Cheetahs Change Hunting Activity During Hot Weather

Cheetahs Change Hunting Activity During Hot Weather

热天气下猎豹改变狩猎活动

【原文听力】

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　　By John Russell

　　14 November 2023

　　Cheetahs usually hunt during the day. But the fast cats change their activity to early morning and early evening hours during warmer weather, a recent study says.

　　The time change sets the creatures up for more possible conflicts with competing predators - such as lions and leopards - that often hunt at night, say the study writers. Their research was published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

　　Briana Abrahms of the University of Washington was a study co-writer. Abrahms said that changing temperatures can have an effect on "the behavior .... of large carnivore species and also the dynamics among species."

　　While cheetahs only eat fresh meat, lions and leopards will sometimes take food from smaller predators.

　　"Lions and leopards normally kill prey themselves, but if they come across a cheetah's kill, they will try to take it," said Bettina Wachter of the Cheetah Research Project at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

　　"The cheetahs will not fight the larger cats, they will just leave," said Wachter, who was not involved in the study.

　　Hunting at different times of the day is one way to reduce meetings between the different predator species that share northern Botswana's mixed grass and forest lands.

　　But the new study found that on the hottest days, when daily temperatures got to nearly 45 degrees Celsius, cheetahs became more active at night. This means cheetahs spent 16 percent more time hunting when other big cats hunt.

　　Kasim Rafiq of the University of Washington and the nonprofit Botswana Predator Conservation Trust was another co-writer of the study. Rafiq said about the shared hunting hours: "There's a greater chance for more unfriendly encounters and less food for the cheetahs."

　　For the current study, researchers placed GPS devices on 53 large carnivores — including cheetahs, lions, leopards and African wild dogs. Researchers then recorded their positions and hours of activity over eight years. They compared this data with the highest daily temperature records.

　　While seasonal differences explain most temperature changes in the time between 2011 to 2018, the scientists say the observed behavior changes offer information about the future of a warming world.

　　In future research, the scientists plan to use audio-recording devices and accelerometers — "like a Fitbit for big cats," said Rafiq. The goal is to document the number of meetings between large meat-eating animals.

　　In addition to competition with lions and leopards, cheetahs already face strong pressure from the loss of living space and conflict with humans.

　　The fastest land animal, cheetahs are the rarest big cat in Africa, with fewer than 7,000 left in the wild.

　　"These climate changes could become really critical if we look into the future — it's predicted to become much warmer in this part of Africa where cheetahs live, in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia," said Wachter of the Cheetah Research Project.

　　I'm John Russell.

　　Christina Larson reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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　　由约翰·罗素撰写

　　2023年11月14日

　　猎豹通常在白天狩猎。但是，最近的一项研究表明，在天气较暖时，这些快速的猫科动物会将活动时间改为早晨和傍晚。

　　研究作者表示，这种时间变化使得这些生物更可能与竞争性的捕食者 - 如狮子和豹 - 发生冲突，这些捕食者通常在夜间狩猎。他们的研究最近发表在《皇家学会B类会议记录》上。

　　华盛顿大学的布莱亚娜·阿布拉姆斯是该研究的合著者之一。阿布拉姆斯表示，温度变化可能会影响“大型食肉动物种类的行为....以及物种之间的动态。”

　　虽然猎豹只吃新鲜的肉，但狮子和豹有时会从小型捕食者那里抢食物。

　　"狮子和豹通常会自己捕杀猎物，但如果他们遇到猎豹捕杀的猎物，他们会试图抢走，"莱布尼茨动物园和野生动物研究所猎豹研究项目的贝蒂娜·瓦赫特说。

　　"猎豹不会与更大的猫科动物战斗，他们只会离开，"没有参与这项研究的瓦赫特说。

　　在一天中的不同时间狩猎是减少在北博茨瓦纳的混合草地和森林地带共享的不同捕食者种类相遇的一种方式。

　　但新的研究发现，在最热的日子里，当日常温度接近45摄氏度时，猎豹在夜间更活跃。这意味着猎豹在其他大型猫科动物狩猎时，花费了16%更多的时间狩猎。

　　华盛顿大学和非营利性的博茨瓦纳捕食者保护信托的卡西姆·拉菲克是该研究的另一位合著者。拉菲克谈到共享狩猎时间时说：“有更大的机会发生更多不友好的遭遇，猎豹的食物也会减少。”

　　在当前的研究中，研究人员在53只大型食肉动物——包括猎豹、狮子、豹和非洲野狗——身上安装了GPS设备。然后，研究人员记录了他们在八年中的位置和活动时间。他们将这些数据与最高的日常温度记录进行了比较。

　　虽然季节性差异解释了2011年至2018年间大部分温度变化，但科学家们说，观察到的行为变化提供了关于全球变暖未来的信息。

　　在未来的研究中，科学家们计划使用音频记录设备和加速度计——“就像大型猫科动物的Fitbit，”拉菲克说。目标是记录大型食肉动物之间的相遇次数。

　　除了与狮子和豹的竞争外，猎豹已经面临着生存空间的丧失和与人类的冲突的强大压力。

　　作为陆地上最快的动物，猎豹是非洲最稀有的大型猫科动物，野外剩余的不到7000只。

　　“如果我们展望未来，这些气候变化可能会变得非常关键——预计猎豹生活的这部分非洲地区，包括博茨瓦纳、纳米比亚和赞比亚，将变得更热，”猎豹研究项目的瓦赫特说。

　　我是约翰·罗素。

　　克里斯蒂娜·拉森为美联社报道了这个故事。约翰·罗素为VOA学英语改编了它。

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　　这个故事中的词汇

　　cheetah – n.生活在非洲和亚洲的大型野生猫科动物。

　　predator -- n. 通过捕杀和食用其他动物来生存的动物。

　　carnivore -- n. 吃肉的动物。

　　species -- n. 一群相关的动物或植物。

　　dynamics -- n.两个或更多事物之间的相互行为方式。

　　prey -- n.被其他动物猎杀或捕食的动物。

　　encounter - n.意外地遇到某人或某事。