2008-12-11 白狮子回归自然

White lions are roaming the African plains once again. Over the past decades, few sightings were reported of these rare big cats in their natural environments. And South African white lions could only be seen in breeding programs and circuses. Now the White Lion Project, the first of its kind in the world, has successfully bred and released white lions into the wild. In fact, the Sanbona Wildlife Reserve is home to the only free roaming white lions in the world.

Today is a big day for these white lion cubs¹. They have been bonded² with these, these adult females, and we are just busy releasing them here, so we are opening the gates now.

The lion’s signature whiteness is not due to albinism, but due to a recessive³ gene⁴. It is a rare color mutation⁵, found in the Kruger sub-species of the tawny⁶ African lion. According to the Sanbona Reserve, the cubs are born almost pure white, but darken to a rich cream color over the course of their first two years. The pride is being monitored very closely by the wildlife team. And although the lions often go their own way, they reunite on a regular basis. Experts worry about the lions fending⁷ for themselves, but early signs show the project is a success.

And we just have to monitor them 24 hours, for as long as it takes to know exactly that they move together, that they all feed properly, and which animals are being involved in kills, and all those kinds of things. We need to know that, to know if these things are gonna be successful or not.

So far, the big cats seem to be adapting well to the environment in which their ancestors once roamed freely.

1 cubs   

n.幼小的兽，不懂规矩的年轻人( cub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a lioness guarding her cubs 守护幼崽的母狮
• Lion cubs depend on their mother to feed them. 狮子的幼仔依靠母狮喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 bonded   

n.有担保的，保税的，粘合的

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee.威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• This adhesive must be applied to both surfaces which are to be bonded together.要粘接的两个面都必须涂上这种黏合剂。

3 recessive   

adj.退行的，逆行的，后退的，隐性的

参考例句：

• Blue eyes are recessive and brown eyes are dominant.蓝眼睛是隐性的；而褐色眼睛是显性的。
• Sickle-cell anaemia is passed on through a recessive gene.镰状细胞贫血通过隐性基因遗传给后代。

4 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

5 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

6 tawny   

adj.茶色的，黄褐色的；n.黄褐色

参考例句：

• Her black hair springs in fine strands across her tawny,ruddy cheek.她的一头乌发分披在健康红润的脸颊旁。
• None of them noticed a large,tawny owl flutter past the window.他们谁也没注意到一只大的、褐色的猫头鹰飞过了窗户。

7 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网