国家地理 大熊猫的困境（在线收听）

There is just something about them. Maybe it's the way they plow through bamboo with no regard to dinner table etiquette, or maybe it's the leisurely strolls. From the outset, a panda's life appears to be pretty easy. But appearances do not tell the whole story.

他们身上有某种东西。也许是他们不顾餐桌礼仪地在竹子里扒来扒去的样子，也许是悠闲的散步。熊猫的生活看上去就很轻松。但表象不能说明全部。

Their natal habitat in China continues to disappear. With about 1,000 left living in the wild, giant pandas are one of the most critically endangered species in the world. As a result, conservationists are doing their best to get captive pandas to reproduce, a difficult task given the animal's biology.

在中国它们的出生栖息地不断消失。目前，野生大熊猫约有1000只，大熊猫是世界上濒危程度最严重的物种之一。因此，自然资源保护主义者正在尽最大努力让圈养的熊猫繁殖，鉴于大熊猫的生物学特性，这是一项艰巨的任务。

But when you have a female that only cycles once a year, you know, if you do not get her to breed that year, you have to wait again, so that's a big challenge with pandas.

但是一只雌性熊猫一年只排卵一次，如果那一年你不让她繁殖，你必须再等，所以这对熊猫来说是个很大的挑战。

Rebecca Snyder is the curator of giant panda research at Zoo Atlanta where Yang Yang and his female counterpart Lun Lun are big attractions, both were closely studied from the moment they were born. Yang Yang, the male, was kept with his mother for almost a full year, a departure of captive breeding programs which usually separate cubs from their mothers at a much earlier age.

丽贝卡·斯奈德(Rebecca Snyder)是亚特兰大动物园大熊猫研究馆的馆长，那里的洋洋和雌性熊猫伦伦吸引了很多游客，这两只熊猫从出生开始就成了研究人员的研究对象。雄性熊猫洋洋和它的母亲一起生活了将近一年，这与圈养繁殖计划背道而驰。根据圈养繁殖计划，通常在幼崽很小的时候就要与母亲分开。

We think that removing these cubs at a very young age maybe prevents them from developing properly, socially that they are not having a chance to socialize with their mothers or learn from their mothers and that might be one of the reasons that some of them are not successful in breeding later in life.

我们认为这些幼崽很小的时候就离开妈妈，也许会导致他们无法正常发育，社交方面也无法正常成长，他们没有机会与母亲进行社交，也没机会或向母亲学习，这可能就造成了其中一些大熊猫成年之后繁育不成功。

Snyder and her colleagues recently tested that theory. The female Lun Lun, went into estrus, sexually mature, she was now ready to mate. But Yang Yang just was't getting the message.

斯奈德和她的同事最近验证了这一理论。雌性大熊猫伦伦，进入发情期，已经性成熟，她现在做好了准备可以交配。但是洋洋并没有发现这件事。

She did everything she could do basically like suddenly slapped and everything you could expect. And he again was very interested in her, and you know, did everything he could do, too, but I think it's just going to take him a little while longer to catch up with her.

她做了所有能做的事情，比如突然拍打，还有你能想到的一切。他又对她很感兴趣，他也做了他能做的一切，但我认为他要花更长的时间才能赶上她。

These pandas who were raised together are being forced to go their separate ways whenever romance is not in the air. The giant panda is by nature solitary. So to simulate life in the wild, scientists at Zoo Atlanta separate Yang Yang and Lun Lun once a month for 24 hours. Researchers are finding that the male and female have distinctly different responses to their solitary confinement.

这些在一起长大的熊猫，每当空气中浪漫的气息散去时，就被迫分道扬镳。大熊猫生性独居。因此，为了模拟野外生活，亚特兰大动物园的科学家们在每月分离一次洋洋和伦伦，每次24小时。研究人员发现，雄性和雌性对单独居住的反应截然不同。

She used to show a little bit more overreaction when they were separated, at least go and look at him if she could, or sometimes scratch or paw a little bit at the barrier. But the last few times, she has not seemed to be particularly upset by being apart from him. He on the other hand, has been upset each time, really seems to prefer to be with her.

分开的时候，她会表现出更多的反应过度，至少她会去看看他，或者有时会在栅栏上挠抓几下。但最近几次，她似乎并没有因为离开他而特别难过。另一方面，他每次都心烦意乱，似乎真的更喜欢和她在一起。

So while Lun Lun is acting like a spurned lover, after repeated separations, Yang Yang may be starting to understand what he is missing. In an echo of human behavior, when she plays hard to get, he suddenly can not get enough of her.

因此，伦伦表现得像一个被抛弃的恋人，而在多次分居之后，洋洋可能才开始明白他失去了什么。与人类行为相似的是，她欲擒故纵，他突然对她欲罢不能。

It gets a good sign for the future. That's the way males should be, generally for them to be good breeders, usually they should be interested in the female, wanting to interact with the female.

这对未来来说是个好兆头。雄性就应该是这样的，一般来说，为了成为好的繁殖者，它们应该对雌性感兴趣，想要和雌性互动。

Their lives may look easy, but for giant pandas, nothing is as easy as it seems.

他们的生活看起来很轻松，但对大熊猫来说，没有什么事情像看上去的那么轻松。