科学美国人60秒 如何避免成为猎豹的盘中餐?(2)

Even though these communication hubs only comprise around 10 percent of the landscape, cheetahs² spend most—sometimes all—of their time within them.

尽管这些通信中心只占整个地区的10%，但猎豹大部分时间——有时是全部时间——都在这里度过。

“This is basically a long-term tradition, which is passed on from cheetah¹ generation to cheetah generation.

“这基本上是一个长期的传统，从猎豹一代传到一代。

Some of these communication hubs are basically known—or let’s say the marking locations—the marking trees were known by the farmers for 60, 70 years.

其中一些通信中心基本上是已知的，或者说标记位置—标记树，农民们已经知道有六七十年了。

The grandfather of the current farmer already knew the marking trees in this area.”

这位农民的祖父已经知道了这一地区的标记树。”

What the farmers never realized is that only some farms overlap³ with the cheetahs’ communication hubs.

农民们从未意识到的是，只有一些农场与猎豹的通信中心重叠。

Melzheimer thought that if those farmers relocated their most vulnerable herds⁴, it could be a huge help.

梅尔茨海默认为，如果这些农民重新安置他们最脆弱的畜群，这将是一个巨大的帮助。

He remembers the first farmer he tried to convince.

他还记得他试图说服的第一个农民。

“I told him, ‘Look, Wilfred, I have the idea that they are actually there because of these marking trees.

“我告诉他，‘看，威尔弗雷德，我觉得猎豹确实在那里，因为这些标记树。

And you happen to have your small calves⁵ exactly in the same area.

你恰好把你的小牛放在同一区域。

Let’s try to move your herds out of this area and keep them somewhere else.

让我们试着把你的牛群移出这个地区，让它们呆在别的地方。

And then let’s measure the losses.’

然后我们来衡量一下损失。’

And he was laughing at me.

他还嘲笑我。

He said, ‘Nice idea, but I’m not sure whether this is going to work. They will probably follow the calves.’

他说，‘好主意，但我不确定这是否行得通。 猎豹可能会跟着小牛。”

So we tried this, and it actually worked.

所以我们尝试了这个方法，它确实有效。

And he earned much more money because he lost less calves.”

而且他赚了更多的钱，因为他失去的小牛更少了。”

After that, 35 more farmers agreed to try it out.

此后，又有35名农民同意实验一下。

In all, the number of calves lost to cheetah predation fell by a whopping 86 percent.

总的来说，被猎豹捕食而损失的小牛数量下降了86%。

Of course, some cattle outside of communication hubs were still lost to cheetahs, but it was at a low enough level that most farmers seemed to tolerate it.

当然，一些通信中心外的牛还是被猎豹捕走了，但损失数量已经很低了，大多数农民似乎都能承受。

What this means is that cheetahs aren’t actively⁶ following the cattle; they simply take advantage of whatever food is available nearby.

这意味着猎豹不会主动跟随牛群; 它们只是利用附近任何可获得的食物。

If it’s not cattle, then they go after wild ungulates like springbok or oryx or kudu.

如果不是牛，它们就会去猎杀像跳羚、羚羊或捻角羚这样的野生有蹄类动物。

There are no so-called problem cheetahs, who intentionally⁷ seek out cattle. Instead there are “problem areas.”

没有所谓的问题猎豹，它们故意寻找牛。 相反存在“问题领域”。

That’s a much easier problem to solve, and it’s one that doesn’t result in farmers killing⁸ cheetahs.

这是一个更容易解决的问题，而且它不会导致农民杀死猎豹。

Melzheimer is now hard at work collecting tracking data from cheetahs in other parts of Africa to see whether his findings hold up in other ecosystems⁹.

梅尔茨海默现在正努力收集非洲其他地区猎豹的追踪数据，以确定他的发现是否适用于其他生态系统。

So often it seems as if the goals of wildlife conservation are incompatible¹⁰ with the goals of commerce.

野生动物保护的目标似乎常常与商业目标不相容。

But this story reveals that in fact biodiversity and agriculture can coexist.

但这个故事表明，事实上生物多样性和农业是可以共存的。

“Our case is really one of these nice examples where it can go hand in hand.”

“我们的案例确实是一个很好的例子，生物多样性和农业可以携手并进。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是我是杰森·戈德曼。

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 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

4 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

5 calves   

n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子，腓；腿肚子( calf的名词复数 )；牛犊；腓；小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 )；（冰川）崩解；生（小牛等），产（犊）；使（冰川）崩解

参考例句：

• a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
• The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

7 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。

8 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。

9 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

10 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。