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Wolves Need More Room to Roam 狼群需要更多生存空间

Wolves are vital players in various ecosystems¹. So we humans need to develop a better tolerance² for wolves. And the wolves need more space. That’s according to a new study in the journal Nature Communications.

狼是各种生态系统中的重要生物。所以人类需要培养对狼的更宽宏的忍耐力。而狼群则需要更多空间。此观点依据《自然通讯》杂志上的一项新研究所得出的结论。

“The key implication here is it sort of begins to reframe the entire discussion of conservation, because historically, our model has been almost a postage stamp model, where we protect certain areas and try to maintain intact assemblages of animals.”

“这其中的关键影响是，它似乎开始重塑关于整个自然环境保护的问题了。因为从历史上看，人类塑造的形象更像是一个邮票模型——我们守护自身所在的区域，并试图维持动物群体的原生性。”

\University of Washington ecologist Aaron Wirsing, who took part in the study. He says the findings could lead to changes in how wildlife and land managers create policy.

华盛顿大学的生态学家亚伦·维尔辛参与了这项研究。他表示，这些发现可能会改变野生动物和土地管理者制定政策的方式。

“We need to allow predators³ to occupy more landscapes than just remote, protected areas, on the other hand, we also need to heavily manage them, recognizing that they do conflict with people.”

“我们需要让猎食者占领更多地区，而不仅仅是偏远的、受保护的地区。另一方面，我们还需要对它们进行严格管理，认识到它们的确与人类有冲突。”

That’s why Wirsing is not calling for wolves to simply roam free, throughout North America, Europe or Australia—all places the researchers examined that have dealt with conflicts among people, their livestock⁴ and wolves. But wildlife management plans should take into account that wolves, although they do sometimes kill ranch⁵ animals, can also prevent such deaths—by driving away other predators.

这就是为何维尔辛并不呼吁让狼群在北美、欧洲或澳大利亚自由自在地游荡，研究人员调查过的所有地方都涉及了人类、人类饲养的牲畜和狼之间的冲突。但是野生动物管理计划应该考虑到狼能通过驱赶其他捕食者，来阻止农场动物被捕杀，尽管它们有时也会猎食农场动物。

“Worldwide, smaller mesopredators like coyotes, jackals and such, actually themselves prey⁶ pretty heavily on livestock and can cause a lot of economic damage.”

“世界范围内，像郊狼、豺狼之类的小型捕食者，实际上需要捕食大量牲畜，造成较多的经济损失。”

So wolves could become a net positive in the relationship with people. If they’re given a chance.

所以狼能在与人的关系中扮演一个积极的角色。如果给它们机会的话。