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鬼狒濒临绝种 反映气候变迁

Scientists are studying a rare African monkey that’s endangered both from climate change and humans. They hope the primate’s past can give clues to the future effects of rising temperatures.

科学家正在研究一种稀有的非洲猴，这种猴因为气候变迁和人类而濒临绝种。科学家希望，藉由研究这种灵长类的过去帮助我们了解气温升高给未来所带来的影响。

It’s called the Mandrillus leucophaeus, or drill for short, and lives in the equatorial rainforests of Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon. It’s not the first time the drill has faced problems from climate change. University of Oregon Anthropology¹ Professor Nelson Ting says about 3,000 to 5,000 years ago, there was a large decline in their population.

这种灵长类名为鬼狒，生活在尼日利亚、赤道几内亚和喀麦隆的赤道雨林。这其实不是鬼狒第一次面临气候变迁带来的问题。俄勒冈州大学人类学教授尼尔森.丁说，大约在3到5千年前，鬼狒的数目骤减。

“Around this time period, you see a dramatic loss in forest coverage² in this region that the drill inhabit. And the reason for the forest loss was because of similar conditions that are projected in these regions in the future. So a very warm climate in combination with an increased seasonality³ and an increased aridity,” he said.

丁教授说：“大概在这段时期，这地区内鬼狒所栖息的雨林面积巨幅缩减。这些地区雨林消失的原因就跟未来将发生的一样，也就是非常温暖的气候加上季节性和干旱增加。”

The vegetation changes and becomes sparser⁴ as temperatures rise and conditions get drier.

随着气温上升、气候变干，植物也发生变化，变得更为稀少。

“Knowing more about the natural history and ecology will definitely help designating conservation priorities for an animal that is really struggling with a lot of different pressures right now,” said Ting, who is the lead author of the drill study that appeared in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

丁教授是鬼狒研究的主要作者。这份研究发表在《生态学和演化》期刊。丁教授说：“了解更多自然史和生态学绝对有助于为某种目前受到多种生存压力的动物设定保育的优先性。”

Now like then

Conditions now appear similar to what happened 3,000 to 5,000 years ago. There’s rainforest loss, rising temperatures and dryer⁵ weather. But back then, the Bantu people began migrating from the Nigeria/Cameroon area. They introduced agriculture and iron smelting⁶ as they migrated, which may have also contributed to forest loss. Whether the Bantu hunted the drill is unclear, but its meat is certainly prized today.

目前的情况与3到5千年前很类似。同样都有雨林消失、气温上升和更干的天气。但当时，班图人开始从尼日利亚和喀麦隆地区迁出。他们在迁移过程中将农业和铸铁引进到这里，这可能也导致了雨林消失。不清楚班图人是否有猎捕鬼狒，但鬼狒的肉在今天一定是很珍贵。

Ting said, “The larger concern right now for the drill is not actually climate change. That certainly is a concern down the road. But probably hunting is actually the largest problem with the drill right now. If we can protect large areas of forest, that will lead to protection of habitat. If we can protect it effectively, we can protect the animal from hunting. And then we can also buffer⁷ any kind of future effects of climate change as well. That would be ideal.”

丁教授说：“目前大家对鬼狒更大的担心其实不是气候变迁。气候变迁以后一定会是令人担忧的事。但现在对鬼狒来说也许打猎才是最大的问题。如果我们能保护大面积的雨林，就是在保护他们的栖息地。如果我们能有效地保护栖息地，我们就是在保护鬼狒免于被猎杀。然后我们也能缓冲气候变迁在未来的影响。这会是很理想的。”

He added that in science the key to the present and the future is often found in the past. Scientists say the history of the drill could help them understand what could lie in store for Africa’s rainforests over the next 100 years.

丁教授说，在科学领域里，现在和未来的关键经常是从过去发现的。科学家们说，鬼狒的过去能够帮助他们了解未来10年的非洲雨林可能发生什么事。