SECTION 4

Well, most people think that lions only come from Africa.

大部分人认为狮子都是来自于非洲的。

And you would be forgiven for thinking this, because in fact most lions do come from Africa.

持有这种观点是情有可原的，因为事实上大部分狮子确实是从非洲过来的。

But this hasn't always been the case.

不过也不完全如此。

If we go back ten thousand years we would find that there were lions roaming vast sections of the globe.

如果我们回到一万年前我们会发现狮子是游走在广阔的全球区域的。

But now, unfortunately, only very small sections of the lions' former habitat remain.

但是目前很不幸的是之前那些狮子的栖息地只有很少的一部分被保留下来。

My particular interest is Asiatic lions, which are a sub-species of African lions.

我特别感兴趣的是亚洲狮，它们是非洲狮子品种的一个分支。

It's almost a hundred thousand years since the Asiatic lions split off and developed as a sub-species.

它们用了大概几十万年时间从非洲狮演变成其分支种类。

At one time the Asiatic lion was living as far west as Greece and they were found from there, in a band that spread east through various countries of the Middle East, all the way to India.

曾经有一段时间亚洲狮在遥远的西方生活过，比如希腊，并且从那里开始往东，中间横跨由多种国家组成的中东一带，一直到印度都发现过亚洲狮。

In museums, you can now see Greek coins that have clear imagines of the Asiatic lion on them.

在很多博物馆里都能看见上面印有清晰的亚洲狮图像的希腊硬币。

Most of them are dated at around 500 B.C.

这些硬币的大部分都能追溯到公元前500年。

However, Europe saw its last Asiatic lion roaming free two thousand years ago.

然而亚洲狮最后一次在被发现游走在欧洲大概是在2000年以前。

Over the next nineteen hundred years the numbers of Asiatic lions in the other areas declined steadily, but it was only in the nineteenth century that they disappeared from everywhere but India.

在之后的1900年里其他地方亚洲狮的数量也在逐渐减少，但是在19世纪里，除印度以外，它们在其他地方都销声匿迹了。

So, how can you tell an Asiatic lion from an African lion, with which you're probably more familiar?

那么，非洲狮你可能更加熟悉的情况下，你怎么区分亚洲狮和非洲狮呢？

Well, in general, Asiatic lions are not as big as African lions.

事实上通常情况下，亚洲狮没有非洲狮个头大。

The color is more or less the same, but the appearance of the mane is different - that's the hair around the lion's face and neck.

虽然它们的肤色差不多，但是它们鬃毛的样式是不一样的，鬃毛就是狮子的脸和脖子周围那些毛。

The Asiatic lion's mane is noticeably shorter than the African lion's.

亚洲狮的鬃毛明显比非洲狮的短一些。

Asiatic lions also have a long fold of skin on their undersides whereas not many African lions have this.

亚洲狮的腹部皮肤还会有明显的折痕，但是非洲狮腹部就没有这么多了。

Well, I'd like to talk to you now about the Gir Sanctuary in India.

下面我想跟你们说说有关印度的这个戈尔禁猎区。

That's where I've just come back from.

我刚刚从那里回来。

The sanctuary was established specifically to protect the Asiatic lion.

这个禁猎区是专门建造用来保护亚洲狮的。

It's 1,450 square kilometres in area and most of it is forest.

面积有1450平方公里而且大部分区域都是森林。

There are now around three hundred Asiatic lions in India and almost all of them are in this sanctuary.

印度现在大概有300只亚洲狮，而且大部分都在这个戈尔禁猎区里面。

But despite living in a sanctuary, which makes them safe from hunters, they still face a number of problems that threaten their survival.

但是尽管生活在禁猎区内能让这些狮子远离猎人们的威胁，它们还是要面临很多威胁它们生存的问题。

One of these is the ever-present danger of disease.

其中一个也是一直都存在的危险就是疾病。

This is what killed more than a third of Africa's Serengeti lions in 1994, and people are fearful that something similar could happen in the Gir Sanctuary and kill off many of the Asiatic lions there.

正是疾病这个原因导致1994年1/3以上的非洲塞伦盖蒂狮子死亡，所以人们很害怕类似的问题会发生在戈尔禁猎区，进而导致那里亚洲狮的死亡。

India's lions are particularly vulnerable because they have a limited gene pool.

由于它们基因池有限的缘故，印度的狮子特别的脆弱。

The reason for this is interesting - it's because all of them are descended from a few dozen lions that were saved by a prince who took a particular interest in them.

导致这的原因也很有趣，这是因为它们都是由数量不多的那么几十只狮子繁衍下来的，这几十只狮子是由一个对狮子很感兴趣的王子保存下来的。

He was very wealthy, and he managed to protect them - otherwise they'd probably have died out completely.

他很富有并且有能力保护这些狮子，不然的话可能这些狮子已经彻底灭绝了。

When you see the Asiatic lion in India, what you sense is enormous vitality.

当你在印度看到亚洲狮的时候，你会感受到狮子们充沛的活力。

They're very impressive beasts and you would never guess that they had this vulnerability when you look at them.

它们都是非常令人印象深刻的野兽，你绝不会想到它们其实是脆弱的。

The Asiatic lions don't have the Gir Sanctuary to themselves, I should add.

亚洲狮并不是完全独占戈尔禁猎区的，我需要补充一点。

They actually share it with about two thousand farmers.

它们实际上是跟当地两千个农民共同分享这片区域的。

A significant proportion of the lions' diet is made up of the livestock of these farmers - goats, chickens and so on - as much as a third, in fact.

狮子大部分的食物就是由当地农民的牲畜组成的，山羊、鸡等等，比例实际上能达到1/3这么多。

And they've even been known to attack humans, especially in times of drought.

而且它们据说还会攻击人类，尤其是干旱的时期。

One final piece of interesting information - in ancient India one of the greatest tests of leadership for a man was to fight a lion.

最后一个有趣的事是在古印度时，男人想成为领袖最艰难的测试之一就是跟一只狮子搏斗。

Now it seems, in modern India it will be a great test to see if the lion can be saved.

而现在看来，现代印度的测试则变成了要看一个人是否能拯救一只狮子。

I'm sure this is something that all of you will share concern for too.

我确定在座的各位以后也会开始关心它们了。