VOA慢速英語：孟買，洛杉磯——這兩座城市都有大型貓科動物

VOA慢速英語：孟買，洛杉磯——這兩座城市都有大型貓科動物

Los Angeles, California, and Mumbai, India, are both famous for movies, clothing, and traffic. But the two large cities are similar in another way: large cats live in and around them.
加利福尼亞的洛杉磯和印度的孟買都以電影、服裝和交通而聞名。但是這兩個大城市在另一個方面也很相似：大型貓科動物生活在它們的周圍。
 
Los Angeles and Mumbai are the world's only major cities where large cats- mountain lions in one, leopards in the other - live. But Audra Huffmeyer, a biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, predicted, "In the future, there's going to be more cities like this, as urban areas further encroach on natural habitats."
洛杉磯和孟買是世界上僅有的大型貓科動物——一個是美洲獅，另一個是豹——生活的主要城市。但加州大學(xué)洛杉磯分校的生物學(xué)家奧德拉·赫夫邁爾預(yù)測，“隨著城市地區(qū)進一步侵占自然棲息地，未來像洛杉磯和孟買這樣的城市將會越來越多。”
 
Los Angeles
洛杉磯
 
Twenty years ago, scientists in Los Angeles placed a tracking collar on a large male mountain lion that was from Santa Monica Mountains, an area next to the city. They named the big cat P1.
20 年前，洛杉磯的科學(xué)家在鄰近城市圣莫尼卡山脈的一頭大型雄性山獅身上放置了追蹤項圈。他們將這只大貓命名為P1。
 
With GPS and camera traps, the scientists followed P1 for seven years. Seth Riley of the National Park Service was part of the effort. Riley said 2009 was the last time they learned about P1.
借助GPS跟蹤和相機陷阱，科學(xué)家們跟蹤了P1七年。國家公園管理局的賽斯·萊利 (Seth Riley) 參與了這項工作。Riley說，2009 年是他們最后一次看到P1 的蹤跡。
 
"There must have been a fight. We found his collar, blood on a rock. And never saw him again. He was reasonably old," Riley said.
“他一定是打架了。我們發(fā)現(xiàn)了他的項圈，還有一塊石頭上的血跡。之后我們再也沒有見過他，他已經(jīng)相當(dāng)老了。”萊利說。
 
Since then, Riley has helped put collars on around 100 more mountain lions in Los Angeles. The big cats in the Los Angeles area have not caused any human deaths but recorded one attack on a child in 2021.
從那以后，萊利幫助洛杉磯大約100多頭美洲獅戴上了項圈。洛杉磯地區(qū)的大型貓科動物沒有造成任何人類死亡，但在2021年記錄了一次對兒童的襲擊。
 
The biggest threat to mountain lions turns out to be inbreeding - mating between members of the same family. Living in small territories separated by highways has caused some males to mate with daughters and granddaughters. That has led to genetic problems such as fertility issues and unusual tails.
對美洲獅的最大威脅是近親繁殖——同一家族成員之間的交配。由于生活在被高速公路隔開的狹小地區(qū)，導(dǎo)致一些雄性山獅被迫與女兒和孫女交配。這導(dǎo)致了遺傳問題，例如生育問題和不尋常的尾巴。
 
Mumbai
孟買
 
In Mumbai, one of the world's most densely populated cities, about 50 leopards have lived in a space suited for 20. Yet the big cats keep mostly out of sight.
在孟買，世界上人口最稠密的城市之一，大約50只豹子擁擠的生活在20只豹的宜居空間里。然而，這種大型貓科動物大部分時間都躲在視線之外。
 
Vidya Athreya is the director of the Wildlife Conservation Society in India. "Because these animals are so secretive, you don't know much about them. You can't just observe them," Athreya said.
Vidya Athreya 是印度野生動物保護協(xié)會的主任。“因為這些動物非常神秘，所以對它們了解不多，我們不能只是觀察它們。”Athreya 說。
 
The leopards' main area is centered around Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The protected area is surrounded on three sides by people, including an area that is home to 100,000 people and around ten leopards.
豹子的主要區(qū)域以桑杰甘地國家公園為中心。保護區(qū)的三邊都被包圍著，其中包括一個擁有10萬人和12只豹子的社區(qū)。
 
Leopards in Mumbai mainly hunted wild dogs that go to garbage dumps outside the forest. They mostly attacked people when cornered or attacked. But in 2010, 20 people in Mumbai died in leopard attacks, said Jagannath Kamble, an official at Mumbai's protected forest.
孟買的豹子主要獵殺去森林外垃圾場的野狗。他們大多在被逼入絕境或受到攻擊時才會攻擊人類。但2010年，孟買有20人死于豹襲擊，孟買受保護森林的官員賈格納特·坎布爾 (Jagannath Kamble) 說。
 
How to deal with big cats?
如何與大型貓科動物一起生活
 
Huffmeyer, who studies mountain lions, said, "If we want to keep these large carnivores around on the planet, we have to learn to live with them."
研究美洲獅的 Huffmeyer 說：“如果我們想讓這些大型食肉動物留在地球上，我們必須學(xué)會與它們一起生活。”
 
Both cities have learned that trying to capture, kill or move the cats away from their habitats is not the answer.
這兩個城市都知道，試圖捕捉、殺死或?qū)⑺鼈儚臈⒌貛ё卟⒉皇墙鉀Q辦法。
 
In Mumbai, officials involved volunteers, nongovernmental groups and the media in a public education program in 2011. Since then, deaths have dropped, and no one has been killed in a leopard attack since 2017.
在孟買，官員在2011年讓志愿者、非政府組織和媒體參與了一項公共教育計劃。自那以后，死亡人數(shù)有所下降，自2017年以來，沒有人類在豹襲擊中喪生。
 
In Los Angeles, research showing the harm caused by limited territories helped fuel a campaign to build a wildlife crossing bridge over U.S. Route 101, one of the city's busiest freeways.
在洛杉磯，研究顯示，美洲獅領(lǐng)土受限造成的傷害，有助于推動在美國101號公路——該市最繁忙的高速公路之一，建造野生動物過境橋的運動。
 
The building began on April 22. When it is finished in three years, the bridge will be covered in native plants and include special sound walls to reduce light and noise for the passing animals. It will connect the Santa Monica Mountains and Simi Hills, enlarging the area for mountain lions.
這座建筑于4月22日動工。等它在三年內(nèi)完工后，這座橋?qū)⒈槐镜刂参锼采w，還包括特殊的隔音墻，以盡量減少人類對夜行動物的光和噪音干擾。它將連接圣莫尼卡山脈和西米山，擴大常住美洲獅的棲息地。
 
Beth Pratt, a California director at National Wildlife Federation, said, "Relocation and killing make conflict worse." Avoidance is the safest strategy, she said.
加州國家野生動物聯(lián)合會主任貝絲普拉特說：“搬遷和殺戮只會使沖突變得更糟。” 她說，避免才是最安全的策略。
 
"These big cats are shy - they tend to avoid human contact as much as they can. They're really extreme introverts of the animal kingdom."
“這些大型貓科動物都很害羞——它們盡可能避免與人類接觸。它們在動物王國里真的是極內(nèi)向的。”
 
I'm John Russell.
約翰·拉塞爾報道。