欢迎来到VOA在线收网 www.voa365.com
当前位置:VOA NEWS > VOA慢速英语 > 科学报道 >

Giraffes Facing ‘Silent Disappearance’ in Africa, Report Says

2016-12-19 07:27来源:未知

音频下载

A giraffe walks in Amboseli national park, Kenya. Giraffes seemed to be everywhere but now are vulnerable to disappearing completely, according to the new Red List report.(AP Photo/Khaled Kazziha)

The number of giraffes has dropped by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s, says a new report on endangered species.

 

The Red List is a study of threatened species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The group now considers the giraffe “vulnerable” to extinction for the first time. Earlier, it had a rating of “least concern.”

 

The giraffe is the tallest animal on land. These beautiful creatures are one of the best-known species in Africa. They are known for their very long necks, long legs and the brown and white patterns that cover their bodies.

 

Decreasing numbers

 

Craig Hilton-Taylor is head of the Red List program. He says in 1985, there were between 152,000 and 163,000 giraffes. But now, he tells VOA, their numbers have fallen to about 98,000.

 

“It is a huge tragedy and it’s been sort of a silent disappearance that we just really hadn’t detected until now.”

 

Fifty years ago, groups of giraffes usually had 20 to 30 animals in them. Now, observers are only seeing six animals in a group, called a herd.

 

The Red List experts have been gathering information about giraffes over the last five years. They counted the animals from airplanes, land vehicles and on foot. They say that until now the disappearance of the animals had not been observed closely. One reason could be because giraffes live in a wide area across Africa.

 

Why the decrease?

 

What is causing this decrease? Hilton-Taylor says: humans.

 

“The reasons are all due to the impact of people, whether it’s people causing loss of habitat for the species, hunting of the species for food or harvesting for medicine, medicinal purposes, or for timber.”

 

He says pollution and the effects of climate change are just a few of the other problems affecting the species.

 

Some people are moving into protected areas where giraffes and other animals live because of a lack of rain that affects food production. Sometimes the graceful, plant-eating animals are killed for their meat.

 

Also, civil wars and unrest in Africa make it more difficult to protect the animals. It is harder to do conservation work—to protect the animals in danger—in areas of armed conflict.

 

“So tackling the giraffe issue is not just purely about conservation of the species, it’s also about dealing with governments, about political control, about people’s rights and resources, access to resources, so it’s quite a complex set of things you have to address.”

 

Hilton-Taylor says the fact the giraffe is now listed as vulnerable means that it has “a high risk of going extinct in the wild unless we do something about it.”

 

It is not too late

 

But, he says giraffes can be helped.

 

“It’s not too late, we can turn things around. We know in parts of Africa giraffes are doing well some of the populations are increasing in size, so we can see what is being done in those areas.”

 

Some of the ideas that work include community involvement and tourism. Tourism, for example, provides jobs for local residents.

 

He also says there needs to be a giraffe action plan put in place to observe and survey the animals across the continent of Africa.

 

Hilton-Taylor adds that finding answers to the problems people face, like drought linked to climate change, food shortages and civil unrest, will provide answers to help giraffes.

 

The Red List is considered an important source of information about risks to animals and plants. The program says 24,307 of the 85,604 species of animals and plants it studied were in danger of extinction.


Words in This Story

 

 

species –n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

 

vulnerable –adj. open to attack, harm, or damage

 

extinction –n. the state or situation that results when something (such as a plant or animal species) has died out completely

 

detect –v. to discover or notice the presence of (something that is hidden or hard to see, hear, taste, etc.)

 

habitat –n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

 

timber –n. trees that are grown in order to produce wood

 

tourism –n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure

 

survey –n. an act of studying something in order to make a judgment about it

 

(责任编辑:v365)
最新新闻
  1. 网传日月光Q4产能利用率降至70%
  2. 新型存储器已经开始增长,到20
  3. 市场人士透露:联发科在汽车芯片
  4. 【VOA在线闲聊】三星收购Arm会步英
  5. Nikola召回迄今为止生产的93辆Nik
  6. 蚂蚁数科两项区块链专利完成一对
  7. 蔚来申请注册“NIO CERTIFIED 蔚来官
  8. 获小米超千万投资 改装车公司工
  9. 法拉第未来首款电动汽车FF 91再次
  10. 消息称LG显示计划明年生产920万块
  11. 宝马面向欧洲市场推出最小的跨界
  12. 美国副总统哈里斯承诺就电动汽车
  13. 知情人士透露称马斯克和推特CE
  14. 因苹果缩减订单 台积电或修改明
  15. LG推出一项新技术,以开放局域网
  16. 小米13正式上线:骁龙8Gen2发布1
  17. 米家3 KG迷你洗衣机售价699元
  18. 苹果公司官方非常兴奋:印度将生
  19. 中国广电在全国31个省区开通广电
  20. 华为 Mate 50 Pro国外上市:售价远高
  21. 特斯拉柏林超级工厂回收工厂发生
  22. 华为 Mate 50原价4999
  23. iPhone 14销售比上一代下降了11%
  24. 2021至2025中国台湾将投350亿元新台
  25. 华为Mate50Pro预定5 G芯片,苹果公司
  26. 锐龙7000核显性能实测 单核及多核
  27. 索尼PS5最新更新:6 nm制程功率与
  28. 华为会议马上就要开始了!一种全
  29. 小米再次成为了冠军!该系列产品
  30. 还能吸收病毒?!戴森首个产品也
  31. 小米又推出了一款新产品,售价
  32. Imagination携手百度飞桨创建Model
  33. 奔驰要不要再加价?2024将发布
  34. TikTok在英国或被罚款2900万美元 被
  35. iPhone15PM改用 ULTRA:笔记本和 iPa
  36. 因库存不断提升存储芯片持续降价
  37. 预计小米Civi2将推出五款新产品
  38. 可靠商务桌面电脑推荐:联想M4
  39. 受飓风影响:NASA撤回阿尔忒弥斯
  40. 《三体》影迷们疯狂了!
  41. 4090设计实在是太离谱了!
  42. Meta试图Facebook和Instagram账户添加到
  43. 苹果公司在技术上遭受重大挫折,
  44. 我国成功发射遥感三十六号卫星,
  45. 骁龙8Gen2+120 W快速充电!小米13系
  46. 屏幕下手机价格大跌,灵动岛安卓
  47. 亚马逊宣布下月举办新会员促销活
  48. 酷睿i9-13900K预告片,5.8 GHz稳定!
  49. 美国流媒体巨头Netflix宣布在芬兰
  50. 外科手术机器人 商业化将加快世