環境攝影大師韶華用影像訴說環保：消失的揚子鱷

Wetland disappearance in China has affected dozens of animal species, including the Yangtze alligator of Anhui province, which inhabits the Yangtze River Basin west of Shanghai and is in danger of extinction, scientists say. Between the 1950s and 1980s, the population of Anhui exploded; many alligators were considered pests and killed off. Today it is estimated that only 120 are left in the wild. "The loss of habitat is by far the most serious factors in the decline in the wild population of Yangtze alligators," says Joe Abene, a long-time alligator researcher who worked for the Bronx Zoo in New York and is an expert on the Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis).
科學家表示，中國溼地的消失已經影響到了許多動物種類，其中包括棲息在長江流域與上海西邊接壤的安徽省內，目前正瀕臨滅絕的揚子鱷。1950年至1980期間，安徽省人口激增，揚子鱷被認爲是威脅人類的有害動物而遭到捕殺。目前野生揚子鱷僅剩120只左右。揚子鱷專家喬•阿貝尼說：“到目前爲止，野生揚子鱷數量急劇下降最重要的因素就是棲息地的喪失。”喬•阿貝尼在紐約布朗克斯動物園工作，長期從事短吻鱷的研究。

"Since the Chinese government has given the Yangtze alligators the highest level of protection, their biggest obstacle has been finding a place to live." At the Anhui Research Center of Alligator Reproduction in the city of Xuancheng, researchers have several ponds housing some 10,000 captive bred Chinese alligators, some of which are introduced into the wild. As scientists work on jump-starting the population through breeding programs, the biggest challenge for the Chinese government will be to set aside enough habitat to sustain a large viable population of Yangtze alligators without harming the livelihoods of the farmers that currently share the river basin with them.
“中國政府已經把對揚子鱷列爲一級保護動物，現在最大的障礙就是棲息地的問題。”在安徽省宣城鱷魚繁殖研究中心，研究人員在水池裏人工飼養了大約 10000只揚子鱷，其中一些已經引入野外。隨着繁育工作的不斷推展，擺在政府面前最大的挑戰就是爲大量有繁殖能力的揚子鱷提供棲息地，維持較大的揚子鱷存活數量，同時不讓它們傷害到居住在長江流域的農民的生活。