野外攝影機幫助科學家記錄野生動物

Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching？

Scientists have been able to document the “private” moments of wildlife with leading-edge technology. Low-cost and small modern cameras amount to a big help.

Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have captured images of everything from small desert cats called ocelots to larger felines called lynx in the northern Rocky Mountains.

Grant Harris is a government biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque， New Mexico. In his words， “theres no doubt，” that these rural cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.

Harris said， “Some images help scientists see the effects of climate change. For example， the desert animal javelina and the tree-loving coatimundi have been caught on cameras north of their normal habitat. This could mean global warming is expanding their range northward.”

Researchers with the Wyoming Migration Initiative， or WMI， are among those using rural cameras along with global positioning systems， or GPS.

They attach GPS devices to elk， mule deer and antelope in and around Yellowstone National Park. Then they can record their movements， or migrations. But WMI director Matthew Kauffman says as those devices are limited so is the amount of information they can gather from GPS.

“You see one animal migrating， but you dont know if its migrating by itself， if its migrating with a calf， or if its migrating with 40 other animals，” Kauffman said.

“However， cameras can be left in rural areas for days， weeks or even months. They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time，” he said.

Rural video can show details about animal behavior， such as the calls made by migrating mule deer. Also， some cameras live-stream animal life， showing everything from bison in Saskatchewan， Canada， to the underwater kelp forest off Californias Channel Islands.

However， rural cameras have their problems too. Animals such as wolverines and bears sometimes attack them. Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest.

Also， the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals. Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way.

Even with such problems， rural cameras are clearly an important scientific tool in researching wild animals.

你有沒有想過野生動物在沒人觀察的時候，它們會做些什么呢？

科學家已經能夠運用尖端技術記錄野生動物的“私人”時刻。低成本、外觀小巧的現代攝影機給予了他們很大的幫助。

放置在人們難以觸及的地方的攝影機已經捕捉到從稱之為豹貓的小型沙漠貓到生活在洛基山脈北部雪域的較大型貓科動物猞猁的所有影像。

格蘭特·哈里斯是一名在新墨西哥州阿爾伯克基市的美國魚類與野生動物管理局工作的生物學家。用他的話說：“毫無疑問”，這些野外攝影機是了解野生動物新信息的重要工具。

哈里斯說：“一些影像可以幫助科學家了解氣候變化帶來的影響。例如，沙漠動物西貒（一種野豬）和喜歡樹木的長鼻浣熊已被安裝在它們的正常棲息地以北的攝影機拍攝到。這可能意味著全球變暖正在向北擴展?！?/p>

懷俄明州遷徙計劃（WMI）的研究人員也在使用野外攝影機和全球定位系統（GPS）。

研究人員把GPS設備安裝到黃石國家公園內及其周圍的麋鹿、長耳鹿和羚羊身上，那么他們就可以記錄這些動物的行蹤或者遷徙。但是懷俄明州遷徙計劃的主管馬修·考夫曼表示，由于設備有限，所以他們通過GPS搜集到的信息也是有限的。

考夫曼說：“你看到一只動物正在遷徙，但是你不知道它是獨自遷徙，還是和一頭小牛遷徙，抑或是和40只其他動物一起遷徙。

然而，攝影機可以在野外工作數天、數周甚至數月。它們可以提供在一段特定的時間內有多少動物正在遷移的信息?！?/p>

野外錄像可以顯示關于動物行為的細節，例如在遷徙過程中的長耳鹿發出的叫聲。此外，一些攝影機可以現場直播動物的生活，展示從加拿大薩斯喀徹溫省的野牛到靠近加利福尼亞州海峽群島的水下海藻叢林等一切動植物的生活。

但是，野外攝影機也會遇到麻煩。狼獾和熊等動物有時會破壞野外攝影機?？茖W家們還不清楚動物的這些攻擊行為是出于憤怒還是好奇。

此外，這些設備已經成為幫助獵人尋找獵物的流行工具。一些人認為獵人使用攝影機尋找獵物是不正當的行為。

即使存在這樣的問題，野外攝影機也無疑是研究野生動物的重要科學工具。

Word Study

document /'d?kjument/ v. 記錄

He wrote a book documenting his prison experiences.

capture /'k?pt??（r）/ v. 捕捉；拍攝

He captured his daughters smile in this photograph.

migration /ma?'ɡre??n/ n. 遷移；遷徙

More than half the rise in the population of England and Wales was due to migration.

gather /'ɡ???（r）/ v. 搜集

He was busy gathering information about birds.