威斯康星州的一條海龜隧道是如何拯救生命的

威斯康星州的一條海龜隧道是如何拯救生命的

There's a stretch of Wisconsin State Highway 66 right around where it crosses the Plover River that has a reputation as a danger zone for wildlife. When animals try to cross the road, many of them don't make it. In 2015 alone, 66 turtles were killed trying to cross the busy highway.

威斯康辛州66號高速公路的一段就在它穿過船河的地方，船河被認為是野生動物的危險區(qū)。當動物試圖過馬路時，它們中的許多都沒能過去。僅2015年一年，就有66只海龜在試圖穿越繁忙的高速公路時死亡。

A snapping turtle emerges from the north tunnel entrance. (Photo: Pete Zani/University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point)

So when the highway had to be resurfaced a few years back, the Wisconsin transportation and natural resources departments teamed up with the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to come up with a solution. They decided to install low fencing along the roadside and build an underpass beneath it, giving wildlife — particularly turtles — safe passage.

因此，幾年前，當這條高速公路不得不重新鋪設路面時，威斯康辛州的交通和自然資源部門與威斯康辛大學史蒂文斯岬分校(University of Wisconsin- stevens Point)合作，提出了一個解決方案。他們決定在路邊設置低矮的柵欄，并在下面建一個地下通道，讓野生動物——尤其是海龜——安全通過。

Maybe because it was dark, some turtles weren't sure what to make of the underpass, so Zani came up with a few improvements to make it more appealing.

也許是因為天太黑了，一些海龜不知道該如何利用地下通道，所以扎尼想出了一些改進方案，使其更具吸引力。

"Post-installation improvements include a light-colored backdrop of sheet metal placed to reflect light into the tunnel as well as create a light-colored backdrop from the turtle-eye viewpoint," he says.

他說:“安裝后的改進包括淺色的金屬板背景，將光線反射到隧道中，并從海龜眼的角度創(chuàng)建淺色背景。”

Light at the end of the tunnel

光明在隧道的盡頭

Flashing at the tunnel entrance helps turtles see that this isn't simply a dark hole to nowhere. (Photo: Pete Zani/University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point)

The shiny flashing at the ends of the tunnel reflect light and show the sky, so the turtles know they have a path to cross the highway. Zani and his team literally created light at the end of the tunnel.

隧道盡頭閃閃發(fā)光的閃光反射光線，顯示出天空，所以海龜們知道他們有一條路可以穿過高速公路。扎尼和他的團隊在隧道的盡頭創(chuàng)造了光。

They also placed some grates over the tunnel to lighten the passageway, and they created one-way slippery slides, called excluders, from the roadway down to safety for small animals like toads that sometimes get trapped along the fencing and don't know how to get free.

他們還在隧道上安裝了一些格柵，以減輕通道的壓力。他們還制造了一種單向滑梯，稱為排他滑梯，從路面滑到安全地帶，供蟾蜍等小動物使用。

Not perfect, but better

不完美，但比以前更好

The changes seemed to have helped.

這些變化似乎有所幫助。

"The light backdrop appears to have enticed turtles to take the plunge into the tunnel," Zani says. "The passage rate is still not perfect, but better. The excluders seem to allow wildlife to escape from the roadway so fewer animals are trapped in unsuitable locations."

“明亮的背景似乎吸引了海龜們跳進隧道，”扎尼說。“通過率還不完美，但已經有所改善。這些排他者似乎允許野生動物從道路上逃跑，因此更少的動物被困在不合適的地方。”

Since the tunnel was built in 2016, only about 40 turtles have been killed on that once-precarious stretch of road. That's a significant drop from that high of 66 in just one year.

自2016年隧道建成以來，在這段曾經危險的道路上，只有大約40只海龜被殺死。這是一年內從66的高點顯著下降。

Zani had a few other ideas that might have lowered those numbers even further for traveling turtles, but they just weren't feasible.

扎尼還有其他一些想法，可能會進一步降低海龜?shù)臄?shù)量，但這些想法都不可行。

"We considered enlarging the tunnel or installing lights, both of which would help," he says. "but both ideas were rejected due to site logistics as well as potential expense related to upkeep."

他說:“我們考慮過擴大隧道或安裝燈光，這兩種方法都有幫助。”“但這兩種想法都被否決了，原因是場地物流以及與維護相關的潛在費用。”