VOA慢速英语2021 美国黄石公园最年长灰熊去世（在线收听）

Oldest Known Grizzly Bear in Yellowstone Park Dies

美国黄石公园最年长灰熊去世

Animal biologists in the U.S. state of Wyoming recently confirmed the death of the oldest-known grizzly bear in Yellowstone National Park.

美国怀俄明州的动物生物学家最近证实，黄石国家公园已知最古老的灰熊已经死亡。

Grizzly is another name for the North American brown bear. This bear was 34 years old. Most male bears do not live that long. But he outlived the oldest-known female bears. He was known to park biologists as Grizzly 168.

灰熊又叫北美棕熊。这只熊已经34岁。大多数公熊的寿命都没有这么久。但他比已知最长寿的母熊还长寿。公园生物学家称它为编号168号灰熊。

He was first captured and given a tattoo with his number in 1989. Officials made the decision to give the bear a lethal injection because of his poor health. The bear had lost a lot of weight and was killing young farm animals. Healthy male bears weigh about 200 kilograms. This bear only weighed 77 kilograms.

一1989年，他第一次被捕获，并在身上纹上了自己的编号。由于这只熊的健康状况不佳，工作人员决定给它实施安乐死。这只熊的体重已经下降了很多，而且还在猎杀农场里的小动物。健康的公熊体重约200公斤。这只熊体重只剩77公斤。

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says healthy grizzly bears will sometimes chase and kill young animals for food. They also eat berries, roots, insects and fish. This old bear, however, was not able to eat much. He was so old that he had lost most of his teeth.

美国鱼类和野生动物管理局表示，健康的灰熊有时会追逐并猎杀小动物以获取食物。它们也吃浆果、树根、昆虫和鱼。然而，这只年老的灰熊无法大量进食。他年纪太大，大部分牙齿已经脱落。

Recently, the bear would attack young cows. The bear would crush them with his jaws but would not leave any bite marks.

最近，这只灰熊会攻击小牛。灰熊会用下颚碾压猎物，但不会留下任何咬痕。

Officials said it was a hard decision to kill the bear because there are so few. Hundreds of years ago, there were lots of grizzly bears in North America. But as land was developed, many bears were killed.

官员们表示，由于灰熊的数量稀少，做出注射的决定非常艰难。几百年前，北美生存着很多灰熊。但随着土地的开发，许多灰熊被猎杀。

The Fish and Wildlife Service declared them threatened in 1975 when there were very few known bears in the United States. Most of them were in Alaska. Now they are protected and the population is increasing. There are still, however, only a little more than 1,000 grizzly bears in the U.S. outside of Alaska.

鱼类和野生动物管理局在1975年宣布灰熊的生存受到威胁，当时美国已知的灰熊数量非常少。他们大多生活在阿拉斯加。现在它们受到了保护，数量也在增加。然而，除了阿拉斯加以外，美国只有1000多只灰熊。

Grizzly 168 leaves an important legacy. He did his part to help the population of bears recover. In his lifetime, researchers estimate he fathered at least three groups of baby bears.

这只编号为168号的灰熊留下了重要的遗产。他为帮助灰熊的数量恢复贡献了一份力。研究人员估计，他一生中至少育有三个幼崽。

I'm Dan Friedell.

丹·弗里戴尔为您播报。