美国国家公共电台 NPR A Mountain Lion Kitten Is Found, Leading To Excitement And Concern

 

LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

OK, now for some cute but worrying science from the animal world. The Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area posted a photo earlier this week that is insanely adorable. It's of a newly found mountain lion kitten. Its eyes are still a milky¹ blue. But the birth of the kitten amidst the urban sprawl² of Southern California is exciting to wildlife lovers and biologists. But there's a sobering element to this story, as NPR's Nathan Rott found out.

NATHAN ROTT, BYLINE³: Operation kitten chase.

With our guide...

JEFF SIKICH: I'm Jeff Sikich, biologist for the National Park Service.

ROTT: ...And resident expert, Sikich has been tracking mountain lions in these steep chaparral-covered canyons⁵ almost daily for more than a decade, hiking or driving, like we are today, along the maze⁶ of busy freeways and residential⁷ roads and homes that surround, bisect and crisscross this National Recreation Area.

SIKICH: Yeah, we're the largest urban national park.

ROTT: With the Pacific Coast on one side and the greater Los Angeles sprawl on the other, it's a big deal, Sikich says, that these large carnivores are able to successfully breed.

SIKICH: So I'm plugging her frequency in now.

ROTT: Sikich has already tagged the kitten we're looking for - P-54, as she is named - with a tiny VHF transmitter.

SIKICH: Yeah, so that's her. Right there you can hear that pulse rate going.

ROTT: Which means the kitten is somewhere in the scrub nearby. Now, I'm not going to bury the lead any more here for you. We're not going to actually see this kitten. She's down to the bottom of a steep overgrown canyon⁴, best as we can tell, and Mom is there too, so not really a good idea to go marching in.

Knowing that I won't see the kitten, can you confirm for me, how cute is it?

SIKICH: They're...

ROTT: You don't audibly go awww.

SIKICH: I don't think I do. No, I don't. But it's definitely, you know, it's super cute cool.

ROTT: Oh, do you hear that? He almost said it. But really, this isn't entirely⁸ a feel-good story. More than likely, P-54, our cute little kitten, is the result of inbreeding because this place is like an island. Surrounded by all those people and roads, mountain lions have a nearly impossible time coming and going, which limits the available gene⁹ pool. That can lead to birth defects.

SIKICH: Holes in the heart besides, like, kinked tails and colics.

ROTT: Sikich says they've seen that with the Florida panther. And research shows that if nothing changes here, the Santa Monica mountain lions could get to the same point in just 35 years. From there, he says...

SIKICH: We can see pretty much 99 percent extinction¹⁰ within 15 years on average.

ROTT: The park service and outside groups have been lobbying for a nature overpass¹¹ that would give wildlife a bridge from these mountains to others that would hopefully allow for more genetic¹² diversity and give our cute little kitten, P-54, more of a chance. Nathan Rott, NPR News.

1 milky   

adj.牛奶的，多奶的；乳白色的

参考例句：

• Alexander always has milky coffee at lunchtime.亚历山大总是在午餐时喝掺奶的咖啡。
• I like a hot milky drink at bedtime.我喜欢睡前喝杯热奶饮料。

2 sprawl   

vi.躺卧，扩张，蔓延；vt.使蔓延；n.躺卧，蔓延

参考例句：

• In our garden,bushes are allowed to sprawl as they will.在我们园子里，灌木丛爱怎么蔓延就怎么蔓延。
• He is lying in a sprawl on the bed.他伸开四肢躺在床上。

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 canyon   

n.峡谷，溪谷

参考例句：

• The Grand Canyon in the USA is 1900 metres deep.美国的大峡谷1900米深。
• The canyon is famous for producing echoes.这个峡谷以回声而闻名。

5 canyons   

n.峡谷( canyon的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This mountain range has many high peaks and deep canyons. 这条山脉有许多高峰和深谷。 来自辞典例句
• Do you use canyons or do we preserve them all? 是使用峡谷呢还是全封闭保存？ 来自互联网

6 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

9 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。

10 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

11 overpass   

n.天桥，立交桥

参考例句：

• I walked through an overpass over the road.我步行穿过那条公路上面的立交桥。
• We should take the overpass when crossing the road.我们过马路应走天桥。

12 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。