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There are some shark species that seem to do okay in aquariums.
有些种类的鲨鱼养在水族馆里似乎没什么问题
You’ll see a lot of nurse sharks, zebra sharks, some reef sharks and sand tiger sharks.
大家可以在水族馆看到很多护士鲨、斑马鲨、礁鲨和沙虎鲨
But not the great white.
但就是没有大白鲨
For decades, aquariums have tried to contain the world’s largest predatory fish.
数十年来，不少水族馆都想驯化大白鲨这一世界上最大的肉食性鱼类
Institutions like Marineland, SeaWorld and the Steinhart Aquarium
海产养殖场、海洋世界以及斯坦因水族馆之类的机构
repeatedly took in white sharks during the 1970s, 80s and 90s,
在二十世纪七十年代到九十年代期间都曾展出过大白鲨
at times drawing huge crowds.
并吸引了大量观众
But they never lasted long.
但这种情况并未持续很久
Some needed help swimming. None of them would eat.
有些大白鲨连游泳都有困难，并且，他们都拒绝进食
The longest one lasted was just 16 days.
这些被圈起来的大白鲨最多也只活了16天
A 1984 report by the Steinhart Aquarium put it this way:
斯坦因水族馆1984年曾有过这样的描述：
“In most cases it could be said that all these captive sharks were merely in the process of dying,
“多数情况下，可以说，所有这些被捕的鲨鱼都在死亡的路上
with some taking longer than others.”
只是有些死得慢一点而已。”
They had constructed an elaborate transport tank with a harness and IV fluids,
斯坦因水族馆组装了一个精心设计的运输箱，将大白鲨固定住并给它静脉注射营养
but still couldn’t keep the sharks alive.
但还是未能挽救那些鲨鱼的性命
It wasn’t until 2004 that the Monterey Bay Aquarium proved that
直到2004年，蒙特利湾水族馆才证明
it was possible to keep white sharks for at least six months.
将捕来的大白鲨的性命延长六个月以上是可能的
It took a massive effort, and no one’s done it since.
但要耗费巨大的精力，至今也没有人真正做到这一点
Our approach was one of sort of a systematic, logical sequence of things leading up to our success
要想成功，我们就需要进行一系列系统、合理的操作
and it started with designing a tank.
第一步就是设计一个水箱
The Monterey Bay Aquarium had a million gallon, egg-shaped tank, 35 feet deep,
蒙特利湾水族馆制作了一个容积为一百万加仑，深35英尺，鸡蛋形状的水箱
designed for open-ocean animals like tuna and sharks.
这一水箱专为金枪鱼、鲨鱼等远洋生物设计
So you need a big tank.
所以，我们需要的是一个较大的水箱
You also need a small shark.
以及一个体型较小的鲨鱼
Adult great whites reach 15 feet on average.
成年的大白鲨平均身长为15英尺
The Monterey Bay Aquarium nabbed one in 2004 that was 4 feet, 4 inches, less than a year old.
蒙特利湾水族馆2004年捕获的那只才4英尺零4英寸长，还不足一岁
That made it easier to move and easier to keep.
这就使得这只小鲨鱼更容易活动，也更容易养殖
When they’re young they feed on fish.
大白鲨小时候吃鱼
And as they get older they transition to feeding more on mammals.
但它们越长大，就越倾向于捕食哺乳动物
And so we were targeting the age bracket
所以我们把目标的年龄段限制在
where we knew we were more able to feed their natural diet.
我们能够满足其先天饮食习惯的大白鲨里
And once they collected the shark,
把那条小鲨鱼捕捞回来以后
they didn’t take it straight to the aquarium.
他们并没有直接把它直接送到水族馆去
Instead, the Monterey Bay team set up a 4 million gallon pen right there in the ocean.
而是就在海里圈起来一个容积400万加仑的水池
That way they could monitor the shark and see if it would feed before they moved it into a transport tank
以便在将小鲨鱼装进运输箱前观察它，看它是否会进食
to travel from southern California where the sharks were born up to the aquarium.
因为这些鲨鱼本来生活在加州南部，而水族馆在加州北部
Sharks, like all fish, need to have water continually passing through their gills
跟其他鱼类一样，鲨鱼也需要有水不断流过它们的鳃部
in order to get oxygen.
以便获得足够的氧气
Most species can open and close their mouths to pump the water through.
多数种类的鲨鱼都能通过开启和闭合鱼嘴把水压出鳃部
But white sharks and a couple dozen other species don’t do that.
但大白鲨和另外几十种鲨鱼并非如此
To breathe, they have to move forward through the water with their mouths open.
为了呼吸，它们必须张着嘴往前游
That’s why white sharks start to weaken as soon as they’re caught in a net.
这就是为什么鲨鱼一被网住就变得很脆弱的缘故
And that’s why they needed a custom built transport tank for mobile life support.
这也是为什么它们需要定制的能够让它自由活动的运输箱的缘故
Everything from oxygen sensors and video cameras and lighting and filtration systems
从氧传感器到摄像头、灯光、过滤系统
that were needed for what turned out to roughly be 9 to 11 hour transport time.
路上差不多9-11个小时内它们所需要的一切东西都要准备
Aquarium attendance jumped 30 percent while the shark was on display.
大白鲨展出之后，蒙特利湾水族馆的游客量猛增了30个百分点
After 6 and a half months, they decided to release it because it had killed 2 other sharks.
六个半月之后，他们决定将其放生，因为这只大白鲨已经杀死了其他两头鲨鱼
Over the next 6 years, the aquarium displayed 5 more baby white sharks –
接下来6个月，蒙特利湾水族馆展出了5只幼年大白鲨
some they paid fishermen to hand over, some they caught themselves.
其中有一些是水族馆从渔夫那里接过来的，有一些是水族馆自己捕捞的
Their stays ranged from just 11 days up to 5 months.
而这些幼年大白鲨在水族馆呆的时间短则11天，长则不过5个月
The Monterey Bay Aquarium had succeeded in doing what no one else could.
蒙特利湾水族馆成功地实现了前人从未能实现的做法
But it did take a toll on the sharks.
但也让那些鲨鱼付出了代价
They developed visible sores from bumping into the sides of the tank.
大白鲨们撞击水箱内壁，身体上出现了明显的疮疡
We actually snuck in with photographers
我们带着摄影师偷偷溜进去
and took pictures of the sharks as they were beginning to attrit and fail
拍下了鲨鱼们逐渐受伤直至死亡的照片
due to the constant scraping against the walls basically.
而这些伤痛基本上是不断撞击墙壁的结果
As we viewed it, it was a vase of flowers that would be kept for the visitors.
我们觉得，那就像是专为游客摆放的一个花瓶
Historically, aquariums kept sharks that lived near the seabed or near reefs.
过去，水族馆养殖的鲨鱼都是生活在海底或是暗礁附近的鲨鱼
That makes sense - it’s easier to recreate those habitats in a tank.
这还说得通——因为在水族箱里能够很轻松地模拟它们的自然生存环境
But in recent decades, aquariums have wanted to bring in bigger, more pelagic sharks,
在近几十年来，不少水族馆都想带回更大、生活在更远地方的鲨鱼
those that spend time roaming the open ocean.
也就是那些生活在远洋里的鲨鱼
They’ve even been able to exhibit the largest shark in the world, the whale shark,
有些水族馆甚至能展出世界上最大的鲨鱼——鲸鲨
if they have a big enough tank.
只要他们有足够大的水箱
But pelagic sharks are used to being able to swim long distances without obstructions,
然而，远洋鲨鱼习惯长时间在没有阻碍的海洋里游动
changing directions only as they please.
只在它们想改变方向的时候才会改变游动的方向
So the faster-moving sharks like the white shark, mako shark, and blue shark,
所以，像大白鲨、灰鲭鲨以及大青鲨这些速度很快的鲨鱼
they have trouble with walls when they’re put in a tank.
被放进水箱之后就会与墙壁产生摩擦
That’s what was happening with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s sixth white shark in 2011.
这就是2011年发生在蒙特利湾水族馆里第六条小鲨鱼身上的情况
They decided to release it after 55 days
所以，55天之后他们决定把它放了
and its tracking tag revealed that the shark died shortly after being released.
而这只小鲨鱼身上的跟踪器显示，在被放回海里不久之后它就死了
They’re not sure why.
蒙特利湾水族馆的人不明所以
But since then, they haven’t tried bring in another great white shark.
但从那以后，他们就再也没有尝试捕捞大白鲨了
It’s just a very very very resource intensive program
这个项目的资源非常非常非常密集
and we felt like we had accomplished our goal of introducing the general public to a live white shark.
而且我们觉得我们已经达到了把活生生的大白鲨介绍给大家的目的
It took a huge, carefully planned system to keep a white shark alive.
要维持一只大白鲨的性命需要制定一个巨大的、精心策划的系统
And even then, the sharks didn’t quite fit there.
然而即使是在那种情况下，那些鲨鱼也并不太能适应水族馆里的生活
We can’t seem to stop trying though.
但我们似乎并不能就此停止尝试的脚步
Earlier this year, an 11.5-foot great white shark was taken to an aquarium in Okinawa, Japan
今年年初，一只11.5英尺长的大白鲨被带到了日本冲绳的一个水族馆
after getting caught in a fisherman's net.
因为一个渔民的网网住了它
It was the only adult white shark ever to be put on display,
这是有史以来展出的第一只成年大白鲨
and within 3 days it was dead.
然而，不到三天，这只大白鲨就死了
I wanted show you a great resource online called the Biodiversity Heritage Library –
我想给大家介绍一个非常好大的在线资源，Biodiversity Heritage Library
it’s the product of a couple dozen museums and libraries
这个在线图书馆是几十家博物馆和图书馆共同成立的
all agreeing to scan millions of pages from books related to biodiversity.
他们一致同意扫描无数页生物多样性方面的著作
They’ve got a bunch of great albums on Flickr, including one that's all about sharks.
他们的相册里有很多非常不错的专辑，其中有一张专辑就是关于鲨鱼的
Some of these go back to the 16th and 17th centuries,
有些照片甚至出自16、17世纪
back when the naturalists used to call sharks “sea dogs”
而那个时候，人们还称鲨鱼为“海狗”
which is funny because as we now know
这一点很有趣，因为我们现在已经知道
sharks were roaming the oceans for about 300 million years
鲨鱼早在大约3亿年前就生活在海洋里了
before the first mammals showed up.
而那时，世界上第一只哺乳动物都还没有出现
