澳大利亚灾难性的火灾引发了人们对考拉未来的担忧

澳大利亚灾难性的火灾引发了人们对考拉未来的担忧

Paul is one of the lucky ones. The young male koala, pictured below, was found dehydrated and injured this month after a bushfire engulfed his habitat in eastern Australia. Hoping he could still be saved, rescuers took him to a nearby hospital for koalas.

保罗是幸运的。这只年轻的雄性考拉(下图)本月在澳大利亚东部的一场森林大火中被发现脱水受伤。希望它还能得救，救援人员把它送到附近的一家医院救治考拉。

Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

"He was picked up off the ground and curled up in a little ball, basically not moving," Sue Ashton, president of the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, told Agence France-Presse. After some rest and treatment, however, he began doing "really well," Ashton said. He was soon joined by another dehydrated koala, Anwin, who also had been plucked from the aftermath of a fire.

麦夸里港考拉医院院长苏·阿什顿告诉法新社记者:“它被从地上抱起来，蜷缩成一个小球，基本上一动不动。”阿什顿说，经过休息和治疗，它的情况“非常好”。很快，另一只脱水的考拉安文也加入了队伍。

The hospital has reportedly taken in about two dozen koalas in recent weeks, all bushfire survivors. And it isn't alone. About 80 kilometers (50 miles) to the south, for example, a couple in the town of Taree is caring for 24 rescued koalas in their home, according to Australia's ABC News, where they've turned their living room into a makeshift burn unit.

据报道，这家医院最近几周收养了大约24只考拉，它们都是丛林大火的幸存者。而且它并不孤单。例如，据澳大利亚广播公司新闻报道，在塔雷以南约80公里(50英里)的地方，一对夫妇正在家中照顾24只获救的考拉。

A barrage of bushfires have erupted across eastern and western Australia in recent weeks, scorching some 1 million hectares and killing at least six people in the eastern state of New South Wales alone. This is an early and intense start for Australia's fire season, which typically hits its peak in the summer months of December, January and February. These spring blazes are raising concerns not only about this year's fire season, but also about the future of some iconic wildlife — especially koalas — as Australian fire seasons grow longer and stronger due to human-induced climate change.

近几周来，澳大利亚东部和西部地区接连发生森林大火，仅在东部的新南威尔士州就有大约100万公顷土地被烧毁，至少6人丧生。这是澳大利亚火灾季节的一个早期和激烈的开始，通常在夏季的12月、1月和2月达到高峰。这些春天的大火不仅引起了人们对今年火灾季节的关注，而且也引起了人们对一些标志性野生动物——尤其是考拉——未来的担忧。由于人类引起的气候变化，澳大利亚的火灾季节变得更长、更强。

While that trend is bad news for many species in Australia, including humans, koalas can be particularly vulnerable to fire. A few days before Paul was rescued, for example, flames engulfed a coastal forest in New South Wales that hosted a robust koala colony, sparking fear that hundreds of koalas may have been lost from this large, genetically diverse population.

虽然这一趋势对澳大利亚的许多物种来说是个坏消息，包括人类，但考拉特别容易受到火灾的伤害。例如，在保罗被救出的前几天，大火吞噬了新南威尔士州的一个沿海森林，那里有一个健壮的考拉群落，这引发了人们的担忧:在这个庞大的、基因多样化的种群中，可能已经有数百只考拉消失了。

A firefighter works as flames burn a forest in Port Macquarie, where hundreds of koalas may have died in a recent bushfire. (Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Bushfires are a natural occurrence in Australia, and koalas have evolved to endure them. Yet as reported in the New York Times, while kangaroos and many other animals flee bushfires on the ground, koalas have a different strategy. Koalas sleep in trees for up to 18 hours a day, and since their bodies are more adapted for climbing than running, leaving the trees to run away might be unwise. Instead, they often climb up to the canopy, where they curl up for protection and wait out the fire.

在澳大利亚，森林大火是一种自然现象，考拉已经进化出了对火灾的忍耐能力。然而，正如《纽约时报》上报道的那样，当袋鼠和许多其他动物在地面上躲避丛林大火时，考拉却有不同的策略。考拉每天要在树上睡上18个小时，由于它们的身体更适合爬树而不是奔跑，让考拉逃跑可能是不明智的。相反，它们经常爬到树冠上，在那里蜷缩起来，等待火灾结束。

Koalas can also burn their paws or claws when descending a hot tree after a fire, leaving them unable to climb. And if they do survive a fire, as Paul did, they may still find themselves dehydrated in a landscape suddenly devoid of water.

考拉在火灾后从滚烫的树上下来时也会灼伤它们的爪子，使它们无法攀爬。如果它们真的像保罗那样在火灾中幸存下来，它们可能仍然会发现自己在突然没有水的地方脱水。

Corduroy Paul receives treatment at the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital after his rescue from a bushfire. (Photo: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

In the meantime, while the loss of so many koalas in these bushfires is heartbreaking, it's also an important reminder that we still have time to save koalas as a species, as Flanagan tells the Times. And similar to Sam the koala in 2009, survivors like Paul can help their species by drawing attention and rallying public support for more protection. "We have these unique animals not found anywhere else on this planet, and we're killing them," Flanagan says. "This is a big wake-up call."

与此同时，正如弗拉纳根告诉《泰晤士报》的那样，虽然在森林大火中失去这么多考拉令人心碎，但这也是一个重要的提醒，我们仍然有时间拯救考拉这个物种。和2009年的考拉山姆一样，像保罗这样的幸存者可以通过吸引注意力和争取公众支持来保护它们的物种。弗拉纳根说:“我们有这些独一无二的动物，在地球上其他地方是找不到的，我们正在杀死它们。这是一个巨大的警钟。”