VOA常速英语2018--科学家试图通过动物粪便来寻找增加繁育量的方法（在线收听）

Researchers are trying to identify the reasons behind the poor population growth of some of Africa’s wild animals including the Grevy and Cape Mountain zebras. A major focus is the endangered black rhino. What we’ve done with the University of Manchester has developed this toolkit to understand why species like black rhino might not be breeding very well and if we could understand that, then we can inform management to make decisions to maybe alter the way the animals are being managed to increase reproduction.

研究人员正试图找到个别非洲野生动物种群增长缓慢的原因，其中就包括格里维和开普山斑马。他们的主要关注点是濒危的黑犀牛。我们跟曼彻斯特大学通力合作研发了这款工具包，目的是为了理解黑犀牛这样的物种为何可能会繁殖乏力。如果我们能了解其中的原因，就能通知管理层做决策，这样或许就能改变这些动物的管理方式，从而增加他们的繁殖量。

At the Chester Zoo Lab, researchers are experimenting with a non-invasive method to gather data by using physiological biomarkers present in animal feces.

切斯特动物园实验室的研究人员正在通过非侵入性的方法来进行实验，目的是收集数据，方法是使用动物粪便中的生理标志物。

Through the poo, we can see how stress the animals are, what condition they are, their individual health; are they reproducing. The goal of the nearly 1.5 million dollar joint initiative is to develop a strategy to promote natural reproduction.

通过他们的分辨，我们可以了解到它们感受的压力是否很大、现在的状态怎样、个人健康如何、是否可以生育。这个联合计划斥资近150万美元，其目标是发展一种能促进自然繁殖的策略。

We do a lot of sample collection in the wild of the animal poo because actually we can know a lot about the disease status, we know about their reproductive status, we know about their diet, we know about their stress levels. So actually we can get a holistic picture of the condition of these animals from these samples.

我们收集了很多野生动物粪便的样本，因为其实我们可以通过粪便了解到很多，比如病情、繁育状态、饮食状况、压力水平。所以，其实，我们可以通过这些样本全面了解动物的情况。

The researchers hope to take what they’ve learned from captive animals and apply it to wild populations. Increasing animal birth rates is especially important because of the increasing threat from poaching in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa despite efforts by governments and park rangers to stop the illegal practice.

这些研究人员能将他们从圈养动物身上学到的知识应用于野生动物身上。增加动物出生率尤为重要，因为近年来，狩猎导致野生动物面临越来越大的威胁，这种情况在撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲十分普遍，虽然各政府和公园护林员竭力阻止非法活动的发生。