科学美国人60秒 如何避免成为猎豹的盘中餐?(1)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Jason Goldman.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是我是杰森·戈德曼。

The cheetah¹ is the rarest big cat in Africa.

猎豹是非洲最稀有的大型猫科动物。

Less than 7,000 adults remain on the planet.

地球上还剩下不到7000只成年猎豹。

Think of it this way: for every cheetah on the planet, there are more than four Starbucks coffee shops.

可以这样想:地球上每有一只猎豹，就有4家以上的星巴克咖啡店。

The most important cheetah stronghold is in Central Namibia.

猎豹最重要的中心地在纳米比亚中部。

But the cheetahs² there don’t live within national parks.

但那里的猎豹并不生活在国家公园里。

They live on privately³ owned farmland.

他们生活在私有的农田里。

“There were farmers having huge problems with cheetahs, losing a lot of livestock⁴, and there were other farmers who actually didn’t have any problem at all.”

“有些农民在猎豹上遇到了很大的问题，他们失去了很多牲畜，而有些农民实际上根本没有遇到任何问题。”

Ecologist Joerg Melzheimer from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin assumed, at first, that all farmers had cheetah trouble.

起初，柏林莱布尼茨动物园和野生动物研究所的生态学家约尔格·梅尔茨海默(Joerg Melzheimer)认为，所有的农民都有猎豹的麻烦。

It was just that some were more likely to complain about it.

只是有些农民更有可能抱怨麻烦。

But after tracking 50 collared cheetahs, he began to suspect that there really was a pattern to their killing⁵.

但在追踪了50只带项圈的猎豹后，他开始怀疑猎豹的杀戮确实有某种模式。

By the time his team had data from 106 cheetahs, collared over the course of a decade, not only was he certain that cheetahs were more likely to kill in some places than in others but that he could solve the problem.

当他的团队在十年的时间里收集了106只带项圈的猎豹的数据时，他不仅确定猎豹在某些地方比在其他地方更有可能捕杀，而且他可以解决这个问题。

“We indeed found these communication hubs of cheetahs, which are spread evenly across the landscape with a high activity of cheetahs within the hubs.”

“我们确实发现了这些猎豹的通信中心，它们均匀地分布在整个地区，在中心内猎豹的活动非常活跃。”

Cheetahs are an asocial species, but they still need to trade information.

猎豹是一种非群居物种，但它们仍然需要交换信息。

“They don’t meet physically—typically not.

“猎豹不会身体接触——通常不会。

But they leave marks at prominent landmarks⁶ where they use urine or feces to communicate with each other.”

但它们会在显著的地标上留下标记，在那里它们会用尿液或粪便相互交流。”

Think of it as a coffee shop for cats, where animals trade gossip.

把它想象成猫咪咖啡馆，动物们在这里交换小道消息。

1 cheetah   

n.(动物)猎豹

参考例句：

• The cheetah is generally credited as the world's fastest animal.猎豹被公认是世界上跑得最快的动物。
• The distribution of the cheetah ranges from Africa to Central Asia.印度豹的足迹遍及从非洲到中亚的广大地区。

2 cheetahs   

n.（奔跑极快的）非洲猎豹( cheetah的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Unlike lions or cheetahs, leopards are secretive, solitary cats. 花豹不像狮子或印度豹，是属于较神秘而隐居的大猫。 来自互联网
• Among this lot are cheetahs, lions, leopards, rhinoceroses, spotted hyenas and elephants. 印度豹、狮子、花豹、犀牛、斑点土狼、大象等，都是此地的居民。 来自互联网

3 privately   

adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地

参考例句：

• Some ministers admit privately that unemployment could continue to rise.一些部长私下承认失业率可能继续升高。
• The man privately admits that his motive is profits.那人私下承认他的动机是为了牟利。

4 livestock   

n.家畜，牲畜

参考例句：

• Both men and livestock are flourishing.人畜两旺。
• The heavy rains and flooding killed scores of livestock.暴雨和大水淹死了许多牲口。

5 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。

6 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句