VOA慢速英语--科学家试图复活马来西亚的犀牛

Malaysia's last rhinoceros², Iman, died last November. Some skin, eggs and tissue are all that remain of her.

Now, scientists plan to use experimental technology to try to bring back Malaysia's rhinos³ by using cells from Iman and two other dead rhinos.

Muhammad Lokman Md Isa is a biologist at the International Islamic University of Malaysia. He said, "If everything...works well and everybody supports us, it's not impossible."

Malaysia's rhinos were a kind of Sumatran rhinoceros, the smallest among the world's rhinos. These rhinos once lived across Asia. But hunting and forest losses reduced their numbers.

There are about 80 such rhinos left in Indonesia. But, in Malaysia, the species disappeared from the wild in 2015.

Iman was 25 when she died at her home in a protected natural area on Borneo island. Tam, the country's last male rhino¹, died there in May of 2019.

Efforts to get the two to mate and produce young had failed.

John Payne of the Borneo Rhino Alliance has worked to save Malaysia's rhinos for about 40 years. He said that Tam was likely too old to produce good sperm⁴.

"To increase the chances of success, one should get sperm and eggs from the rhinos in Indonesia," he said. But, Payne said Indonesia is not supportive of the idea.

Indonesia's environment ministry⁵ says talks continue on ways to work with conservationists in the neighboring Malaysia.

The Malaysian scientists plan to use cells from the dead rhinos to create an embryo⁶. The embryo will then be placed into a living rhino, or a closely related animal, such as the horse.

The plan is similar to one for the African northern white rhinoceros, of which there are only just two left. Researchers in that effort reported some success in 2018 in producing embryonic⁷ stem cells for the southern white rhino.

But the process is still far from producing a whole new animal, say Thomas Hildebrandt and Cesare Galli, the scientists leading the research.

Even if it worked, the animals' lack of diversity could create a threat to their long-term survival, Galli told Reuters.

Indonesian scientist Arief Boediono is among those helping⁸ in Malaysia. Arief hopes that success there will help his country's rhinos.

"It may take five, 10, 20 years, I don't know," Arief said. "But there has already been some success involving lab rats in Japan, so that means there is a chance."

Japanese researchers have grown teeth and even organs with embryonic stem cells from rats and mice. The end goal of that research is to create replacement⁹ organs for humans who need them.

For now, however, Iman's skin will be used to create a reproduction of the animal. It will be placed alongside a reproduction of Tam in a Borneo museum.

I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

biologist – n. a scientist who studies the life processes of animals, plants etc.

species – n. a particular group of living things that belong together or have some shared quality

sperm – n. a cell that is produced by the male sexual organs and that combines with the female's egg in reproduction

stem cell – n. a simple cell in the body that is able to develop into any one of various kinds of cells (such as blood cells, skin cells, etc.)

diversity – n. the condition of having or being composed of differing elements

museum – n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public

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 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

4 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 embryo   

n.胚胎，萌芽的事物

参考例句：

• They are engaging in an embryo research.他们正在进行一项胚胎研究。
• The project was barely in embryo.该计划只是个雏形。

7 embryonic   

adj.胚胎的

参考例句：

• It is still in an embryonic stage.它还处于萌芽阶段。
• The plan,as yet,only exists in embryonic form.这个计划迄今为止还只是在酝酿之中。

8 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

9 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。