for the rare black rhinoceros.他们进行探险旅行，搜寻那稀有的黑犀牛。

5 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。

6 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

7 chomping   

v.切齿，格格地咬牙，咬响牙齿( chomp的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Elizabeth and Lawrence are chomping at the bit to go on vacation. 伊莉莎白和劳伦斯迫不及待要去度假了。 来自互联网
• She was chomping away on a bagel. 她在嘎蹦嘎嘣地啃着一个硬面包圈。 来自互联网

8 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

9 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

10 buffalo   

n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛

参考例句：

• Asian buffalo isn't as wild as that of America's. 亚洲水牛比美洲水牛温顺些。
• The boots are made of buffalo hide. 这双靴子是由水牛皮制成的。

11 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

12 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

13 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

14 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

15 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

16 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。