倫敦動物園“人口普查” 動物萌態十足

How do you get an emperor scorpion to hop up onto a scale to peer at its weight?

你如何讓一隻帝王蠍跳上磅稱稱體重？

Or get a yawning Asiatic lioness to stand still for a minute so that you can take her measurements?

如何讓一隻打哈欠的亞洲雌獅子站着不動，保持一分鐘，讓你測量它的體重和尺寸？

At the London Zoo, they do it very carefully — with patience, scales and bribes.

倫敦動物園飼養員非常仔細地進行測量工作，他們滿懷耐心，用食物“賄賂”動物，用磅秤給動物們稱重。

Mark Habben, head of zoological management at the Zoological Society of London, said in a phone interview Friday that 70 keepers had begun just such an undertaking the day before: the zoo’s annual weigh-in.

倫敦動物學會動物管理的負責人馬克?哈本在8月25日的電話採訪中說，70名飼養員已於8月24日開始進行倫敦動物園一年一度的動物稱重工作。

Armed with giant rulers, big (and little) scales, along with the animals’ favorite food, they are measuring, weighing and counting most of the 750 species in care of the zoo.

飼養員拿着大尺子、大型（或小型）磅秤以及動物們最愛的食物，正在爲園中照管的750種動物中的大多數進行身高體長的測量、稱重並盤點數量。

Because the zoo has about 20,000 animals, he said, “this will go on for the next couple of weeks.”

他說，因爲園中有大約20000只動物，“所以接下來幾周都將進行這項工作。”

The keepers are taking the vital statistics of the smallest primates (the pygmy marmosets), the towering creatures (the giraffes) and the many animals in between: gorillas, squirrel monkeys, penguins and ants, to name a few.

飼養員正在對最小的靈長目動物（侏儒狨猴）、高大的動物（長頸鹿）以及諸如大猩猩、松鼠猴、企鵝、螞蟻等尺寸適中的動物進行生命統計。

The goal of all this weighing and measuring and counting is not only to gauge their health and well-being — it’s also to make sure “we care for our animals by feeding them the correct food,” the society says on its website.

對動物進行稱重、測量和清點數目不僅僅是爲了評估它們的健康狀況，也是爲了確保“我們照管動物時，給他們餵食了正確的食物”，倫敦動物學會官網如是說。

With such valuable information, one may learn at another zoo, for instance, that a corn snake named Sausage can eat one mouse every 10 days. That’s the same amount that Ebeneezer, a royal python, swallows — except every 21 days. Frodo and Freda, White’s Tree frogs? Twenty crickets every three days.

有了這些有用的信息，動物園就能夠相互學習瞭解動物的食量，比如說，一隻叫“香腸”的玉米蛇每十天能吃掉一隻老鼠；一隻名埃比尼澤的皇蟒可能每21天吃一隻老鼠；白點樹蛙弗羅多和弗雷達每3天吃掉20只蟋蟀。

The annual weigh-in at the London Zoo also lets the keepers figure out if any of the animals are pregnant, Habben said.

哈本說，倫敦動物園每年給動物稱重也讓飼養員弄清楚是否有動物懷孕。

The information collected will be entered into a database, the Zoological Information Management System, and shared with zoos around the world, to compare important data on endangered species.

收集的數據將錄入動物數據管理系統，並與世界各地的動物園共享，以此對比瀕危物種的重要信息。

The lightest creature weighed at the London Zoo so far is the leaf cutter ant, whose weight is measured in micrograms, Habben said.

哈本說，迄今爲止，切葉蟻是倫敦動物園稱過的最輕的生物，其體重以微克度量。

That insect came in at 5 micrograms on average.

切葉蟻的平均體重約爲5微克。

The giraffe was the heaviest to weigh, he said. For that, the zoo uses a “specially built” scale.

哈本稱，長頸鹿是倫敦動物園稱過的最重的動物，爲了給長頸鹿稱重，動物園還特製了一個秤。

In the case of a giraffe named Elisa, whose true weight is no one’s business but her own, it can be revealed only that she weighs between 800 to 850 kilograms.

對於一隻叫艾麗莎的長頸鹿來說，它的真實體重是自己的事，與其他人無關，所以可以只用記做：體重約爲800-850千克。

The zoo periodically takes the measure of some animals on a monthly basis, but the annual weigh-in is more expansive. For strategic reasons, the keepers begin at a set point, often at feeding time.

動物園每個月都會定期測量一些動物的體重，但是每年進行的測量則更爲全面。出於策略考慮，飼養員通常會在餵食時間等固定時間開始測量。

According to the society, which works on the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats:

倫敦動物學會致力於全球動物及動物棲息地保護，該協會稱：

“A range of techniques are used, from training the sea lions to hold their flippers up to be measured, to tempting the brightly feathered macaw and the scaly python onto the weigh board with some of their favorite treats.”

“我們會使用許多技巧，比如訓練海獅測量時舉起腳蹼，而對於羽毛色彩鮮豔的金剛鸚鵡和多鱗的巨蟒，可以用它們最喜歡的食物將它們引誘到稱重板上。”

In this weigh-in, Habben said, the zoo is prioritizing newborns. The penguins, for instance, “had quite a productive breeding season this year,” he said.

哈本說，這次工作優先對新生動物進行測量。比如企鵝，“今年繁殖期就相當多產。”

They’re also homing in on some important species. “We try to go at the key species to correlate dietary changes, growth,” he said.

他們也會重點測量一些重要的物種。哈本說：“我們試圖測量一些重要物種的生命體徵，以此找到它們的飲食變化和生長之間的關係。”

So far, a penguin named Heathcliff came in at 4.25 kilograms; and the Pygmy goats, Bramble, Polly and Ellie, tipped the scales at 21.5 kg, 19.7 kg and 15.8 kg.

迄今爲止，已測得一隻叫西斯克裏夫的企鵝體重爲4.25千克；侏儒山羊布蘭布爾、波利和埃莉的體重分別爲21.5千克，19.7千克和15.8千克。

You would think that, given its height and weight, the giraffe would be the hardest animal to weigh. But you would be wrong.

你會認爲，因爲長頸鹿太高太重，所以要對其進行測量最爲困難。但是你錯了。

Yes, it does need “an extremely large set of scales,” and must be maneuvered onto platforms, Habben said.

哈本說，是的，給長頸鹿稱重是需要非常非常大的秤，而且必須在平地上進行。

But when it comes down to which animal is the trickiest to weigh, he said, laughing, “the fish are pretty difficult, as you can imagine.”

但是談到最難稱重的動物，哈本笑着說，“你可以想象，魚是最難稱重的。”

So the zoo just doesn’t bother: “We just measure and count them.”

所以倫敦動物園也不自尋煩惱，“我們只測量身長，清點數量。”

Then there are the aptly named squirrel monkeys. For one thing, they are spread across 16 large enclosures. And some have had babies: two to be precise.

名字取得很巧妙的松鼠猴位列魚類之後。一則，它們分散在16個大的圍欄中，而且一些還懷孕了，準確說是兩隻。

And for another, they live up to their names.

其二，它們沒有辜負它們的名字，很好動。

“You’ll have eight or nine of them trying to jump on the scales,” he said. “They’re more interested in playing. They’re pretty cheeky.”

哈本說，“可能會有八九個松鼠猴同時跳到秤上，它們更想玩兒，非常放肆。”

The weigh-ins are taking place during visiting hours, he said. And Friday was an especially good day to be at the London Zoo. It was an opportunity for visitors to gawk — but pretend that everything was oh so normal.

哈本說，稱重的工作會在動物園開園期間進行。週五是去倫敦動物園的好時機，參觀者有機會看熱鬧，但是他們最好假裝一切如常。

There’s a goat — stepping on a scale.

一隻山羊走到了秤上。

And that gorilla? It’s sidling up to a giant measuring board.

大猩猩呢？它正悄悄走近一個巨大的稱重臺。

Nothing to see here. Nothing much at all.

沒什麼好看的！沒什麼大不了的！