In the case of the Southern California mountain lions, conservationists don't want to translocate the animal.
在南加州山狮的例子中,自然资源保护者不想改变它们的位置。
But what they really want is to enable the mountain lions to move themselves.
但他们真正想要的是让山狮能够自发移动。
And one of the best ways to connect mountain lions for genetic purposes, is to link one wild area to another, with a network of well-disguised movement corridors and road crosses.
为了遗传目的,连结山狮的最好方法之一,就是通过一个伪装良好的活动走廊和道路交叉网络,将一个野生区域连接到另一个野生区域。
Wildlife corridors aren't a new idea.
野生动物走廊并不是一个新想法。
They've worked in many other areas with other animals, a wildlife corridor could be anything from a fish ladder,
该方法对其他动物很奏效,野生动物走廊包括鱼梯、
a tunnel for toads, or a highway overpass.
蟾蜍隧道或公路立交桥。
Creating passageways across I-15 or improving the existing passageway can certainly allow animals to come across the freeway more freely than they do now.
在15号州际公路上修建通道或改善现有的通道,无疑可以让动物比现在更自由地通过高速公路。
And that could be enough.
这就足够了。
Overpasses allow the mountain lions to roam freely and mix their gene pools, without ever having to dash across traffic.
天桥让山狮可以自由地漫游,来混合它们的基因库,而不会冲撞交通。
Currently, two wildlife overpass projects are being proposed - one over the interstate 15 in Western Riverside County.
目前正在提出两个野生动物天桥项目——一个在西部河滨县的15号州际公路上。
And another over the US-101 freeway in Los Angeles.
另一个在洛杉矶的US-101高速公路上。
In 2011, one of the lions that successfully made it across without a bridge proves just how helpful mixing individuals can be.
2011年,有一只狮子在没有桥的情况下成功穿越,这证明了混合个体是多么有帮助。
That was M86, a male mountain lion that found mates in the Santa Ana mountains, after migrating from a genetically diverse population.
那是雄性山狮M86,它从一个基因多样的群体迁徙过来后,在圣塔安娜山脉找到了伴侣。
He had 11 detected offspring, adding the desperately needed unique genes into the inbred population.
检测到它有11只后代,将急需的独特基因加入到近亲繁殖群体中。
So far we've only documented one in 15 years that was successful.
到目前为止,15年来我们只记录了一个成功的案例。
M86 was hit by a car and killed the next time he tried to cross.
M86在下一次试图穿越时被一辆车撞死了。
And of course, having these mountain lions so close to humans poses its own challenges, even if the populations are able to mix together.
当然,让这些山狮离人类的距离如此之近也会带来挑战,即使它们的种群能够混合在一起。
Many locals worry about having large predators so close to their backyards, pets, and children.
许多当地人担心大型食肉动物离他们的后院、宠物和孩子如此之近。
As top predators they, like wolves and bears, tend to regulate the ecosystem through their prey behavior, with their behavior toward prey.
作为顶级捕食者,它们像狼和熊一样,倾向于通过自己的捕食行为来调节生态系统。
So they reduce deer numbers, versus what would be present if they weren't there.
所以它们减少了鹿的数量,而它们不在的时候则不会这样。
And that can help to downregulate things like vegetation types and browsing levels and things that affect other animals down lower on the food chain.
这有助于降低植被类型和吃草量,还会影响食物链下游的其他动物。
There's been some work that suggests that their role regulating deer populations has not only promoted vegetation balance,
一些研究表明,它们调节鹿群的作用不仅促进了植被平衡,
but also helps to reduce roadkill and collisions with cars, which endanger humans.
同时也有助于减少车祸致死,这些都会危及人类。
Of course, it really helps to preserve large spaces of wild land, before we build on it, rather than trying to put the pieces back together after the fact.
当然,在我们建造之前,这确实有助于保护大片的荒地,而不是试图在事后把这些碎片拼凑起来。
I think the role of our populace of people who care about mountain lions is to become more and more active in the conservation of land and the conservation of animals
我认为我们关心山狮的作用是在保护土地和保护动物方面变得越来越积极,
and in whatever way might be suitable to them because local decisions, oftentimes really determine a lot of these habitat issues.
无论以何种方式对它们来说都是合适的,因为当地的决定往往决定了许多这些栖息地问题。