An airborne reintroduction programme has helped conservationists take significant steps to protect the endangered Galapagos tortoise.
空运的放归计划帮助环保者采取重要措施保护瀕危的加拉帕戈斯陆龟
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AForests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lava plains that separate the interior of the Galapagos island of lsabela from the Pacific Ocean. With its five distinct volcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape. Only the thick vegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-covered peak of Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. This inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise. Some time after the Galapagos's birth, around five million years ago, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. As these ancestral tortoises settled on the individual islands, the different populations adapted to their unique environments, giving rise to at least 14 different subspecies. Island life agreed with them. In the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest and longest-living tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400 kilograms, occasionally exceeding 1.8 metres in length and living for more than a century.
A 起伏不平的火山岩平原上大部分覆盖着多刺的仙人掌丛林，正是这片平原将加拉幀戈斯的伊莎贝拉岛的内陆与太平洋分隔开来。岛上散布着五座迥异的火山，这使得它的地貌如月球一般。只有谢拉•内格拉火山云雾缭绕的山峰周围茂密的植被才使得山下贫瘠的地势显得不那么单调。这种恶劣的环境是加拉帕戈斯巨龟的栖息地。在加拉幀戈斯群岛形成后的一段时间后，大约五百万年前，南美大陆上的一种或多种乌龟迁徙到该群岛。随着这些祖辈的乌龟栖息于各个岛屿之上，不同的种群适应了它们各自独特的环境，产生了至少14种不同的亚种。岛上的生活很适合它们。在缺乏大型捕食者的条件下，它们长成了世界上最大最长寿的乌龟，重达400多公斤，个别的超过1.8米长，寿命超过一个世纪。
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BBefore human arrival, the archipelago's tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food, but the arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s saw this exploitation grow exponentially. Relatively immobile and capable of surviving for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages. Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high-grade oil. In total, an estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the 20th century. This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat to clear land for agriculture. They also introduced alien species - ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants - that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat.
B 在人类抵达之前，群岛上的乌龟以数十万计。自17世纪以来，海盗捕获了一些乌龟并带上船食用，但自18世纪90年代以来捕鲸船的到来见证了这种掠夺急剧性地增长。这些巨龟相对不爱活动，并且在缺乏饮食的情况下也能生存数月之久，因此它们被捕上船充当海上漫长航行的食物补给。有时它们的肉体被加工成优质的油料。总计在20 世纪之前从该群岛上捕走了约20万只动物。这种历史上的掠夺在定居者到来之后更加变衣加厉:人们猎捕巨龟并破坏了它们的栖息地以开荒种地。他们还带来了外来物种——从牛羊猪狗和老鼠到植物和蚂蚁——这些物种要么以巨龟卵和小巨龟为食，要么破坏它们的栖息地。
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CToday, only 11 of the original subspecies survive and of these, several are highly endangered. In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on lsabela, dedicated to protecting the island's tortoise populations. The centre's captive-breeding programme proved to be extremely successful, and it eventually had to deal with an overpopulation problem.
C 目前只有11种原始的亚种巨龟存活，并且其中有一些是高度濒危的。1989年伊莎贝拉岛上 Puerto Villamil城外的巨龟抚育中心开始运行，旨在保护该岛的巨龟种群数量。该中心的捕猎繁育计划结果非常成功，最终它不得不面对种群数量过大的问题。
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DThe problem was also a pressing one. Captive-bred tortoises can't be reintroduced into the wild until they're at least five years old and weigh at least 4.5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight - and their hardened shells - are sufficient to protect them from predators. But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport.
D 这个问题也曾是个迫切的问题。捕猎后繁育的巨龟不能回归野外，除非它们达到5年以上并且体重超过4.5公斤，此时它们的体形和体重——还有它们坚硬的外壳——足够保护它们免遭捕食者之口。但如果人们在此后等待太久，巨龟又变得太大而难以运输。
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EFor years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with the tortoises carried on the backs of men over weeks of long, treacherous hikes along narrow trails. But in November 2010, the environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, a visiting private motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot gathered around a table in a small cafe in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. The aim was to use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding centre's tortoises to various locations close to Sierra Negra.
E 多年以来，野化工作的规模很小，是用人工背着巨电沿着狭窄的小路进行数周长途艰险的跋涉。但在2010年11月，环保主义者兼加拉帕戈斯国家公园联络官 Godfrey Merlin、一名访问的私人汽艇船长及一名直升机飞行员聚在一起，在 SantaCruz岛 Puerto Ayora的一家小咖啡馆的桌旁合计出了 一个更加大胆的野化方案。其目标是用直升机将该中心的300只巨龟运到内格拉火山附近的各个地点。
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FThis unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-metre yacht White Cloud, who provided the Galapagos National Park with free use of their helicopter and its experienced pilot, as well as the logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. Originally an air ambulance, the yacht's helicopter has a rear double door and a large internal space that's well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 kilograms. This weight. together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, approached the helicopter's maximum payload, and there were times when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter's capabilities. During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport. Meanwhile, park wardens, dropped off ahead of time in remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and lava rocks.
F 这种史无前例的工作得以实现仰赖们米长的白云号汽艇的船主们，他们向加拉帕戈斯国家公园免费提供了他们的直升机和经验丰富的飞行员，以及汽艇的后勤保障、机长和机组人员。该艇的直升机原本是空中救护机，有一个双后门和一个大的内仓，很适合运货，因此人们专门制作了一个板条箱来安放多达33只巨龟，总重量约150公斤。这个重量加上燃料、飞行员和四名机组人员达到了直升机的最大有效载荷。有几次很显然达到了直升机的载荷临界点。在三天的时间内，扼育中心的一些志愿者加班加点地准备要运走的小龟。同时，公园看守人提前抵达偏远着陆点，在茂密的灌木丛、仙人掌和火山岩之间清理着陆区域。
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GUpon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their ancestral territory, investigating their new surroundings and feeding on the vegetation. Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species.