交通量减少令动物欢喜

Less traffic makes the animals happy

刘立军 供稿

TRANSCRIPT

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Julia Rosen.

Don't worry about why the chicken crossed the road - the bigger question is whether it'll make it at all. Every year, millions of animals get killed by vehicles in the U.S. But that road risk has dropped because of the COVID pandemic.

"We're aware of negative impacts on the economy, family relations. I'm sitting in my living room, and I don't see as much of my family as I normally would. You know, so there's a lot of negative impacts. But the positive impacts are becoming more clear. And that could really change the discussion after the pandemic - change some of our assumptions about how much driving we should do if we want to protect nature, wildlife, air quality, climate change, and so forth."

Fraser Shilling, co-director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis. When officials began issuing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, Shilling and his colleagues quickly realized they were witnessing a novel experiment: What happens when we all start driving way less?

The answer is a lot of things, including fewer accidents and lower greenhouse gas emissions from cars. In their latest report, the researchers found that driving less has also led to a dramatic decrease in roadkills in three states for which they had long-term data: Idaho, Maine and California.

"It's actually the largest conservation action that the U.S. has ever taken, as far as I'm aware, since creation of the national parks."

The team documented about a third fewer collisions with deer, elk, moose and other large mammals in the four weeks following shutdowns. If such a slowdown persisted for a year, 27,000 large animals would be saved in just those three states.

In California, the researchers also looked specifically at mountain lions. Some populations in urban areas are at risk of local extinction, and vehicles are one of the top killers. However, in recent months, traffic deaths of mountain lions have dropped by 58 percent, revealing an important clue about how to save them.

"Well, to keep them from going extinct or to recover them, we need to protect them from traffic. And that means we need to build stuff. We need to put in fencing along highways and crossing structures over the highways. And that's a big deal."

People are now returning to the roads as stay-at-home orders are lifted. But Shilling hopes some of the lessons might stick.

"Yeah, I just say I think we can grow from this. Having less impact on wildlife - everybody loves wildlife, you know - and if we can find a way to not kill them, it seems like everybody can line up behind that."

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Julia Rosen.

VOCABULARY

1. novel n. (often approving) different from anything known before; new, interesting and often seeming slightly strange 新颖的；与众不同的；珍奇的。例如：a novel feature 新特征

2. roadkill n. the killing of an animal by a car hitting it on the road 汽车在公路上撞死动物

3. elk n. (British English) a large deer that lives in northern Europe and Asia. In North America it is called a moose. 驼鹿，麋鹿（生活于北欧和亚洲，北美洲称 moose）

4. moose n. a large deer that lives in North America. In Europe and Asia it is called an elk. 驼鹿（产于北美；在欧洲和亚洲称为麋鹿）

5. mammal n. any animal that gives birth to live babies, not eggs, and feeds its young on milk 哺乳动物

QUESTIONS

Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).

1. Every year, millions of deers get killed by vehicles in the U.S.

2. The road risk of animals killed by vehicles in the U.S. has dropped because of the COVID pandemic.

3. Fraser Shilling is the director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.

4. When officials began issuing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, there are fewer accidents and lower greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

5. In their latest report, the researchers found that driving less has also led to a dramatic decrease in roadkills in Florida, Maine and California.

6. In California, traffic deaths of mountain lions in urban areas have dropped by 18 percent in recent months.

KEY

Read the statements. Then listen to the news and decide whether the statements are true (T) or false (F).

(F) 1. Every year, millions of deer get killed by vehicles in the U.S. （正确表达）Every year, millions of animals get killed by vehicles in the U.S.

(T) 2. The road risk of animals killed by vehicles in the U.S. has dropped because of the COVID pandemic.

(F) 3. Fraser Shilling is the director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis. （正确表达） Fraser Shilling is the co-director of the Road Ecology Center at the University of California, Davis.

(T) 4. When officials began issuing stay-at-home orders to slow the spread of COVID-19, there are fewer accidents and lower greenhouse gas emissions from cars.

(F) 5. In their latest report, the researchers found that driving less has also led to a dramatic decrease in roadkills in Florida, Maine and California.（正确表达） In their latest report, the researchers found that driving less has also led to a dramatic decrease in roadkills in Idaho, Maine and California.

(F) 6. In California, traffic deaths of mountain lions in urban areas have dropped by 18 percent in recent months. （正确表达）In California, traffic deaths of mountain lions in urban areas have dropped by 58 percent in recent months.

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