无人机捕获了有史以来比较大的海龟群

无人机捕获了有史以来最大的海龟群

Given that we are currently experiencing a global extinction crisis, the occasion to witness a large congregation of an endangered species is a rare and special opportunity indeed.

鉴于我们目前正经历一场全球灭绝危机，有机会目睹一大批濒临灭绝的物种确实是一个罕见和特殊的机会。

So you can imagine how privileged biologist Vanessa Bézy must have felt when she flew her drone over the Costa Rican coastline to capture what might just be the largest swarm of sea turtles ever filmed, reports National Geographic.

据《国家地理》报道，当生物学家凡妮莎·贝齐驾驶无人机飞越哥斯达黎加海岸线，捕捉可能是有史以来最大的海龟群时，你可以想象她有多幸运。

BRYAN NELSON

The photo, shown in the above, depicts thousands of olive ridley sea turtles swimming across an area just off Ostional National Wildlife Refuge. It's estimated that there is roughly one turtle for every square meter in the footage. The congregation is so dense that you could almost imagine hopping over the sea by leaping from shell to shell.

在上面的图片中，成千上万的橄榄绿海龟在国家野生动物保护区附近游泳。据估计，每平方米大概有一只乌龟。聚集的龟群如此密集，你几乎可以想象从一个壳跳到另一个壳的情景。

In fact, the number of turtles in the photo might only be the tip of the iceberg. You can visibly see new turtles rising from the depths as the drone ascends, so there might be many more turtles hidden from view below the surface.

事实上，图片中海龟的数量可能只是冰山一角。随着无人机的上升，你可以清楚地看到新的海龟从海底升起，所以可能会有更多的海龟隐藏在水下。

“I immediately knew there was something special going on,” said Bézy, to National Geographic. “To this day I’m still blown away by that. They look like bumper cars out there.”

“我立刻意识到有些特别的事情正在发生，”贝兹在接受《国家地理》杂志采访时表示。“直到今天，我仍然被该现象所震撼。它们看起来就像碰碰车。”

Swarms of turtles aren't unusual at Ostional; the refuge was established in 1983 as a protected area specifically for the turtles. But swarms this dense have never been seen before from this vantage point, and they may never be seen again given that this is a vulnerable species.

成群的海龟在嗅觉上并不罕见;该保护区成立于1983年，是专门为海龟设立的保护区。但是，从这个有利位置上，从未见过如此密集的蜂群，鉴于这是一个脆弱的物种，它们可能永远不会再被看到。

Bézy studies these sea turtles, and says she recently released this photo to raise awareness about what we stand to lose if this species is not protected. Though these turtles are widespread, they have very few nesting sites around the world, and so when these nesting sites become compromised it threatens whole populations at once. For instance, Bézy has become increasingly concerned about a rising tourism industry around the beaches where this population nests.

Bezy研究这些海龟，她说她最近发布了这张照片来提高人们的意识，如果这个物种得不到保护，我们将会失去什么。虽然这些海龟分布广泛，但它们在世界各地的筑巢地点却很少，因此当这些筑巢地点受到威胁时，整个种群就会受到威胁。例如，Bezy越来越关注海滩周边的旅游业的发展，因为这里是海豚的栖息地。

New regulations have been proposed to protect these critical beaches, but as developers encroach and access becomes easier, the regulations may not be enough. Part of the problem is that olive ridley sea turtle hatchlings have a very low survival rate into adulthood. Only about 1 out of 100 reach maturity, and that's just considering natural threats. If you pile on threats from human encroachment, it's easy to see how the turtle population could crash fast, potentially in a single generation.

已经有人提出了保护这些重要海滩的新规定，但随着开发商的入侵和进入变得更容易，这些规定可能还不够。部分原因是榄蠵龟的成活率很低。只有大约百分之一达到成熟，这只是考虑到自然威胁。如果你把人类入侵的威胁加在一起，很容易就能看出海龟的数量是如何迅速减少的，甚至可能在一代人的时间内减少。

For now, as we can see in the photo, this population seems robust. Bézy hopes that her footage will help to keep it that way.

现在，正如我们在照片中看到的，这个群体似乎很强大。贝丝希望她的镜头能帮助保持这种状态。