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　　摘要：美國正在幫助挽救一種瀕臨絕種的西非大猩猩物種。美國魚類及野生動物保護組織及國際野生動物保護學會已經有了一項五年計劃, 以確保靈長類動物的存活。美國魚類及野生動物保護組織的德瑞克•貝樂爾稱克羅斯河大猩猩在非洲的其他部分地區不是像它的親戚那樣很有名。

　　The U.S. is helping to save an elusive and endangered species of gorilla in West Africa. The Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Conservation Society have developed a five-year plan to ensure the survival of the primate .

　　Dirck Byler of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service said the Cross River gorilla is not as well-known as its relatives in other parts of Africa.

　　"There's two different species of gorilla actually. There's the western gorilla and the eastern gorilla. And the one that people are most familiar with are the eastern gorillas, specifically the subspecies known as the mountain gorilla, which is found in Rwanda and Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The western gorilla is found in the western part of the Congo Basin in countries such as Cameroon, Gabon, northern Republic of the Congo. And then one of their subspecies is called the Cross River gorilla. And this is the most endangered gorilla species today," he said.

　　In fact, the Cross River gorilla has been classified as "critically endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the IUCN.

　　"It's much more endangered than the mountain gorilla is and unfortunately hasn't received as much attention over the years," said Byler.

　　Byler, program officer for the Great Ape Conservation Fund at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said it's believed there are only a few hundred of the gorillas left.

　　"We don't really have a good estimate of what the population was before, but it was likely many thousands. But over the last hundred years as human population has grown in this area they were hunted down to a very small level of 250 to 300 individuals scattered across 13 little pockets on the border of Nigeria and Cameroon," he said.

　　Just 10 to 15 years ago, the Cross River gorilla was thought to be either extinct or nearly extinct.

　　"With actually a lot of support from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the work of conservation NGOs like the Wildlife Conservation Society we've been able to get a handle on where the remaining populations exist. So our understanding from a scientific point of view has increased dramatically," he said.

　　Two new national parks have opened in Cameroon that offer safe haven for the gorilla. One is the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary, which was created with a grant from the service. The other is the Takamanda National Park, which was converted from a forest reserve.

　　Part of the five-year plan to save the Cross River gorilla is to have local communities act as guardians for the primates.

　　Byler said, "Many of the gorilla populations still lie outside protected areas and national parks and will never probably be included in national parks. And so through working with local communities to curtail hunting and to provide alternatives to hunting in many of these places we think we can get a handle on hopefully stabilizing the population and even increasing it."

　　So how many Cross River gorillas would there have to be in order for the species to be considered safe? Byler said it's difficult to set what's called a goal population.

　　"Maybe doubling the population in the next 20 or 30 years would be tremendous. And whether that would be enough to ensure its long term sustainability is in question, but it sure would be great progress if we could achieve that. The reproductive rate of gorillas is very slow and it takes a long time to actually increase a population," he said.

　　The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is able to offer its assistance in Africa and elsewhere through the Great Ape Conservation Fund. It was established by Congress in 2000. The fund allows the service to offer conservation grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000.

　　美國正在幫助挽救一種瀕臨絕種的西非大猩猩物種。美國魚類及野生動物保護組織及國際野生動物保護學會已經有了一項五年計劃, 以確保靈長類動物的存活。

　　美國魚類及野生動物保護組織的德瑞克•貝樂爾稱克羅斯河大猩猩在非洲的其他部分地區不是像它的親戚那樣很有名。

　　“實際上有兩種不同種類的大猩猩。它們是西部大猩猩和東部大猩猩。人們最熟悉的是東部大猩猩,特別是在烏干達和盧旺達及剛果民主共和國發現的被稱為亞種的山地大猩猩。西部大猩猩分布在剛果盆地西部的一些國家，如喀麥隆、加蓬及剛果北部。然后它們的其中一個亞種被稱為克羅斯河大猩猩。現今它們已經是最瀕危物種。”他說道。

　　事實上,克洛斯河大猩猩已被IUCN，即世界自然保護聯盟列為“瀕臨絕種”。

　　“它們比山地大猩猩更為瀕臨滅絕,不幸的是多年以來沒有得到足夠的重視。“貝樂爾說道。

　　貝樂爾在美國魚類及野生動物保護組織猿類自然保護基金項目擔任主管，他稱目前只剩下幾百只大猩猩。

　　“我們真的沒有很好的估計之前的大猩猩數量,但可能是數千只。但是在過去的幾百年中,隨著人類在這一地區的人口增長，他們開始在尼日利亞和喀麥隆邊境獵殺大猩猩，結果導致大猩猩數量驟降到一個非常小的水平，幾乎只剩下250只到300只。”他說。

　　僅10年到15年前,克洛斯河大猩猩被認為是已經滅絕或幾乎滅絕。

　　“借助來自美國魚類及野生動物服務組織及野生動物保護協會等非政府組織的幫助，我們已經能夠掌握現在大猩猩僅存數量的一手資料。所以我們從科學的角度上的理解在急劇增加。”他說道。

　　兩個新的國家公園在喀麥隆開放,這為大猩猩提供了安全之所。一個是借助美國魚類及野生動物服務組織提供幫助的卡格文尼大猩猩圣地。另一個是從森林保護區轉變而來的塔卡曼達國家公園。

　　這個五年計劃的另一部分是讓當地社區作為靈長類動物的監護人拯救克洛斯河大猩猩。

　　貝樂爾說道:“很多大猩猩仍然在保護區域之外而且還有國家公園并沒有囊括在國家公園之內。所以藉助與當地社區的合作減少狩獵和在很多這樣的地方提供狩獵替代選擇,我們認為能夠掌控局勢并希望穩定大猩猩數量，甚至達到增加的效果。”

　　那么有多少克洛斯河大猩猩才會被認為是安全的物種呢?貝樂爾稱很難確定什么是目標人口。

　　“也許在未來20或30年大猩猩數量會翻倍，這個數量無疑將是巨大的。是否這就足夠了,是否能確保其長期的可持續發展是個問題,但如果我們能達到這個效果，這肯定會是很大的進步。因為大猩猩繁殖率非常慢,需要很長時間來實際增加人口。”他說道。

　　美國魚類及野生動物保護組織通過猿類保護基金能夠對非洲和其他地區提供幫助。它是由美國國會在2000年成立。基金可以允許這個組織將捐助從50000美元增加到100000美元。