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今日翻译小练习选自英国《卫报》（The Guardian）上的一篇题为 Paw Patrol Helping Florida’s Panthers Thrive，讲的是佛罗里达美洲狮（Florida panther）在美国弗罗里达州的生存现状。“panther”这个词一般是指黑豹，是豹的黑色型变种。
黑豹 佛罗里达美洲狮（学名：Puma concolor coryi）：是美洲狮（puma）的亚种之一，体长188-220厘米，体重32-72千克。为猫亚科中最大者。（参考自百度百科）
美洲狮 今日翻译练习的句子如下： Ward, an accomplished conservation photographer and National Geographic explorer, has captured some of the most thrilling – and up close – images of the big cats, in hopes of drawing attention to their battle against extinction. 附上文章原文： Paw patrol Helping Florida’spanthers thrive Wildlife corridors are critical to protecting the species as the pressures of development encroach on their habitat I’m travelling with photographer Carlton Ward Jr through southwestern Florida. We’re following the path of the elusive Florida panther. Our chances to spot one are slim: scientists estimate that only 200 of them remain in the wild in the US. Lean and fawn-coloured, these carnivores once roamed across the southeastern US. At one point, the panther population dwindled to an estimated 20 individuals, bottlenecked in southwestern Florida. Ward, an accomplished conservation photographer and National Geographic explorer, has captured some of the most thrilling – and up close – images of the big cats, in hopes of drawing attention to their battle against extinction. The panthers require large swathes of contiguous habitat to hunt, mate and raise their offspring. Climate change and development are straining their already fragmented habitat. Ward, an eighth-generation Floridian, is an advocate for the Florida Wildlife Corridor – a plan that would conserve and connect 7.1m hectares so that panthers and other wildlife can move safely within their native range. Floridians are almost out of time to save the last of the state’s native habitat– only about 15% remains. Conservation efforts have significant bipartisan support in Florida, but are up against housing developments. One million people move to Florida every three years. To illustrate the panthers’ need for a connected landscape, Ward brings me to the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge, which, at more than 10,000 hectares,or 100 sq km, is still not enough to support a single panther’s home range. Female panthers require 100-200 sq km to establish their territory; male panthers require more than 500 sq km. Wildlife biologist Mark Danaher greets us. We jump into his all-terrain vehicle anddrive past wetlands and stands of slash pines to visit a wildlife underpass, where Danaher kneels to point out panther tracks in the sand. Overhead the traffic from I-75 – the interstate highway that crosses the Everglades and then runs north – is deafening. Vehicle strikes are the leading cause ofdeath for Florida panthers. But overpasses and underpasses, like those installed by the refuge, are proving effective. In 2012, a trail camera at the refuge captured a Florida panther moving three cubs. One became known as “Broketail” for her injuredtail’s distinctive crimping. In January 2022, a camera captured Broketail, now 10 years old, using the safety of the underpass to move her own three cubs from the neighbouring Picayune Strand state forest to the heart of the refuge. “She was born here, and now she’s teaching her own kittens how to hunt and navigate the landscape,” Danaher tells me. “It’s a testament to her intelligence and survival skills.” It’s also a testament to the power of connectivity. The underpasses work. Audubon’s Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is another piece of the corridor puzzle. Corkscrew is a 5,200 -hectare refuge with 500-year old cypress trees and wetlands managed for wildlife. At 54 sq km, the sanctuary isn’t large enough for a panther’s home range, but female panthers are known to raise cubs there. “We believe in maintaining corridors,” the sanctuary’s director, Lisa Korte , says. “Animals shouldn’t be dead-ended. We’re a place where a panther can feel safe.” While at Corkscrew, we check Ward’s camera traps and stop to view some of the last old-growth cypress trees, known panther watering holes, and barbed wire fences where panthers have been photographed moving between ranches and the sanctuary. At dusk, Ward captures drone footage of traffic hurtling along I-75. After nightfall, we stop by an old metal bridge which lies across the Caloosahatchee river, a feature that often restricts the contemporary northern range of the panther. Ward hopes that one day a healthy breeding population of panthers will extend northwards from here, perhaps to the Georgia border. Thoug hit goes against the popular narrative about Florida politics, conservation enjoys broad bipartisan support in the state. Republican governors approved (and later undermined) earlier initiatives like Florida Preservation 2000, which allotted $300m a year for conservation purchases, and Florida Forever, a Jeb Bush initiative that has saved more than 32 0,000 hectares. The Florida Wildlife Corridor Act, which Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law in June2021, may be the most progressive yet. Astoundingly, the state senate passed the act – which defines the boundaries of the corridor – with a vote of 40-0, and the house with a vote of 115-0. A budget of $300m has been set aside for corridor-specific preservation, and an additional $100m for Florida Forever (80% of projects in the Florida Forever initiative are inside the corridor’s boundaries). “The corridor is ambitious,” Ward says, “but achievable, if lawmakers keep investing in the conservation easements and public land acquisitions that will give land owners viable alternatives to development.” The project provides a blueprint for other states to follow as part of President Joe Biden’s 30-by-30 conservation plan – the goal to conserve and restore 30% of the country’s land and rivers. Ward tells me that some of the best conservation opportunities are in working lands: ranches (which constitute 33% of the best future opportunities for additions tothe corridor), timberlands (43%), former tomato fields, orange groves, and evenan enormous active military zone known as the Avon Park Air Force range – which contains swathes of undeveloped habitat. “I believe in academic conservation targets,” Ward says. “But these high-level goals need to be met with on-the-ground strategies, built from local consensus.That’s where wildlife corridors come in. When approached the right way, they can bring people together to establish enduring bipartisan support.” Atthe end of our first day in the field, Ward and I drive into Archbold Biological Station, a centre focused on sharing science for land management. Founded in 1941, Archbold lies within the headwaters of the Everglades, on top of ancient sand dunes. Hilary Swain , the longtime director of the Archbold Research Station, is a hardcore hybrid of a rancher and a scientist, who can talk about both carbon sequestration and fattening calves with ease. The scientific work done at Archbold’s ranch helps inform practices for other working lands –managing water flow, phosphorus levels and grazing patterns. Swain guides me through Archbold’s ranch; kestrels perch on the powerlines. Egrets and roseate spoonbills flush from the alligator-flecked swamps. When ranchers preserve native landscapes and tolerate the presence of native species, including megafauna like bears and panthers, wildlife abounds. “Many private landowners are already good conservationists,” Swain says, a map of the ranch across her lap. “Ranchers have also realised that conservation can be good for the bottom line, in terms of easements and payments for environmental services and ecological tourism.” “Most of us want to save this landscape and keep it sustainable. We’re saving the last of the last. What happens here in central Florida is not independent of what happens on the Florida coastline, or the counry, for that matter.” On my last morning in Florida, Ward insists I visit another working ranch so thatI can meet Cary Lightsey, a rancher he admires and credits with being an early adopter of the corridor concept. We drive on to the farm as cowboys prepare to round up a group of heifers and calves. They turn their horses on a dime andsteer the cows towards the barn, where the calves will be castrated and dewormed, then returned to their mothers. The mutual respect between Ward andLightsey is evident. “I’ve learned a lot from him,” Lightsey says. “Cary Lightsey is a hero to me,” Wardtells me later. “I don’t know another living rancher who has done more for conservation. In addition to protecting 90% of his family’s land in conservation easements starting 30 years ago, his leadership has helped inspire otherranchers to do the same, including members of my own family.” |
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