纪录片《美丽中国》 第13期 锦绣华南（13）（在线收听）

This buddhist temple near Shanghai

这所上海附近的佛庙

has an extraordinary story attached to it

有一段与之相关的传奇故事

In May 2007

2007年5月

A Wild China camera team filmed this peculiar Swinhoe's turtle

一支狂野中国摄制组在这所寺庙的鱼塘里

in the temple's fishpond

拍摄到了这只罕见的斑龟

According to the monks, this turtle had been given to the temple during the Ming dynasty

据寺庙的和尚所说 这只龟在明朝期间被赐予寺庙

over 400 years ago

至今已有400余年历史了

It was thought to be the oldest animal on Earth

它被认为是地球上最老的动物

Soft shell turtles are considerd a god-made delicacy by many Chinese

软壳龟被很多从中国人视为神赐的馈赠

and when it was filmed

在被记录下的时候

this was one of just three Swinhoe's Turtles left alive in China

它已是中国仅存的三只斑龟之一

The rest of its kind

他的同胞们

having been rounded up and eaten

被当作食物剿杀殆尽

Sadly, just a few weeks after filming

悲痛人心的是在拍摄后的短短几周后

this ancient creature died

这只远古的生物与世长辞了

The remaining individuals of its species are currently kept in seperate zoos

他的其他同类现在被散养在不同动物园保护着

and Swinhoe's Turtle is now reckoned extinct in the wild

据测算现在斑龟在自然界中已经灭绝了

In fact, most of the 25 types of fresh water turtles in China

事实上 中国25种淡水龟中

are now vanishingly rare

多数都已然濒危

The answer to extinction

杜绝物种灭绝的唯一途径

is protection

就是加以保护

And there is now a growing network of nature reserves through southern China

这里有贯穿中国南方的不断壮大的自然保护区网络