熊貓寶寶註定要回歸大自然

Pandas: cute, but sexually inept and bamboozled bytheir own food requirements, right? Not so. In fact, it is life in captivitythat disrupts the complex rhythm of panda mating behaviour, with itsterritorial scent marking, mating calls and complex social interactions.

熊貓：可愛但是被它們自己的食物需求所迷惑，對求偶不上心，對吧？但並非如此，事實上，人工馴養的生活打亂了大熊貓求偶行爲的複雜節奏，如在自己的領地做氣味標識，發出求偶信號，以及複雜的社交互動。

Infant pandas are reared in nurseries, wherededicated staff work non-stop to meet their every need - including massagingtheir stomachs to stimulate their digestion

圖：熊貓寶寶生活在培育中心裏，那裏有專門的員工夜以繼日的滿足它們的各種需求-包括按摩胃部刺激消化。

Most pandas born in captivity will spend theirlives there, in China or on loan to zoos abroad. But at Hetaoping fieldstation, within Wolong reserve, in a painstakingly slow process, some pandasare being prepped for a future in the wild. These candidate animals arecarefully selected ? they must be naturally wary of humans.

在中國或者租借熊貓的海外動物園裏，大多數出生在人工馴養環境中的熊貓會在那裏生活一輩子。但是在臥龍自然保護區的核桃坪野外監測站，在煞費苦心的漫長過程中，正準備將一些熊貓在未來回歸野外。這些待迴歸動物是經過精挑細選的嗎？它們對人類必須保持着自然地警惕。

If pandas are to be released and thrive in thewild, they must be wary of humans. Keepers at the Hetaoping reserve in Wolongtherefore wear black-and-white costumes soaked in panda urine

圖：如果打算將熊貓放回野外且在野外繁殖，它們就必須要提防人類。因此臥龍核桃坪自然保護區的看守員們穿着在熊貓尿液裏浸泡過的黑白熊貓服裝。

Baby pandas are tiny, hairless and incrediblyvulnerable. Captive-born babies are removed to incubators to increase theirchances of survival, where staff bottle-feed them, rock them, burp them andkeep a close eye on errant toddlers ? all the duties of a parent, including thesleepless nights. But the babies selected for a wilder future stay with theirmothers before being moved to fenced-in habitats further up the mountain. Since2006, five have been released (wearing tracking collars) and three are still alive.A handful of others are also being considered for release.

熊貓寶寶非常的小，全身無毛並且非常的弱勢。在人類馴養環境中，爲了提高存活率，出生的熊貓寶寶則被放置在保溫箱中，同時有專門的人員用奶瓶餵養，搖晃着它們，密切關注着這羣犯錯的孩子？所做的這一切就像一位母親般盡職盡責。在被轉移到深山裏圍起的棲息地之前，這些被選中的未來將回歸野外的熊貓寶寶們仍然和它們的媽媽待在一起。從2006年開始，已經有5只大熊貓（佩戴跟蹤環）被釋放到野外，其中有3只仍然存活。少數的幾隻也正考慮釋放野外。

Gestation for baby pandas ranges from three tofive months, and the tiny hairless blind creatures weigh an average of 100g(0.2lb) when they are born

圖：熊貓孕期一般3到5個月，這些微小無毛又未睜開眼的生物剛出生時平均重100g。

Pandas need large territories: they eat about9kg-18kg (20lb-40lb) of bamboo each day. In fact, bones found in China indicatethat pandas, as we know them, have been around for two million years, and forall that time they thrived and spread throughout southern and eastern China,northern Myanmar and Vietnam. Then came the human population boom, andmillennia of panda behaviour was disrupted in a few years.

熊貓在野外需要廣闊的活動範圍：它們每天吃9kg-18kg的竹子。事實上，在中國發現的骨骼表明，我們所認識的大熊貓已經存在了兩百萬年了，在這期間，熊貓的繁衍生息遍及中國南部和東部，緬甸和越南北部。接着是人類數量的爆發式的增長，在最近的幾年裏，熊貓幾千年來的習性被人類打亂。

The young pandas are weighed and monitored closelyto ensure they are putting on weight. Pandas take around five to seven years toreach full size

圖：熊貓幼崽的體重被密切監視着，確保它們正在增重。熊貓長到最大體型大約需要花費5-7年的時間。

With much of their habitat destroyed, survivorsbecame isolated ? it is estimated that their current mountain habitat in Chinacomprises just 1% of their original range. The 70s saw their nadir ? withestimates of just 800 to 1,000 left in the wild. In 1980, the ChinaConservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda was founded at gside government protection of their habitat, this has seen numbers in themost recent survey (2014) rise to more than 1,800. However, scientific modelssuggest that global warming could reduce their remaining habitat by 60% in thenext 70 years. Their continued survival is far from a black-and-white issue.

隨着大量的棲息地被摧毀，倖存下來的大熊貓變得孤立起來？據估計在中國境內熊貓目前的棲息地和原始範圍相比只剩下1%了。70年代，熊貓數量達到最低谷，據估計野外只剩下800-1000只。1980年，在臥龍成立了中國大熊貓保護和研究中心。同時在政府對棲息地保護的情況下，根據最近的一次測量統計（2014），野外熊貓數量已經上升到1800只。但是，科學模型顯示，全球變暖會在未來的70年內減少60%現存的棲息地。大熊貓持久的生存遠不是一個非白即黑的問題。

These images have been shortlisted for the NaturalWorld category of the professional competition in the Sony World Photographyawards. Winners will be announced on 20 April. An exhibition of shortlistedwork will run at Somerset House, London from 21 April-7 May.

這些照片入圍了索尼全球攝影獎專業賽中的自然類。4月20日將公佈冠軍得主。攝影展的照片篩選工作將在塞默特宮進行。