熊猫宝宝注定要回归大自然
Pandas: cute, but sexually inept and bamboozled bytheir own food requirements, right? Not so. In fact, it is life in captivitythat disrupts the complex rhythm of panda mating behaviour, with itsterritorial scent marking, mating calls and complex social interactions.
熊猫：可爱但是被它们自己的食物需求所迷惑，对求偶不上心，对吧？但并非如此，事实上，人工驯养的生活打乱了大熊猫求偶行为的复杂节奏，如在自己的领地做气味标识，发出求偶信号，以及复杂的社交互动。Infant pandas are reared in nurseries, wherededicated staff work non-stop to meet their every need - including massagingtheir stomachs to stimulate their digestion
图：熊猫宝宝生活在培育中心里，那里有专门的员工夜以继日的满足它们的各种需求-包括按摩胃部刺激消化。Most pandas born in captivity will spend theirlives there, in China or on loan to zoos abroad. But at Hetaoping fieldstation, within Wolong reserve, in a painstakingly slow process, some pandasare being prepped for a future in the wild. These candidate animals arecarefully selected ? they must be naturally wary of humans.
在中国或者租借熊猫的海外动物园里，大多数出生在人工驯养环境中的熊猫会在那里生活一辈子。但是在卧龙自然保护区的核桃坪野外监测站，在煞费苦心的漫长过程中，正准备将一些熊猫在未来回归野外。这些待回归动物是经过精挑细选的吗？它们对人类必须保持着自然地警惕。
If pandas are to be released and thrive in thewild, they must be wary of humans. Keepers at the Hetaoping reserve in Wolongtherefore wear black-and-white costumes soaked in panda urine
图：如果打算将熊猫放回野外且在野外繁殖，它们就必须要提防人类。因此卧龙核桃坪自然保护区的看守员们穿着在熊猫尿液里浸泡过的黑白熊猫服装。Baby pandas are tiny, hairless and incrediblyvulnerable. Captive-born babies are removed to incubators to increase theirchances of survival, where staff bottle-feed them, rock them, burp them andkeep a close eye on errant toddlers ? all the duties of a parent, including thesleepless nights. But the babies selected for a wilder future stay with theirmothers before being moved to fenced-in habitats further up the mountain. Since2006, five have been released (wearing tracking collars) and three are still alive.A handful of others are also being considered for release.
熊猫宝宝非常的小，全身无毛并且非常的弱势。在人类驯养环境中，为了提高存活率，出生的熊猫宝宝则被放置在保温箱中，同时有专门的人员用奶瓶喂养，摇晃着它们，密切关注着这群犯错的孩子？所做的这一切就像一位母亲般尽职尽责。在被转移到深山里围起的栖息地之前，这些被选中的未来将回归野外的熊猫宝宝们仍然和它们的妈妈待在一起。从2006年开始，已经有5只大熊猫（佩戴跟踪环）被释放到野外，其中有3只仍然存活。少数的几只也正考虑释放野外。Gestation for baby pandas ranges from three tofive months, and the tiny hairless blind creatures weigh an average of 100g(0.2lb) when they are born
图：熊猫孕期一般3到5个月，这些微小无毛又未睁开眼的生物刚出生时平均重100g。Pandas need large territories: they eat about9kg-18kg (20lb-40lb) of bamboo each day. In fact, bones found in China indicatethat pandas, as we know them, have been around for two million years, and forall that time they thrived and spread throughout southern and eastern China,northern Myanmar and Vietnam. Then came the human population boom, andmillennia of panda behaviour was disrupted in a few years.
熊猫在野外需要广阔的活动范围：它们每天吃9kg-18kg的竹子。事实上，在中国发现的骨骼表明，我们所认识的大熊猫已经存在了两百万年了，在这期间，熊猫的繁衍生息遍及中国南部和东部，缅甸和越南北部。接着是人类数量的爆发式的增长，在最近的几年里，熊猫几千年来的习性被人类打乱。
The young pandas are weighed and monitored closelyto ensure they are putting on weight. Pandas take around five to seven years toreach full size
图：熊猫幼崽的体重被密切监视着，确保它们正在增重。熊猫长到最大体型大约需要花费5-7年的时间。With much of their habitat destroyed, survivorsbecame isolated ? it is estimated that their current mountain habitat in Chinacomprises just 1% of their original range. The 70s saw their nadir ? withestimates of just 800 to 1,000 left in the wild. In 1980, the ChinaConservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda was founded at gside government protection of their habitat, this has seen numbers in themost recent survey (2014) rise to more than 1,800. However, scientific modelssuggest that global warming could reduce their remaining habitat by 60% in thenext 70 years. Their continued survival is far from a black-and-white issue.
随着大量的栖息地被摧毁，幸存下来的大熊猫变得孤立起来？据估计在中国境内熊猫目前的栖息地和原始范围相比只剩下1%了。70年代，熊猫数量达到最低谷，据估计野外只剩下800-1000只。1980年，在卧龙成立了中国大熊猫保护和研究中心。同时在政府对栖息地保护的情况下，根据最近的一次测量统计（2014），野外熊猫数量已经上升到1800只。但是，科学模型显示，全球变暖会在未来的70年内减少60%现存的栖息地。大熊猫持久的生存远不是一个非白即黑的问题。These images have been shortlisted for the NaturalWorld category of the professional competition in the Sony World Photographyawards. Winners will be announced on 20 April. An exhibition of shortlistedwork will run at Somerset House, London from 21 April-7 May.
这些照片入围了索尼全球摄影奖专业赛中的自然类。4月20日将公布冠军得主。摄影展的照片筛选工作将在塞默特宫进行。
