VOA常速英语2015--科学家们尝试不同的方式拯救犀牛

Scientists Test Different Ways for Saving Rhinos 2 科学家们尝试不同的方式拯救犀牛

The African rhino 1 is a seriously endangered species and one subspecies, the northern white rhinoceros 3, is on the brink 4 of extinction 5. After the recent death of a female, only four northern white rhinos are still alive. Only one of them is a male. Scientists are using two distinct strategies to save them.

The biggest threat to rhinos are poachers who kill them for their horns. In spite of a lack of scientific proof, many in Vietnam and China believe that pills made of ground rhino horns can cure various diseases and disorders 6.

对犀牛而言最大的威胁是偷猎者为了它们的角而将其置于死地。尽管缺乏科学证据支持,但越南及中国的许多人相信犀牛角粉制成的药丸可以治愈各种疾病及身心机能的失调症状。

Since 2008, poachers in South Africa have killed almost 3,000 rhinos. The International Union for Conservation of Nature warns that they may become extinct before 2026.

自2008年以来,南非的偷猎者已杀死近3000头犀牛。国际自然保护联盟警告称犀牛可能在2026年前就惨遭灭绝。

The northern white rhinoceros, which actually is grey, is extinct in the wild. Only four animals of this subspecies remain and all of them are held in captivity 7 – three females and the only male, called Sudan.  

实际上是灰色的北白犀已经在野外灭绝。这种犀牛现存只有4头而且都已经被监管起来，3只母犀牛，而唯一的公犀牛名叫苏丹。

“If we lose him it will be a very big loss for the endangered species,” said Zachariah Mutahi, Sudan's caretaker.

“如果我们失去他, 对这种濒临灭绝的物种而言将是非常大的损失。”

Natural pregnancy 8 and birth among the four are unlikely, so at Kenya’s Ol Pajeta Conservancy, scientists are trying to inseminate northern white rhino eggs in the lab and implant 9 them in southern white rhino females.

这4头犀牛之间不太可能进行自然生育,因此在肯尼亚的奥尔帕吉塔保护中心,科学家们正试图在实验室通过体外授精的方式将北白犀卵子植入南方的雌性白犀牛中。

Ol Pajeta Conservancy CEO Richard Vigne said, “The initial approach will be to look at in-vitro fertilization — removal of eggs from three remaining females and mixing those eggs with sperm 10 stored from northern white rhinos across the world — to create an embryo 11 which will then be implanted into a surrogate white rhino female to create a northern white rhino calf 12.”

Meanwhile, two U.S.-based scientists say they are using the latest biotechnology techniques to create artificial rhino horn — something that not only looks and feels like the real thing, but contains the same proteins.

与此同时,两名美国科学家表示他们正使用最新的生物技术创造人工犀牛角，不仅外观和感觉真实,而且也含有相同的蛋白质。

“We are not bio-identical yet though that is the goal,” said Matthew Markus, Pembient CEO.

“从生物学角度还没有达到完全一致，但这是我们的目标。”

They hope that poachers will find it cheaper and safer to resell the lab-grown horns to their Asian customers as authentic 13, rather than to risk their lives or long prison sentences hunting for real rhinos.

他们希望偷猎者会发现将实验室培育出的犀牛角转售给他们的亚洲客户更便宜且更安全,而且不用冒着生命或长期监禁的危险猎杀真正的犀牛。

No matter how they test the substance, customers will not be able to tell the difference. Researchers say flooding the market with artificial horns may keep the animals with the real horns safe from poachers.

不管怎么测试,客户也都无法区分。研究人员说市场满是人工犀牛角的市场可能会使真正的犀牛免受偷猎者的猎杀。