VOA慢速英语2012 SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Bonobos Threatened With Extinction

 

 

SCIENCE IN THE NEWS - Bonobos Threatened With Extinction¹

FAITH LAPIDUS: This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English. I’m Faith Lapidus.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. Today we tell about an African ape, the bonobo. Bonobos were the last ape to be discovered. They might also be the first to become extinct, disappearing forever.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: A new genetic² map of the bonobo shows just how close these endangered creatures are to human beings. The map also shows how genetically³ close both bonobos and humans are to chimpanzees.

Chimpanzees and bonobos share almost ninety-nine percent of our DNA⁴ or deoxyribonucleic acid. Chimpanzees, bonobos and humans share a common ancestor. Scientists say ancestors of modern humans split away from the two ape species four point five to seven million years ago.

Chimpanzees and bonobos are very different from each other. Chimps⁵ are generally more aggressive than bonobos. We will tell more about their differences later in this report.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The new genetic map, or genome, may help scientists learn more about how bonobos, chimpanzees and humans developed. The Los Angeles Times newspaper reported that the completion of the bonobo genome now “gives scientists a complete catalog of the DNA of all of the…great apes.”

Scientists already have completed genomes for humans, chimpanzees, gorillas⁶ and orangutans. Researchers plan to map the genomes of many more individual ape species.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Kay Prufer is with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary⁷ Anthropology⁸ in Leipzig, Germany. She was one of the researchers who mapped the bonobo genome. They used DNA from an eighteen-year-old female bonobo named Ulindi, who lives at the Leipzig zoo.

KAY PRUFER: “Bonobos and chimpanzees are both our closest living relatives and that is something that you can clearly see in the genome.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: The researchers found that in three percent of the shared genes⁹, humans are more closely related to bonobos and chimpanzees than the two apes are to each other. The genome showed that bonobos share about ninety-eight point seven percent of their genes with people and ninety-nine point six percent with chimps. That means they are almost as closely-related to humans as they are to chimpanzees.

The genome maps of bonobos and chimpanzees also show that humans are more closely-related to the two great apes than scientists once thought. Here again is researcher Kay Prufer.

KAY PRUFER: “So I think the most interesting thing that I saw in the genome is really this one point five percent of the genome where bonobos are closer to us, and the one point five percent of the genome where chimpanzees are closer to us.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Bonobos may look like small chimpanzees, but they are, in fact, a completely different species. Kay Prufer says the genetic differences between bonobos and chimpanzees may be explained by where the animals live. In the wild, the peace-loving bonobos can only be found in one place – the Democratic Republic of Congo.

KAY PRUFER: “The formation of the Congo River -- which is about two million years ago -- probably it divided up the ancestor in two different parts; the one below the Congo River, which are the bonobos, and the chimpanzees, which live north of the Congo River; this geological event essentially¹⁰ divided up this ancestor and formed these two different species.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Bonobos have lived for millions of years in a place where food is plentiful¹¹. To the north of the river, chimpanzees and gorillas often live close to one another. They compete fiercely for food in a place where there is much less of it. Researchers believe this may explain why chimpanzees are so aggressive and bonobos are not. Researchers say the bonobo genome shows that after the Congo River was formed, the chimps and bonobos did not mate. 

Richard Ruggiero is chief of the Asia and Africa branch at the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. He says the mapping of the bonobo genome is an important development. He believes these findings could be of great help to the bonobos - the world’s most-endangered primates¹³.

RICHARD RUGGIERO: “In the near term, it will raise interest, and that’s very important because awareness¹⁴ is the first step in conservation. And developing the will to do something about it is the second step in conservation. And the third step is understanding what to do about it in order to act on that greater will and awareness.”

Richard Ruggiero says the new research makes him feel better about the future of bonobos.

RICHARD RUGGIERO: “I think this paper brings some of the intuitions we’ve had full circle, and puts numbers and more concrete scientific information on something that is quite obvious to those of us who’ve been closer to them. And so this paper is a wonderful step forward, not only in science but in that important first step of awareness about the plight¹⁵ of this species and what we as humans need to do to ensure that our own activities don’t wipe them out.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: Environmental and wildlife groups are working with local communities in the Congo to create protected areas for bonobos. And a large bonobo sanctuary¹⁶ near Kinshasa is helping¹⁷ orphaned¹⁸ bonobos return to the wild.

A report on the bonobo genome was published in June in the science journal “Nature.” We have placed a link to the report on our website.

(MUSIC)

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Bonobos were the last ape to be discovered, in the nineteen twenties. And they may be the first to die out. Researchers believe fewer than seven thousand bonobos now live in the wild. Scientists and wildlife experts say these great apes provide important information about how humans developed.

As we noted¹⁹ earlier, bonobos look like chimpanzees, but they are a completely different species of primates. They are smaller than chimps, but what is really different about them is their behavior.

Chimps can be aggressive. They kill monkeys, and sometimes each other. But bonobos are peaceful. And they sometimes use sex to settle conflicts. Bonobos can have sex for reasons other than producing young. One researcher said bonobos use sex almost like humans use a handshake.

FAITH LAPIDUS: Male bonobos do not compete with each other and do not fight. And bonobos share food with one another throughout their lives. Chimpanzees usually stop doing that when they become adults. 

Sally Coxe is the president of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative in Washington, DC. She says there are other differences between bonobos and chimps.

SALLY COXE: “Chimpanzees have a male-dominated society, whereas bonobos are matriarchal. The females are in charge. They have a more egalitarian and cooperative society than chimpanzees, and they are the only primate¹² other than humans that has sex not just for procreation. So that’s earned them the moniker as the ‘make love not war’ apes, or the ‘hippie chimps’ as it were.”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Filmmaker Irene Magafan recently completed a documentary called “The Bonobo Connection.” Her film tells about a family of bonobos at the zoo in Columbus, Ohio.

Bonobos are the rarest apes in captivity²⁰. There are fewer than two hundred of the animals kept in zoos in the United States and Europe. And they are the least-studied of all the great apes. Irene Magafan says bonobos are the most endangered African ape.

IRENE MAGAFAN: “Biggest threat to bonobos is by far the bush meat trade. People are hunting bonobos; they're killing²¹ these animals, and they’re taking them back to market to sell them.”

FAITH LAPIDUS: The Bonobo Conservation Initiative has worked with the government and local communities to create two protected nature areas, including one that is larger than the nation of Belgium. Lola Ya Bonobo is the only bonobo sanctuary in the world. It is near Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC. Orphaned bonobos are nursed back to health there. If possible, they are returned to the wild.

Filmmaker Irene Magafan says that, in making sure there is a protected area for bonobos to return to, we are also helping ourselves. She says the animals live in the second-largest rainforest in the world after the Amazon rainforest. She calls these rainforests the “lungs of the earth.” She says, “this is how our earth breathes. The Congo rainforest is where we get a lot of our medicines, and it is where the earth gets a lot of its oxygen, so imagine us losing that!”

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: Sally Coxe of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative gives high praise to the animals. 

SALLY COXE: “Bonobos are so highly intelligent; they are so naturally compassionate²², naturally peaceful, insightful beings that getting to know them personally as I have, they’re like people, and in some ways better than people. We really have so much more to learn about bonobos that we have barely scratched the surface.”

Both she and Ms. Magafan say that by understanding bonobos and how they live, we can learn how to live more peaceful lives ourselves.

(MUSIC)

FAITH LAPIDUS: This SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was reported by VOA’s Julie Taboh and adapted into Special English by Christopher Cruise. Our producer was June Simms. I’m Faith Lapidus.

CHRISTOPHER CRUISE: And I’m Christopher Cruise. Join us again next week for more news about science in Special English on the Voice of America.

 

1 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。

2 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。

3 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

4 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

5 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

6 gorillas   

n.大猩猩( gorilla的名词复数 )；暴徒，打手

参考例句：

• the similitude between humans and gorillas 人类和大猩猩的相像
• Each family of gorillas is led by a great silverbacked patriarch. 每个大星星家族都由一个魁梧的、长着银色被毛的族长带领着。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

8 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

9 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

12 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。

13 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

14 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

15 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。

16 sanctuary   

n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区

参考例句：

• There was a sanctuary of political refugees behind the hospital.医院后面有一个政治难民的避难所。
• Most countries refuse to give sanctuary to people who hijack aeroplanes.大多数国家拒绝对劫机者提供庇护。

17 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。

18 orphaned   

[计][修]孤立

参考例句：

• Orphaned children were consigned to institutions. 孤儿都打发到了福利院。
• He was orphaned at an early age. 他幼年时便成了孤儿。

19 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

20 captivity   

n.囚禁；被俘；束缚

参考例句：

• A zoo is a place where live animals are kept in captivity for the public to see.动物园是圈养动物以供公众观看的场所。
• He was held in captivity for three years.他被囚禁叁年。

21 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

22 compassionate   

adj.有同情心的，表示同情的

参考例句：

• She is a compassionate person.她是一个有同情心的人。
• The compassionate judge gave the young offender a light sentence.慈悲的法官从轻判处了那个年轻罪犯。