慢速英语 | 野外相机捕捉野生动物
Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching?
你有没有想过没人的时候野生动物们会做什么呢？
Scientists have been able to document the “private” moments of wildlife with leading edge technology.Low cost, dependable and small modern cameras amount to a big help.
科学家已经能够用先进技术记录野生动物的“私人”时刻。低成本，可靠外观小巧的现代摄像头给予了很大帮助。
Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have captured images of everything from small desert cats called ocelots to larger snow-loving felines called lynx in the northern Rocky Mountains.
放置在难以抵达的地方的相机已经捕捉到很多图像，从称之为豹猫的小型沙漠猫到生活在洛基山脉北部雪域的较大型猫科动物猞猁。
Grant Harris is a government biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico.In his words, “there’s no doubt,” that these rural cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.
格兰特·哈里斯是新墨西哥州阿尔伯克基市美国鱼类和野生动物服务局的生物学家。用他的话说，“毫无疑问”，这些野外相机是了解野生动物新信息的重要工具。
Harris said some images help scientists see the effects of climate change.For example, the desert animal javelina and the tree-loving coatimundi have been caught on cameras north of their normal habitat.Harris said this could mean global warming is expanding their range northward.
哈里斯说，一些图像可以帮助科学家们看到气候变化的影响。例如，沙漠动物西瑞猪和爱护树木的长鼻浣熊已被正常栖息地以北的相机所捕获。哈里斯说，这可能意味着全球变暖正在向北扩展。
Researchers with the Wyoming Migration Initiative, or WMI,are among those using rural cameras along with global positioning systems, or GPS.
怀俄明州迁移计划（WMI）的研究人员使用野外相机和全球定位系统（GPS）。
They attach GPS devices to elk, mule deer and antelope in and around Yellowstone National Park.Then they can record their movements, or migrations.But WMI director Matthew Kauffman says as those devices are limited so is the amount of information they can gather from GPS.
他们将GPS设备连接到黄石国家公园内外的麋鹿，骡鹿和羚羊身上。然后他们可以记录它们的动作，或者迁徙。但是怀俄明州迁移计划主管马修·考夫曼说，由于这些设备有限，所以他们从GPS收集的信息量也是有限的。
You see one animal migrating, you don’t know if it’s migrating by itself,if it’s migrating with a calf, or if it’s migrating with 40 other animals, Kauffman said.
考夫曼说：“你看到一只动物正在迁徙，你不知道它是否自行迁徙，是一头小牛正在迁徙，还是其他四十只动物正在迁徙。”
However cameras can be left in very rural areas for days, weeks or even months.They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time, he said.
不过，相机可以在野外停留数天，数周甚至数月。他说，他们可以提供关于在一段时间内有多少动物正在移动的信息。
Putting those cameras in place requires careful planning.
把这些相机放在适当的位置需要仔细规划。
There’s this tension between subjectivity in where you put your camera and where it’s statistically sound, Harris said.
哈里斯说：“相机放置的位置和声音统计之间联系紧密。”
Sometimes, humans appear in the images."I’ve seen people moon cameras, and that’s always funny," he said.
有时，人类会出现在图像中。他说：“我看过人类月球相机，这总是很有趣。”
Rural video can show details about animal behavior, such as the calls made by migrating mule deer.Also, some cameras live-stream animal life,showing everything from bison in Saskatchewan, Canada, to the underwater kelp forest off of California’s Channel Islands.
野外视频可以显示关于动物行为的细节，例如骡鹿迁移中发出的的呼叫。此外，一些摄像机可以直播动物的生活，展示从加拿大萨斯喀彻温的野牛到加利福尼亚海峡群岛的水下海藻森林。
However, rural cameras have their problems too.Animals such as wolverines and bears sometimes attack them.Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest.
但是，野外相机也存在问题。狼獾和熊等动物有时会攻击它们。科学家们不知道这些攻击是否是愤怒或感兴趣的结果。
Also, the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals.Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way.
此外，这些设备已经成为帮助猎人寻找动物的流行工具。有人认为这样使用相机是不公平的。
Even with such problems, rural cameras are clearly an important scientific tool in researching wild animals.
即使有这样的问题，乡间相机显然是研究野生动物的重要科学工具。
I’m Phil Dierking.
菲尔.迪尔金报道