VOA今日美国2023 一研究人员保护巴西绒毛蜘蛛猴40年（在线收听）

Karen Strier is an American primatologist.

凯伦·斯特里尔是一位美国灵长类动物学家。

It has been 40 years since she started studying Muriqui monkeys in Brazil.

她在巴西研究绒毛蜘蛛猴已经40年了。

At the start, she was working on an advanced degree in anthropology at Harvard University.

一开始，她在哈佛大学攻读人类学高级学位。

She continues to study the animals today.

她今天继续研究绒毛蜘蛛猴。

Muriquis are the largest monkeys in the Americas.

绒毛蜘蛛猴是美洲最大的猴子。

Strier first started studying them in 1983 in Brazil's southeastern Minas Gerais state.

1983年，斯特里尔在巴西东南部的米纳斯吉拉斯州首次开始研究它们。

At the time, there were only about 50 of them in a large land area 200 kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean.

当时，在距离大西洋200公里的大片陆地上只有大约50只绒毛蜘蛛猴。

The monkeys were losing their habitat, or living place, high up in the trees.

绒毛蜘蛛猴当时正在失去它们在树上的栖息地。

Humans were cutting down the trees so they could sell their fruit and wood.

人类当时为出售水果和木材而砍伐树木。

As a result, the monkeys could only be found in a small area of preserved forest.

因此，绒毛蜘蛛猴只能在一小片受保护的森林中被找到。

In the 1980s, many researchers centered their studies on monkeys and other primates such as gorillas in Africa and Asia.

在20世纪80年代，许多研究人员将他们的研究重点放在猴子和其他灵长类动物身上，比如非洲和亚洲的大猩猩。

Dian Fossey and Jane Goodall were known for their studies of mountain gorillas and chimpanzees at the time.

戴安·弗西和珍·古道尔当时以对山地大猩猩和黑猩猩的研究而闻名。

Those women said the animals lived in a male-dominated society.

这两位女士表示，这种动物生活在雄性主导的社会中。

Fighting was common.

打架司空见惯。

One male gorilla would fight another to keep control over the group or take a leadership position.

一只雄性大猩猩会为了控制群体或取得领导地位而与另一只大猩猩打架。

Males who lost the fights would be sent away from the group.

输掉的雄性大猩猩将会被逐出群体。

But in Brazil, the Muriquis seemed peaceful.

但在巴西，绒毛蜘蛛猴似乎很平静。

Strier said the male and female monkeys were the same size –about 2 meters long and around 15 kilograms.

斯特里尔说，雄性和雌性猴子的体型相同——大约2米长，大约15公斤重。

Males lived close to each other and did not fight.

雄性猴子彼此之间住得很近，不打架。

The monkeys were friendly with others in the group.

猴子们对群里的其他猴子都很友好。

In some cases, the females left their living groups in search of a mate.

在某些情况下，雌性绒毛蜘蛛猴会离开它们的生活群体去寻找配偶。

"I love them. They're beautiful animals," Strier said.

斯特里尔说：“我爱它们。它们是美丽的动物”。

Strier said the Muriquis showed researchers that not all primates lived the same way.

斯特里尔说，绒毛蜘蛛猴向研究人员表明，并不是所有的灵长类动物都以同样的方式生活。

"I think (they) helped open that door to understanding better some of this diversity," she said.

她说：“我认为它们帮助打开了一扇门，以让我们更好地了解这种多样性。”

She does her research in the 950-hectare Feliciano Miguel Abdala reserve.

她在950公顷的费利西亚诺·米格尔·阿布达拉保护区进行研究。

The area is about 500 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro.

该地区位于里约热内卢以北约500公里处。

In the time she has followed the monkeys, their population has grown to over 230.

在她跟踪绒毛蜘蛛猴期间，它们的数量已经增长到230多只。

The females can only have babies once every three years, so growth is slow.

雌性绒毛蜘蛛猴每三年才生一次宝宝，所以增长速度缓慢。

Russell Mittermeier is a primatologist with the environmental group Re:wild.

拉塞尔·米特迈尔是环保组织Re:wild的灵长类动物学家。

He is who first introduced Strier to the monkeys.

他是第一个把斯特里尔介绍给绒毛蜘蛛猴的人。

He said not many studies last for 40 years and are of such high quality.

他说，持续40年的高质量研究并不多。

Strier is now working to create protected areas in southeastern Brazil where the monkeys can get around safely.

斯特里尔现在正致力于在巴西东南部建立绒毛蜘蛛猴可以安全活动的保护区。

That means making sure sections of forest are preserved.

这意味着要确保森林的部分区域得到保护。

She wants this to happen so the population can grow larger and so the monkeys do not disappear if there is a sickness.

她希望这种情况发生，这样绒毛蜘蛛猴的数量才能增长得更多，这样绒毛蜘蛛猴就不会因感染疾病而消失。

Several years ago, she said, an outbreak of yellow fever killed about 100 monkeys over a period of five years.

她说，几年前，一场黄热病的爆发在五年内导致大约100只猴子死亡。

Researchers are also looking for ways to encourage mating among the monkeys.

研究人员也在寻找鼓励绒毛蜘蛛猴交配的方法。

In 2020, a relocation program moved some females into a protected area where there were only two males.

2020年，一项重新安置计划将一些雌性绒毛蜘蛛猴转移到了一个只有两只雄性绒毛蜘蛛猴的保护区。

The effort paid off.

努力得到了回报。

A baby was born.

一只绒毛蜘蛛猴宝宝出生了。

Once there are 12 monkeys in the family group, they will be released into the wild.

一旦猴群中有12只猴子，它们就会被放生到野外。

At a recent celebration of her work, Strier told the story of losing so many monkeys to yellow fever.

在最近的一次庆祝活动上，斯特里尔讲述了黄热病导致很多猴子死亡的故事。

She said the once noisy forest became quiet in a short time because so many monkeys died.

她说，曾经喧闹的森林在很短的时间内变得安静起来，因为很多猴子死了。

Strier told the gathering of primatologists, environmentalists and monkey-lovers that she is always worried her life's work could be wiped out by another sickness.

斯特里尔在灵长类动物学家、环保主义者和猴子爱好者的聚会上表示，她总是担心自己一生的工作可能会被另一种疾病摧毁。

She called the monkeys "fragile," and added, "We're not done."

她称这些猴子“很脆弱”，并补充说，“我们还没有结束。”