Passage1

The thylacine

袋狼

The extinct thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, was a marsupial* that bore a superficial resemblance to a dog. Its most distinguishing feature was the 13–19 dark brown stripes over its back, beginning at the rear of the body and extending onto the tail. The thylacine’s average nose-to-tail length for adult males was 162.6 cm, compared to 153.7 cm for females.

业已灭绝的袋狼，也被称为塔斯马尼亚虎，是一种有袋类哺乳动物，表面看起来有些像狗。它最有辨识度的特征是背上的13至19道棕色条纹，从身体的后部一直延伸到尾巴上。成年雄性袋狼从鼻子到尾巴的平均体长是162.6厘米，相比之下雌性袋狼则是153.7厘米。

The thylacine appeared to occupy most types of terrain except dense rainforest, with open eucalyptus forest thought to be its prime habitat. In terms of feeding, it was exclusively carnivorous, and its stomach was muscular with an ability to distend so that it could eat large amounts of food at one time, probably an adaptation to compensate for long periods when hunting was unsuccessful and food scarce. The thylacine was not a fast runner and probably caught its prey by exhausting it during a long pursuit. During long-distance chases, thylacines were likely to have relied more on scent than any other sense. They emerged to hunt during the evening, night and early morning and tended to retreat to the hills and forest for shelter during the day. Despite the common name ‘tiger’, the thylacine had a shy, nervous temperament. Although mainly nocturnal, it was sighted moving during the day and some individuals were even recorded basking in the sun.

袋狼貌似出没于除茂密热带雨林之外的大多数地域，其中开阔的桉树林被认为是其最主要的栖息地。说到进食这个方面，它是纯肉食性的，胃部肌肉发达，足以极限撑开以容纳它一次性吃进大量食物，这大约是一种进化适应，以此弥补长时间的捕猎失败和食物稀缺。袋狼跑得不快，之所以能逮住猎物大概是靠长时间的追逐来耗尽其气力。在长途跋涉的追捕中，袋狼对气味的依赖可能胜过了依靠其他感官。它们在傍晚、夜间和清晨时现身捕猎，白天则往往会退避进山区和森林里寻求隐蔽。尽管有个俗名叫“老虎”，袋狼的脾性却是腼腆而容易受惊的。虽然袋狼大多数时候都昼伏夜出，但也有人见过它们在白天行动，还有人曾经见过它们晒太阳的样子。

The thylacine had an extended breeding season from winter to spring, with indications that some breeding took place throughout the year. The thylacine, like all marsupials, was tiny and hairless when born. Newborns crawled into the pouch on the belly of their mother, and attached themselves to one of the four teats, remaining there for up to three months. When old enough to leave the pouch, the young stayed in a lair such as a deep rocky cave, well-hidden nest or hollow log, whilst the mother hunted.

袋狼有着从冬天延伸到春天的漫长繁殖季，有迹象表明一些繁殖行为终年可见。袋狼，就像所有的有袋类生物那样，小生吋体型微小而无毛。新生儿会爬进母亲肚子上的育儿袋里，牢牢地叼住四个乳头之一，在那里待上最长可达三个月的时间。等它们长到足以离开育儿袋时，幼崽会在母亲外出猎食时待在巢穴内，例如岩石深洞、隐蔽兽窝或空心原木里。

Approximately 4,000 years ago, the thylacine was widespread throughout New Guinea and most of mainland Australia, as well as the island of Tasmania. The most recent, well-dated occurrence of a thylacine on the mainland is a carbon-dated fossil from Murray Cave in Western Australia, which is around 3,100 years old. Its extinction coincided closely with the arrival of wild dogs called dingoes in Australia and a similar predator in New Guinea. Dingoes never reached Tasmania, and most scientists see this as the main reason for the thylacine’s survival there.

大约在4,000年前，袋狼遍布于新几内亚和澳大利亚大陆的大多数地方，以及塔斯马尼亚全岛。大陆上距今最近的、可明确认定时间的袋狼存在过的证据，是来自西澳大利亚州Murray洞穴中的一块碳测定化石，它距今大约3,100年之久。袋狼的灭绝与一种名叫澳洲野犬的野狗来到澳大利亚的时间以及另一种类似的捕食者来到新几内亚的时间非常吻合。澳洲野犬从没去到过塔斯马尼亚，而大多数科学家认为这正是袋狼之所以能在那里存活下来的主要原因。

The dramatic decline of the thylacine in Tasmania, which began in the 1830s and continued for a century, is generally attributed to the relentless efforts of sheep farmers and bounty hunters** with shotguns. While this determined campaign undoubtedly played a large part, it is likely that various other factors also contributed to the decline and eventual extinction of the species. These include competition with wild dogs introduced by European settlers, loss of habitat along with the disappearance of prey species, and a distemper-like disease which may also have affected the thylacine.

袋狼在塔斯马尼亚的数量急剧下降始于19世纪30年代，持续了一个世纪之久，通常被归因于牧羊人和带着猎枪的赏金猎人无休无止的猎杀。虽然这场铁了心的大屠杀行动确实扮演了一个重要角色，但很可能还有其他若干因素导致了这个物种的数量骤减和最终灭绝。这些因素包括与欧洲移民们带来的野狗竞争、栖息地的减少以及随之而来的猎物物种的消失，还有一种类似犬瘟热的疾病也可能影响到了袋狼。

There was only one successful attempt to breed a thylacine in captivity, at Melbourne Zoo in 1899. This was despite the large numbers that went through some zoos, particularly London Zoo and Tasmania’s Hobart Zoo. The famous naturalist John Gould foresaw the thylacine’s demise when he published his Mammals of Australia between 1848 and 1863, writing, ‘The numbers of this singular animal will speedily diminish, extermination will have its full sway, and it will then, like the wolf of England and Scotland, be recorded as an animal of the past.’

唯一一次成功地人工繁殖出一只袋狼是在1899年的墨尔本动物园。尽管曾有大量袋狼存身于一些动物园中，特别是伦敦动物园和塔斯马尼亚的霍巴特动物园，但再无成功案例。著名的自然学家John Gould预见到了袋狼物种的灭绝，他在自己于1848至1863年间出版的《澳大利亚的哺乳动物》中写道：“这种独特动物的数量将会飞速减少，物种灭绝终将落下它的致命一击，然后这种生物就会像英格兰和苏格兰的狼那样，被记录为一种只存在于过去的动物。”

However, there seems to have been little public pressure to preserve the thylacine, nor was much concern expressed by scientists at the decline of this species in the decades that followed. A notable exception was T.T. Flynn, Professor of Biology at the University of Tasmania. In 1914, he was sufficiently concerned about the scarcity of the thylacine to suggest that some should be captured and placed on a small island. But it was not until 1929, with the species on the very edge of extinction, that Tasmania’s Animals and Birds Protection Board passed a motion protecting thylacines only for the month of December, which was thought to be their prime breeding season. The last known wild thylacine to be killed was shot by a farmer in the north-east of Tasmania in 1930, leaving just captive specimens. Official protection of the species by the Tasmanian government was introduced in July 1936, 59 days before the last known individual died in Hobart Zoo on 7th September, 1936.

然而，似乎并没有什么公众舆论压力推动对袋狼的保护，科学家们对这一物种在随后几十年里的数量下降也不曾表达过什么担忧。一个值得一提的例外是塔斯马尼亚大学的生物学教授T. T. Flynn。在1914年，他对袋狼种群数量的稀少表达了极大的忧虑，建议应当捕捉一些并安置到一个小岛上。但是直到1929年，这个物种已经处在了灭绝的边缘，塔斯马尼亚动物和鸟类保护委员会才通过了一项提案，还仅仅只是在12月这个月份里保护袋狼，因为这个月被认为是它们的主要繁殖季。最后一只已知的为人类所杀的野生袋狼是在1930年被塔斯马尼亚东北地区的一个农夫开枪击毙，从此只剩下了人工养殖的零星数只。由塔斯马尼亚政府出台的官方袋狼保护法规于1936年7月生效，59天之后，最后一只为人所知的袋狼在1936年9月7日死于霍巴特动物园。

There have been numerous expeditions and searches for the thylacine over the years, none of which has produced definitive evidence that thylacines still exist. The species was declared extinct by the Tasmanian government in 1986.

在过去一些年间曾有过无数次寻找和搜索袋狼的行动，没有一次发现过表明袋狼依然存在的确凿证据。这个物种在1986年被塔斯马尼亚政府宣告灭绝。

* marsupial: a mammal, such as a kangaroo, whose young are born incompletely developed and are typically carried and suckled in a pouch on the mother’s belly

有袋类：一种哺乳动物，例如袋鼠，其幼崽出生时发育不完全，通常在母亲腹部的育儿袋中被携带和哺乳。

** bounty hunters: people who are paid a reward for killing a wild animal

赏金猎人：因杀死野生动物而获得赏金的人。