2020年经济学人 保护类人猿免受新冠病毒感染(2)（在线收听）

Dr Walsh and a group of colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, and at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette,

Walsh博士、费城托马斯杰斐逊大学以及拉斐特的路易斯安那大学的同行估计

estimate that Ebola alone is responsible for the deaths of a third of the world's wild gorillas over the past three decades.

在过去的30年里，仅埃博拉病毒就造成了世界上三分之一野生大猩猩的死亡。

Human respiratory viruses are the leading cause of death among chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania and Kibale National Park in Uganda.

在坦桑尼亚的贡贝国家公园以及乌干达的基巴莱国家公园，人类呼吸道病毒是造成黑猩猩死亡的首要病因。

Tony Goldberg of the University of Wisconsin-Madison was "intellectually prepared, but not emotionally prepared"

威斯康星大学的Tony Goldberg对于2013年基巴勒区爆发C型鼻病毒所造成的破坏

for the devastation caused in 2013 by an outbreak of rhinovirus C at Kibale, which killed 9% of one group of chimps.

“思想上有所准备，但情感上没有准备”，这场病毒爆发导致某群中9%的黑猩猩死亡。

A covid-19 outbreak would be "another problem that the apes don't need", he observes.

他观察到，一次covid-19爆发将是“另一个类人猿不需要的问题”。

Jane Goodall, a pioneering primatologist who began her research on chimpanzees at Gombe 60 years ago, is also worried.

灵长类动物学家先驱Jane Goodall于60年前就在贡贝开始了她对黑猩猩的研究。

Tanzania has not enforced a full anti-covid lockdown, so villagers who live around the park could still spread the disease to the chimps.

坦桑尼亚没有对抗击疫情实施全面封锁，所以生活在园区的村民们仍可以将疾病传染给黑猩猩。

At Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Centre in Congo-Brazzaville,

刚果共和国的庞噶黑猩猩康复中心

where her research institute also works, health checks are mandatory for humans and chimps alike.

（她的研究机构也在那里展开工作），对人类和黑猩猩进行强制性的健康检查。

The closure of conservation sites because of the pandemic poses another problem for apes.

由于疫情对类人猿造成了另一个问题，保护区因此关闭。

Around 40% of Virunga National Park's revenue has disappeared overnight, says Emmanuel de Merode, its director.

维龙加国家公园园长Emmanuel de Merode表示，一夜之间，该园区约4%的收入都消失了。

"This will present major challenges to ensuring that conservation efforts continue uninterrupted," he adds.

他补充道，“这将对确保园区保护工作的持续不间断构成重大挑战”。

Dr Walsh fears that if local economies are harmed by the closure of tourism sites, people will turn to poaching.

Walsh博士担心，如果当地经济受到旅游景点关闭的影响，人们会转而偷猎。

Some ape populations will cope with covid-19 better than others.

一些类人猿将比其他类人猿更好地应对covid-19。

Though chimpanzee troops are generally controlled by a dominant adult male,

虽然黑猩猩军队通常由占统治地位的成年雄性控制，

there are usually plenty of subordinates willing and eager to step in, should he die or be incapacitated.

但通常会有大量下属愿意并渴望加入，以防死亡或丧失能力。

Mountain-gorilla groups, however, are normally harems that have several females but only a single adult male.

但山地大猩猩通常是只有一只成年雄性和几个雌性组成的群体。

If this silver-back were to die of covid-19, the females— likely to have been infected as well—would probably disperse to join other groups, spreading the virus further.

如果这只银背大猩猩死于covid-19，那么雌性——可能也已经被感染了——可能会分散加入其它群体，使得病毒进一步传播。

Mr de Merode says that if a gorilla tested positive for covid-19, his park "would consider a veterinary intervention to isolate and treat the individual,

de Merode表示，如果一只大猩猩covid-19呈阳性，那么他的园区“将考虑让兽医介入，来隔离和治疗个体，

but we would be in unknown territory". Most primatologists think isolating a sick ape would be unfeasible.

但这将是我们未知的领域”。大多数灵长类动物学家认为隔离生病的类人猿是不可行的。

Rather, laments Dr Wrangham, "we would just have to sit back and watch."

Wrangham博士悲叹称，“我们只能袖手旁观。”