An Effort to Keep Deer Moving
美國保護鹿群遷徙路線
By James Gorman

THE RED DESERT, Wyoming – As scientists and volunteers waits by the side of a gravel road here, a helicopter swoops down, carrying two blindfolded mule deer in slings. It hovers for a moment in a swirl of rotor-blown snow, detaching the deer slings.
科學家和志工在這裡（懷俄明州紅沙漠）一條碎石路旁等候，一架直升機俯衝而下，用吊物機載著兩頭蒙著眼的騾鹿。直升機盤旋一會兒，螺旋槳吹起一陣雪花，卸下裝著鹿的吊物機。

Team members carry the deer to a spot to be weighed and tested. From each animal, they draw blood, pull a whisker, check a GPS collar or put on a new one, take a rectal temperature and fecal sample, perform an ultrasound on the haunches, shoot a local anesthetic into the jaw, and pull a tooth. Ten minutes later, the deer are freed and dash off.
團隊成員把鹿搬到一個地點，量體重和檢驗。他們為每頭鹿抽血、拔一根腮鬚、檢查「全球定位系統」項圈或裝上一個新的、量肛溫、採集糞便樣本、超音波掃描腰部、在下顎打針施以局部麻醉，再拔掉一顆牙。10分鐘後鹿被放生，一溜煙跑了。

The scientists were taking snapshots of the deer’s health and downloading their movements from their digital collars – part of a broader effort to track and preserve their migration route. Researchers recently discovered that path, which is as long as any known land migration in the lower 48 states, a twice-yearly, 240-kilometer journey that has inspired groups to work to protect the route from development.
科學家藉此了解鹿的健康概況，並從牠們的數位項圈下載有關牠們移動的資料──這是追蹤和保存他們遷移路線的更大計畫的一環。研究人員最近發現這條路徑，與美國本土48州已知的任何陸上遷徙路線一樣長，每年兩次的240公里旅程，激勵了一些團體設法保護這條路線不為人類開發所破壞。

Seasonal migrations in search of food are essential to the survival of many animals. In the American West, elk, deer, and other big game move to mountain slopes in the spring and summer, and wait out the winter at lower, warmer elevations. “Migration is the underlying mechanism that allows this landscape to support the deer populations,” said Hall Sawyer of Western EcoSystems Technology, a consulting firm, who discovered the route.
為覓食而做季節性遷徙是許多動物生存的必要條件。在美國西部，麋鹿、鹿和其他大型野生動物春夏兩季遷徙到山坡地，在海拔較低、較溫暖的地方等待冬天過去。這條路線的發現者、西方生態系統科技顧問公司的霍爾．索耶說：「遷徙是讓這塊土地供養鹿群的基本機制。」

Because houses and roads, fences and gas wells can pose obstacles to traveling animals, conservationists have long recognized that preserving migration routes is essential to preserving wildlife.
由於房舍、道路、圍籬和天然氣井會阻礙動物移動，保育人士早就知道保存遷徙路線是保育野生動物之本。

About 500 deer travel from their winter range here in the Red Desert to spring and summer grounds in the Hoback River basin near Jackson, Wyoming. About 5,000 deer follow part of the path. The effort to track the migration began in 2011. Working for the United States Bureau of Land Management, Dr. Sawyer put GPS collars on 40 mule deer in the Red Desert. No one really knew what the deer did in the spring and summer, although some had been seen there year-round. Most mule deer migrate, but some stay put for reasons that are not well understood.
大約500頭鹿從紅沙漠的冬天棲息地移往懷俄明州靠近傑克森市的霍巴克河盆地的春夏棲地。大約5000頭鹿遵循這條路線的一部分。追蹤遷徙路線始自2011年。為美國陸地管理局工作的索耶為紅沙漠的40頭騾鹿裝上定位項圈。當時沒人真正知道鹿在春夏的活動，不過，當地一年到頭都看到一些鹿。大部分騾鹿會遷徙，但也有一些留在原地，原因並不完全清楚。

New Zealanders developed a technique for shooting nets from a helicopter. The pilot isolates a deer, flying close enough for a gunner to fire a net that traps the deer. The pilot then lowers the craft so the “mugger” – the gunner or another crew member – can jump to the ground, run to the deer, wrestles it into a position where he can blindfold it and wrap it in a sling. The helicopter then swings back so the mugger can hitch the sling to the copter before climbing aboard.
紐西蘭人發明一種從直升機發射捕捉網的技術。駕駛孤立一頭鹿，飛到夠近，讓射手發射一個網子困住鹿。駕駛接著把直升機飛得更低，這位「偷襲者」－射手或是另一名機員跳到地上，跑向鹿，把牠扭倒到某個姿勢，以便蒙住牠的眼睛並把牠包在吊物機裡。直升機再晃回去，「偷襲者」把吊物機鉤在直升機上，再爬上機。

The process can be rough on the deer. Kevin Monteith, a wildlife biologist who works with Dr. Sawyer, says 1 to 3 percent of the deer die or are injured and have to be euthanized.
這個過程對鹿來說可能不好受。與索耶一起工作的野生生物學家凱文．蒙泰斯說，有1%到3%的鹿死亡或因傷重而施以安樂死。

Once deer are collared, the researchers release them and then recapture them each spring and fall to download information from the collars, which record a deer’s location every three hours.
鹿裝上定位項圈，研究員就把牠們放了，每年春秋再抓牠們一次，從項圈下載資料，項圈每三小時記錄一次鹿的所在位置。

“Data creates opportunities to do things that didn’t exist before,” said Steve Sharkey, director of the Knobloch Family Foundation, which backs the research.
贊助這項研究的克諾布洛赫家族基金會執行長史蒂夫．夏爾基說：「資料給我們機會去做過去沒做過的事。」

Each test provides crucial data. Teeth establish age, whiskers provide DNA, blood and feces provide information about diet and metabolism, and ultrasound scans of the haunches calculate body fat.
每項檢驗都提供了重要資訊。牙齒看年齡，腮鬚提供DNA，血液和糞便提供飲食和代謝的資訊，腰部的超音波掃描可以計算體脂肪。

Migrations in the West follow what biologists call the “green wave” in the spring – the bloom of vegetation that starts at low elevations and moves higher with each day. The deer that fare best “surf” that wave, catching each area’s vegetation at its most nutritious.
西部的遷徙追隨著生物學家所謂春天的「綠色波浪」，植物的生長繁茂從低海拔處開始，逐日往更高處移動。吃得最好的鹿「隨波逐浪」，抓住每個地區植物最營養的時期。

When scientists publicized the Red Desert-to-Hoback route, they listed the top 10 challenges it faces. Wyoming conservation groups focused on the top challenge for protecting the route – a bottleneck near Fremont Lake. The Conservation Fund is in the process of buying the area involved for about $2 million, to protect it from development. The Knobloch Foundation is providing half of the funding.
科學家宣傳從紅沙漠到霍巴克的路線時，列出鹿群面臨的十大挑戰。懷俄明各保育團體聚焦在保護這條路線的最大挑戰－靠近佛里蒙特湖的瓶頸地帶。保育基金會已著手以約200萬美元買下這塊地，以免遭開發破壞。半數經費由克諾布洛赫基金會提供。

The more accurate data provided by new technology and the deer are making political and regulatory action easier, mostly by pinpointing the land that is important for protecting the route.
新科技和鹿群提供了更準確的資料，讓採取政治和管制行動變得更容易，主要因為這些資料點出了保護這條路線最重要的土地。

“It’s not about huge vast landscapes,” said Peter Aengst of the Wilderness Society. “It’s about very narrow but very critical acres.”
荒野保護協會的彼得．安格斯特說：「這不是極大的一塊地，而是很狹窄，卻很重要的幾畝地。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/science/deer-on-the-move.html

2015-02-17聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 田思怡譯 原文參見紐時週報十版右