澳大利亞災難性的火災引發(fā)了人們對考拉未來的擔憂

澳大利亞災難性的火災引發(fā)了人們對考拉未來的擔憂

Paul is one of the lucky ones. The young male koala, pictured below, was found dehydrated and injured this month after a bushfire engulfed his habitat in eastern Australia. Hoping he could still be saved, rescuers took him to a nearby hospital for koalas.

保羅是幸運的。這只年輕的雄性考拉(下圖)本月在澳大利亞東部的一場森林大火中被發(fā)現脫水受傷。希望它還能得救，救援人員把它送到附近的一家醫(yī)院救治考拉。

Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

"He was picked up off the ground and curled up in a little ball, basically not moving," Sue Ashton, president of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, told Agence France-Presse. After some rest and treatment, however, he began doing "really well," Ashton said. He was soon joined by another dehydrated koala, Anwin, who also had been plucked from the aftermath of a fire.

麥夸里港考拉醫(yī)院院長蘇·阿什頓告訴法新社記者:“它被從地上抱起來，蜷縮成一個小球，基本上一動不動。”阿什頓說，經過休息和治療，它的情況“非常好”。很快，另一只脫水的考拉安文也加入了隊伍。

The hospital has reportedly taken in about two dozen koalas in recent weeks, all bushfire survivors. And it isn't alone. About 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, for example, a couple in the town of Taree is caring for 24 rescued koalas in their home, according to Australia's ABC News, where they've turned their living room into a makeshift burn unit.

據報道，這家醫(yī)院最近幾周收養(yǎng)了大約24只考拉，它們都是叢林大火的幸存者。而且它并不孤單。例如，據澳大利亞廣播公司新聞報道，在塔雷以南約80公里(50英里)的地方，一對夫婦正在家中照顧24只獲救的考拉。

A barrage of bushfires have erupted across eastern and western Australia in recent weeks, scorching some 1 million hectares and killing at least six people in the eastern state of New South Wales alone. This is an early and intense start for Australia's fire season, which typically hits its peak in the summer months of December, January and February. These spring blazes are raising concerns not only about this year's fire season, but also about the future of some iconic wildlife — especially koalas — as Australian fire seasons grow longer and stronger due to human-induced climate change.

近幾周來，澳大利亞東部和西部地區(qū)接連發(fā)生森林大火，僅在東部的新南威爾士州就有大約100萬公頃土地被燒毀，至少6人喪生。這是澳大利亞火災季節(jié)的一個早期和激烈的開始，通常在夏季的12月、1月和2月達到高峰。這些春天的大火不僅引起了人們對今年火災季節(jié)的關注，而且也引起了人們對一些標志性野生動物——尤其是考拉——未來的擔憂。由于人類引起的氣候變化，澳大利亞的火災季節(jié)變得更長、更強。

While that trend is bad news for many species in Australia, including humans, koalas can be particularly vulnerable to fire. A few days before Paul was rescued, for example, flames engulfed a coastal forest in New South Wales that hosted a robust koala colony, sparking fear that hundreds of koalas may have been lost from this large, genetically diverse population.

雖然這一趨勢對澳大利亞的許多物種來說是個壞消息，包括人類，但考拉特別容易受到火災的傷害。例如，在保羅被救出的前幾天，大火吞噬了新南威爾士州的一個沿海森林，那里有一個健壯的考拉群落，這引發(fā)了人們的擔憂:在這個龐大的、基因多樣化的種群中，可能已經有數百只考拉消失了。

A firefighter works as flames burn a forest in Port Macquarie, where hundreds of koalas may have died in a recent bushfire. (Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Bushfires are a natural occurrence in Australia, and koalas have evolved to endure them. Yet as reported in the New York Times, while kangaroos and many other animals flee bushfires on the ground, koalas have a different strategy. Koalas sleep in trees for up to 18 hours a day, and since their bodies are more adapted for climbing than running, leaving the trees to run away might be unwise. Instead, they often climb up to the canopy, where they curl up for protection and wait out the fire.

在澳大利亞，森林大火是一種自然現象，考拉已經進化出了對火災的忍耐能力。然而，正如《紐約時報》上報道的那樣，當袋鼠和許多其他動物在地面上躲避叢林大火時，考拉卻有不同的策略。考拉每天要在樹上睡上18個小時，由于它們的身體更適合爬樹而不是奔跑，讓考拉逃跑可能是不明智的。相反，它們經常爬到樹冠上，在那里蜷縮起來，等待火災結束。

Koalas can also burn their paws or claws when descending a hot tree after a fire, leaving them unable to climb. And if they do survive a fire, as Paul did, they may still find themselves dehydrated in a landscape suddenly devoid of water.

考拉在火災后從滾燙的樹上下來時也會灼傷它們的爪子，使它們無法攀爬。如果它們真的像保羅那樣在火災中幸存下來，它們可能仍然會發(fā)現自己在突然沒有水的地方脫水。

Corduroy Paul receives treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital after his rescue from a bushfire. (Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

In the meantime, while the loss of so many koalas in these bushfires is heartbreaking, it's also an important reminder that we still have time to save koalas as a species, as Flanagan tells the Times. And similar to Sam the koala in 2009, survivors like Paul can help their species by drawing attention and rallying public support for more protection. "We have these unique animals not found anywhere else on this planet, and we're killing them," Flanagan says. "This is a big wake-up call."

與此同時，正如弗拉納根告訴《泰晤士報》的那樣，雖然在森林大火中失去這么多考拉令人心碎，但這也是一個重要的提醒，我們仍然有時間拯救考拉這個物種。和2009年的考拉山姆一樣，像保羅這樣的幸存者可以通過吸引注意力和爭取公眾支持來保護它們的物種。弗拉納根說:“我們有這些獨一無二的動物，在地球上其他地方是找不到的，我們正在殺死它們。這是一個巨大的警鐘。”