英语听力：自然百科 海龟拯救行动（在线收听） |
Young loggerhead sea turtles routinely migrate thousands of miles. But these turtles are starting their migration a bit early while still in the egg. In a typical year, as many as half of all baby sea turtles may die. Sea birds swoop down and snatch them as they race from nests to the sea. Predators lurk in the waves, and the surf can quickly end their young lives. Now a giant oil spill awaits them in the Gulf of Mexico. So biologists decided to take a risky step and move more than 70 thousand turtles away from the Gulf to the Atlantic coast of Florida. This is the largest attempt of its kind. Hundreds of volunteers are joining scientists and government wildlife officials to move nests like this loggerhead nest in Gulf shores, Alabama. "This is a unprecedented plan, and it is based on the best science on what we need to do for these turtles at this time because to release them now would be even riskier as they go out there and then they have to encounter the oil."
Though they usually hatch in the Gulf, these little guys won't be in completely unfamiliar habitat.
"There are loggerheads in the Atlantic and many of these hatchlings, if they were to go from here in a normal season, they would end up in the Atlantics."
It’s a risky operation. Previous attempts at animal relocation have, at best, a mixed record. But backers say the hatchlings would almost surely die in the gulf.
"We are giving them the best chance they can have for survival, because a turtle is an air breather and they have to come up for air at some point. And the air… And when they come up for air, we just hope they don't come up in oil, I mean, if we let them go here. But if they go into the Alantic, they are gonna make it, of course. "
Just surviving the trip to finish ecubation at Canadian's basin center in Florida isn’t assured.
"Turtle eggs are delicate and there’s several moments in time when it's less risky and the first time is when they are first laid, when the eggs are still pliable and still ... they're still floating around inside the egg. But if you miss that really short window, it's best to leave them untill the point where we are today, which is about ten days before we think they would hatch, where the hatchlings are mostly formed."
Volunteers from the turtle rescue group share the beach, gingerly take out each ping-pang ball size egg from the nest about two-feet under the sand. One rescuer draws lines with the grease pencil on top of each egg to show which side was up in the nest. The other lifts each out and softly tucks it into a sand-and-egg-filled cooler. Carefully keeping it in the same position from the nest. The young turtles can drown in fluid in the egg. Temperature shifts or vibration can also kill the turtles. The nest is far enough from the water that no oil has reached it. But Ingram says the oil's effect would likely be lethal for young turtles.
"Their food source, which is a microorganism, whether its plankton or zooplankton, jellyfish at cross stations, they are all being affected by the oil also, and so their food source is limited as well as the chemicals in the water. "
After placing all the eggs in the coolers, biologists loaded them on a special air-cushion van for transport. The institute for marine mammal studies in Gulf port Mississippi knows firsthand the oil's danger for turtles. It is caring for injured turtles found in the Gulf. It has also collected hundreds of dead turtles though necropsies have not yet determined why they died. But the spill is a top suspect.
"It has taken over a very large portion of their habitat, which is thousands of square miles, and what we are seeing then is as their habitat is diminishing. They are moving in closer to inland waters. And that is why we are seeing a large number of them either stranded or be caught on hooks."
So Langy says the number of strandings is up tenfold from a normal year.
"Oil is not just under the sheen, but it could also be resoluble fractions inhalation, and eating contaminated food, so when your house is on fire, what do you do? you take your valuables and go somewhere and hope they survive. I hope that, the habitat that is provided for them, is appropriate, because once those animals go in…" |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/zrbaike/2010/259143.html |