时差N小时 不安的大象（在线收听）

Here's a gruesome hypothetical:If you and your family were rounded up, and you were forced to watch as older relatives were killed, how would it affect you?

设想这样一个可怕的场景：你和家人遭受围捕，你被迫目睹长辈被杀，这会对你产生怎样的影响？

Needless to say, you'd be horrified.

毫无疑问，你吓坏了。

You'd probably also be deeply disturbed for a long time afterwards. Maybe forever.

你可能会在之后的很长一段时间内都深感不安，或许这种感觉会持续一生。

For some non human species, that grisly scenario is all too common.

对于除人以外的一些生物而言，这种可怕的场景是十分常见的。

For instance, up until a fewdecades ago elephant populations were regularly culled.

比如几十年前，大象会经常遭受屠杀，借此控制它们的种群数量。

That is, family groups were herded into atight space so that hunters could shoot and kill the older individuals.

捕猎者会将整个大象家族赶入一个狭小的空间，并枪杀其中一些年老的大象。

The practice was actually meant to help elephants, because park officials worried they'd grow too numerous and overrun the area.

因为公园管理员担心大象数量的增多会超出园区的负载限度，所以这种猎杀大象的行为实际上是在帮助它们。

But research has shown that the surviving elephants are often deeply disturbed.

但是调查表明，那些在猎杀中幸存下来的大象常常会深感不安。

One study foundthat elephants from a culled group had serious problems with social and other behaviors.

一项研究显示，这些幸存的大象在社交和其他行为方面会出现严重的问题。

For example, a group of orphaned male elephants killed more than one-hundred rhinoceroses over adecade-behavior that's highly abnormal.

例如，一群失去亲人的雄性大象在近十年中杀死了一百多头犀牛。这是极端反常的行为。

Another study found that culling survivors responded chaotically to elephant calls broadcast byscientists in a nearby jeep.

失去长辈即失去经验，另一项研究显示，当科学家在那些幸存下来大象附近的一辆吉普车中播放大象的叫声时，它们的回应十分混乱。

The animals seemed at a loss-sometimes taking defensive measures,but not necessarily in response to calls from alien or more socially dominant females, as they normally would.

它们显得茫然无措，有时还会采取防御措施。这并不像它们在正常情况下回应外来客或是族群中地位更高的母象所表现出的那样。

Scientists speculate that's because elephants typically learn these important behaviors from their elders.

科学家推测这是因为大象通常会从长辈身上学到这些重要的行为。

And when those elders are culled or poached, the younger elephants may not learn how to respond to potential threats.

当长辈遭受屠杀或偷猎后，年幼的小象在面临潜在威胁时会显得不知所措。

Elephants that don't know how to defend themselves have less chance of surviving and reproducing.

不知道怎样保护自己的大象，其幸存机率便会降低，繁殖能力也会减弱。

Although culling is no longer practiced, poaching is. And it may have similar effects.

尽管如今屠杀大象的行为已经消失，但非法狩猎仍会产生类似的效果。