Animals’ Early Warning Systems

Animals’ Early Warning Systems

 

By Brent Frazee /

©2005 The Kansas City Star,

Knight¹ Ridder Newspaper.

Distributed by Tribune Media Service International.

 

Biologists report wildlife’s amazing ability to sense trouble long before humans do

 

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When Joe Ward² went fishing in Florida one day last September, he didn’t need a weather report to tell him that big trouble was on the way. All he had to do was observe the behavior of the area’s wildlife.

 

“The fish were just biting like crazy, like they were storing up,” says Ward. “There wasn’t a bird anywhere, not even a gull³ or a pelican⁴, which is very unusual down here. And on the docks, the insects—the ants, everything—were climbing high.”

 

The next day Hurricane Frances hit.

 

Was this an isolated⁵ incident? Hardly.

 

“Some people say that animals have a sixth sense. I don’t know if I’d go that far,” says Wildlife Conservation Society research scientist Diana Reiss. “There’s a lot we still have to learn about their behavior. But I don’t think there’s any question that animals can hear, feel and perceive things that we can’t.”

 

Tsunami⁶ Survivors⁷

 

When Sri Lanka Wildlife Department deputy director, H.D. Ratnayake, surveyed the destruction left by last December’s tsunami, he was shocked by what he didn’t see. Tens of thousands of humans were killed. But there was very little mortality among wildlife. At Yala National Park, the phenomenon was especially noticeable. Though the human death toll⁸ nearby was more than 200, officials found no wildlife carcasses.

 

In the aftermath of the tsunami, wild tales keep surfacing. Residents have reported seeing herds⁹ of antelope¹⁰ thundering from a coastal¹¹ area to the hills before the giant wall of water hit. And nesting flamingos¹² abandoned low-lying areas, heading for the safety of higher ground.

 

How did they know trouble was on the way? Scientists credit a well-tuned sensory¹³ system. “Animals have to adapt to their environment to survive,” Reiss says. Changes in atmospheric¹⁴ conditions also may have played a part, some scientists say.

Vocabulary Focus

like crazy (idiom) to an extreme level

sixth sense (n) an ability that seems to give one information without using the five senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell

or taste

mortality (n) [mC:5tAliti] death; the number of deaths within a particular society and within a particular period of time

phenomenon (n) [fi5nCminEn] something unusual or interesting that exists and can be seen, felt, tasted, etc.

 

Specialized¹⁵ Terms

carcass (n) 动物尸体 the body of a dead animal

动物预警系统

李琳  译

 

生物学家指出：野生动物的灾难预警能力惊人，速度比人类快多了

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去年9月的某一天，乔·沃德在佛州钓鱼。不需要气象报告，只需观察该区野生动物的动态，他就知道要有大麻烦了。   

“鱼群疯狂地吞饵，好像要囤积粮食似的，”华德说：“周围不见鸟的踪影，连海鸥或鹈鹕都没有，这在附近是极不寻常的事。而码头上，蚂蚁等所有昆虫都纷纷往高处爬。”   

第二天，飓风法兰西就来袭了。   

这只是偶发的单一事件吗？很难说是。   

“有些人说动物有第六感，这点我较为保留。”野生动物保护学会的研究员黛安娜·瑞丝说：“对于它们的行为，我们还有很多要了解的，但我认为毫无疑问地，动物能听到、感觉到与意识到一些我们不知道的事情。”

 

海啸生还者   

斯里兰卡野生动物保护局副局长 H·D·拉特纳亚克针对去年12月海啸后的残局做调查，惊讶地发现了一些先前没注意到的现象。数万人丧生，但野生动物的遇难率却非常低，这现象在亚拉国家公园格外明显。附近的遇难人数超过200人，但官方却没发现野生动物的尸体。   

海啸发生后余波荡漾之际，怪诞的传说就不断浮现。居民曾报告，在巨浪袭击前，看到成群的羚羊从沿海地区轰隆隆地狂奔到山上，习惯于筑巢的红鹤也放弃了低洼地区，而往安全的高处迁移。   

它们怎么知道灾难就要发生呢？科学家相信可归功于一种精确的感知系统。瑞丝说：“动物必须适应环境以求生存。”有些科学家则说，大气层的变化可能也是原因之一。

1 knight   

n.骑士，武士；爵士

参考例句：

• He was made an honourary knight.他被授予荣誉爵士称号。
• A knight rode on his richly caparisoned steed.一个骑士骑在装饰华丽的马上。

2 ward   

n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开

参考例句：

• The hospital has a medical ward and a surgical ward.这家医院有内科病房和外科病房。
• During the evening picnic,I'll carry a torch to ward off the bugs.傍晚野餐时，我要点根火把，抵挡蚊虫。

3 gull   

n.鸥；受骗的人；v.欺诈

参考例句：

• The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
• You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。

4 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

5 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

6 tsunami   

n.海啸

参考例句：

• Powerful quake sparks tsunami warning in Japan.大地震触发了日本的海啸预警。
• Coastlines all around the Indian Ocean inundated by a huge tsunami.大海啸把印度洋沿岸地区都淹没了。

7 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

8 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

9 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

10 antelope   

n.羚羊；羚羊皮

参考例句：

• Choosing the antelope shows that China wants a Green Olympics.选择藏羚羊表示中国需要绿色奥运。
• The tiger was dragging the antelope across the field.老虎拖着羚羊穿过原野。

11 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

12 flamingos   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟（羽毛粉红、长颈的大涉禽）( flamingo的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Flamingos stand in a salt lake in Larnaca, Cyprus. 塞浦路斯的拉纳卡市一个盐湖中的火烈鸟。 来自互联网
• The research started researchers studied greater flamingos and in a bird sanctuary in southern Spain. 研究人员在西班牙南部的一个鸟类保护区对大型火烈鸟进行研究。 来自互联网

13 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

14 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

15 specialized   

adj.专门的，专业化的

参考例句：

• There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
• These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。