科学美国人60秒 SSS 狼群需要更多生存空间（在线收听）

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

Wolves are vital players in various ecosystems. So we humans need to develop a better tolerance 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 predators 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 livestock and wolves. But wildlife management plans should take into account that wolves, although they do sometimes kill ranch 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 prey 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。