VOA科学技术2023 科学家研究一头3500年前的棕熊遗骸（在线收听）

A team of Russian scientists recently examined something extremely unusual: the frozen body of a brown bear that lived thousands of years ago.

一个俄罗斯科学家小组最近检查了一件非常不寻常的东西：一头生活在数千年前的棕熊的冷冻尸体。

The cold preserved the body almost perfectly in the frozen lands of eastern Siberia for almost 3,500 years.

寒冷将熊的尸体几乎完好地保存在西伯利亚东部冰冻的土地上近3500年。

Maxim Cheprasov is the laboratory chief at the Lazarev Mammoth Museum Laboratory at the North-Eastern Federal University in Yakutsk, eastern Siberia.

马克西姆·切普拉索夫是位于西伯利亚东部雅库茨克的东北联邦大学拉扎列夫猛犸象博物馆实验室的实验室主任。

"This find is absolutely unique: the complete body of an ancient brown bear," he said.

“这一发现绝对是独一无二的：一具古代棕熊的完整尸体，”他说。

In 2020, reindeer herders found the female bear on an island in the Arctic Ocean.

2020年，驯鹿牧民在北冰洋的一个岛屿上发现了这头母熊。

Part of the animal was sticking out of the frozen ground, or permafrost, on Bolshoy Lyakhovsky Island.

在大利亚霍夫岛上，这只动物的一部分躯体从冻土中伸出来。

The island is around 4,600 kilometers east of Moscow.

该岛位于莫斯科以东约4600公里处。

Because it was found just east of the Bolshoy Etherican River, it has been named the Etherican brown bear.

因为它是在Bolshoy Etherican河以东被发现的，所以它被命名为Ethercan棕熊。

Low temperatures helped preserve the bear's soft tissue for 3,460 years.

低温帮助熊的软组织保存了3460年。

It also let the scientists know about its final meals - bird feathers and plants.

它还让科学家们了解了它的最后一餐——鸟类的羽毛和植物。

The bear is 1.55 meters tall and weighs nearly 78 kilograms.

这只熊身高1.55米，体重近78公斤。

"For the first time, a carcass with soft tissues has fallen into the hands of scientists, giving us the opportunity to study the internal organs and examine the brain," said Cheprasov.

切普拉索夫说：“这是第一次，一具带有软组织的尸体落入科学家的手中，这让我们有机会研究内脏和检查大脑。”

The scientific team in Siberia looked at the bear's brain, skin and internal organs so they could study its cells, genes, viruses and other organisms that lived inside it.

这支西伯利亚科学团队研究了这头熊的大脑、皮肤和内脏，以便研究它的细胞、基因、病毒和其他生活在它体内的微生物。

"Genetic analysis has shown that the bear does not differ in mitochondrial DNA from the modern bear from the north-east of Russia – Yakutia and Chukotka," Cheprasov said.

切普拉索夫说：“基因分析表明，这头熊的线粒体DNA与俄罗斯东北部雅库特和楚科奇的现代熊没有区别。”

He said the bear was about three to four years old when it died from an injury to its back.

他说，这头熊因背部受伤而死亡，当时只有大约三到四岁。

It is unclear how the bear came to be on the island, which is now divided from the mainland by a 50-kilometer-wide body of water.

目前尚不清楚这头熊是如何来到这个岛屿上的，该岛现在与大陆被50公里宽的水域隔开。

It may have crossed over ice, it might have swum over, or the island might still have been part of the mainland.

它可能越过了冰层，可能游过去了，或者该岛当时可能仍然是大陆的一部分。

The Lyakhovsky Islands contain some of the richest treasures in the world for the field of paleontology.

大利亚霍夫群岛拥有一些世界上古生物学领域最丰富的宝藏。

The area attracts both scientists and ivory traders hunting for the remains of woolly mammoths, a kind of hairy elephant that disappeared long ago.

该地区吸引了寻找猛犸象遗骸的科学家和象牙贸易商，猛犸象是一种很久以前就消失了的的多毛象。

I'm Jill Robbins.

吉尔·罗宾斯为您播报。