評論
打印
Bats are subject to all the problems of habitat loss and human encroachment that plague other species, along with some peculiar to them.
棲息地流失和人類入侵不僅沖擊了其他物種，蝙蝠也面臨同樣的問題，而且它們還有一些特有的問題。
White-nose disease has killed vast numbers of North American bats. Overharvesting of agave plants threatens nectar-feeding bats.
白鼻癥已導致大量北美洲蝙蝠死亡。龍舌蘭屬植物過量收割也危及吸蜜性蝙蝠。
And there is climate change. Some of the most at risk from a warming planet are large fruit bats, like those in Australia.
氣候變化同樣是一大問題。因地球暖化而面臨最大風險的蝙蝠包括大型狐蝠，例如澳洲的狐蝠。
They don't roost in caves but in the open, and extreme heat can kill them.
它們不是棲息在洞穴里，而是在露天環境中，因此極端高溫可能使它們死亡。
Mass die-offs have pushed some species that were doing well only 10 or 15 years ago to endangered status.
有些蝙蝠在僅僅10到15年前還能好好生存，但后來大量死亡，如今已進入瀕危狀態。
For defenders of bats, the first priority is to have good information on the populations themselves.
對蝙蝠保衛人士而言，首要任務是充分掌握關于族群本身的資訊。
Paul Webala, wildlife biologist at Maasai Mara University and a National Geographic Explorer, is building an acoustic library of the calls of Kenyan bats that he said could be a game changer in knowing the status, movements, and locations of different species.
馬賽馬拉大學野生生物學家兼國家地理探險家保羅·衛巴拉正在建立肯尼亞蝙蝠叫聲的聲學資料庫，他說這有望大幅改變目前情勢，有助于了解不同蝙蝠物種的狀態、活動及位置。
Bat Conservation International supports multiple efforts to monitor threatened species, but it is also working on projects of immediate benefit, such as reducing bat deaths from wind turbines.
國際蝙蝠保育組織支持多項受威脅物種的監測計劃，但這個組織也正在推行具有立即效益的計劃，例如減少死于風力機的蝙蝠數量。
In the U.S., hundreds of thousands of bats die each year from wind turbines, said Rodrigo Medellín, a senior professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico's Institute of Ecology.
墨西哥國立自治大學生態學研究所的資深教授羅德里戈·美德因表示，美國每年有數十萬只蝙蝠死于風力機。
A National Geographic Explorer at Large, Medellín co-chairs the Bat Specialist Group, part of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission, with Kingston.
美德因也是國家地理無駐所探險家，與金斯頓一起擔任蝙蝠專家小組的共同主席，這個小組隸屬國際自然保護聯盟的物種生存委員會。
Over 60 percent of those deaths could be avoided, he said, if the industry would agree to start up the turbines at a wind speed of five or six meters a second instead of three meters a second, resulting in a "tiny loss of efficiency."
美德因說，如果業界同意在風速為每秒5到6米的風速時才啟動發電機，而不是每秒3米時就啟動，就能避免超過60%的蝙蝠死亡事件，代價只是“輕微損失發電效率”。
Protecting roosts is also a top priority for Medellín.
保護蝙蝠棲地也是美德因的優先要務。
He recently lobbied to divert the path of the Maya Train, a $20 billion tourism project in the Yucatán, away from the famed Volcán de los Murciélagos.
他最近強力倡導將耗資200億美元的尤卡坦州旅游項目“馬雅列車”變更路線，遠離著名的坎佩切卡拉克穆爾蝙蝠火山。
The "bats volcano" is the most populous roost from central Mexico to southern Argentina. About three million bats emerge from it each night to feed on insects.
這座“蝙蝠火山”從墨西哥中部到阿根廷南部，是蝙蝠數量最稠密的棲息地。每晚大約會涌出300萬只蝙蝠捕食昆蟲。
It is just not fair, said Medellín, that such useful animals should have such a bad reputation.
美德因說，這么有益的動物名聲居然如此糟糕，實在不公平。
"We really owe it to bats to treat them right. And what do they ask?" he said. "Just leave them alone. That's all."
“我們真的應該好好對待蝙蝠。它們要的是什么？”他說，“就只是不要受到千擾。”
In terms of convincing the public of the value of bats, scientists often mention their role in pollinating wild plants and crops and in eating insects, natural pest control worth billions of dollars a year in the U.S.
至于要如何讓大眾相信蝙蝠的價值，科學家經常提到蝙蝠會為野生植物和作物傳粉，也會吃掉昆蟲，發揮自然害蟲防治的作用，一年可為美國省下幾十億美元。
But what about bats as bats, pure and simple? Kingston, who switched her focus from rodents to bats as an undergrad, is wary of placing too much emphasis on the practical value of wildlife.
但是關于蝙蝠本身呢？金斯頓在大學期間將研究重點從嚙齒動物轉向蝙蝠，她對過度強調野生動物的實用價值持謹慎態度。
"What if there's a species that we can't pinpoint exactly what it's doing for the ecosystem?" she asked.
她問道：“要是我們無法確定某種生物對生態采的作用呢？”
Are we going to leave it off the list? It is not a hypothetical question.
我們要把這種生物從保護名單上除名嗎？這并不是假設性問題。
So much about bats remains unknown. As much as we are learning about them, they are in some ways still undiscovered.
我們對蝙蝠還有許多不了解的地方。盡管我們對它們的了解越來越多，但仍有尚未發現的部分。
And their mystery is as compelling as their usefulness.
它們的謎團就跟它們的益處一樣吸引人。
After 30 years, Swartz said, she still is moved when she steps into a space with the creatures and feels "the rustle of those wings and that breath of air as the animal is going by."
史沃茲說，盡管已經過了30年，但她踏進蝙蝠棲息的空間，感受到“翅膀的窸窣聲，以及蝙蝠飛過時拂動的微風”時，依然十分感動。
One reason: "There are more unanswered questions than things that I understand."
這是因為：“尚未解答的問題比我已經了解的事情還多。”
