cisconet
2004-09-05, 23:49
Silence of the Starlings
寂静的椋鸟
Perhaps 600 million starlings darken the skies over Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Yet in Britain, European starlings are crashing. Since 1972 the starling population has plummeted from about twenty million to ten million, says Richard Gregory of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.“There is no sign of recovery,” he adds.
He and his colleagues suspect that pesticides and the loss of pastureland have eliminated many insects on which starlings feed.
“We may need some of the American starlings to be returned,” Gregory jokes. Sixty birds released in New York's Central Park in 1890 have now exploded to some 200 million in North America.
[参考译文]6亿只椋鸟或许会将欧洲、亚洲、非洲和北美的天空遮得暗淡无光。可在英国，欧洲椋鸟的数目却在迅速减少。1972年以来，其数量已从约2000万只锐减到1000万只，皇家鸟类保护学会的理查・德・格雷戈里说，“目前毫无好转的迹象。”
格雷戈里和他的同事认为是杀虫剂以及牧场的减少使很多椋鸟赖以生存的昆虫绝了迹。
“我们可能需要从美国引回一些椋鸟。”格雷戈里打趣说。1890年在纽约中央公园放飞的60只椋鸟如今已在北美激增到2亿只左右。
寂静的椋鸟
Perhaps 600 million starlings darken the skies over Europe, Asia, Africa, and North America. Yet in Britain, European starlings are crashing. Since 1972 the starling population has plummeted from about twenty million to ten million, says Richard Gregory of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.“There is no sign of recovery,” he adds.
He and his colleagues suspect that pesticides and the loss of pastureland have eliminated many insects on which starlings feed.
“We may need some of the American starlings to be returned,” Gregory jokes. Sixty birds released in New York's Central Park in 1890 have now exploded to some 200 million in North America.
[参考译文]6亿只椋鸟或许会将欧洲、亚洲、非洲和北美的天空遮得暗淡无光。可在英国，欧洲椋鸟的数目却在迅速减少。1972年以来，其数量已从约2000万只锐减到1000万只，皇家鸟类保护学会的理查・德・格雷戈里说，“目前毫无好转的迹象。”
格雷戈里和他的同事认为是杀虫剂以及牧场的减少使很多椋鸟赖以生存的昆虫绝了迹。
“我们可能需要从美国引回一些椋鸟。”格雷戈里打趣说。1890年在纽约中央公园放飞的60只椋鸟如今已在北美激增到2亿只左右。