After a 2,000-Mile Trip, a Penguin Finds Itself on an Australian Beach
长途跋涉2000多里,一只企鹅来到了澳洲海滩
It was a day as Australian as you can get: Sun, waves and surfing at the beach. And then something distinctly un-Australian turned up.
那是极其典型的澳大利亚的一天:阳光、海浪、沙滩边冲浪。然后某个明显很不澳大利亚的东西出现了。
Aaron Fowler and a friend were heading back to the parking lot after a day in the waves. “We saw something coming out of the water,” Mr. Fowler, a 37-year-old drywall repairman, said. “We thought it was a seabird, but then we thought, ‘Oh, that’s way too big,’ and it had a big, long neck and a tail sticking out like a duck.
亚伦·福勒和一个朋友在海里玩了一天,正返回停车场。“我们看到有什么东西从水里爬了出来,”37岁的干砌墙修理工福勒说,“我们以为是一只海鸟,但后来我们想,‘哦,那也太大了’,它脖子很粗、很长,尾巴像鸭子一样伸出来。
It stood up in the water and waddled straight up to us and just started cleaning itself.” Standing there on the beach in the small town of Denmark in Western Australia on Friday afternoon was a male emperor penguin, about 2,100 miles from where one might expect to find it, in Antarctica.
它从水中站起来,摇摇摆摆地径直向我们走来,然后开始梳理皮毛。” 那个周五下午,站在澳大利亚西部丹麦小镇海滩上的是一只雄性帝企鹅,距离它通常出现的地点——南极洲——大约2100英里。
Mr. Fowler had seen plenty of dolphins and other creatures in the waves, including one leopard seal, which is also native to Antarctica, but he never expected a penguin. “We were in shock,” he said.
福勒曾在海里看到过很多海豚和其他生物,包括一只同样原生于南极洲的豹海豹,但他从未想到过会看到企鹅。“我们当时惊呆了。”他说。
Even someone with years of experience studying penguins was surprised at the sighting. “That crazy young penguin,” said Dee Boersma, a professor of biology at the University of Washington and author of “Penguins: Natural History and Conservation.”
即使有多年研究企鹅经验的人对于看到企鹅也感到惊讶。“那只年轻企鹅疯了,”迪·博尔斯玛说,她是华盛顿大学生物学教授,也是《企鹅:自然历史与保护》一书的作者。
“Emperor penguins move around, because they have to be on an ice sheet or a glacier to raise young, and the glaciers are eroding away,” she said. “That’s not unusual. You’ve got to continue to swim until you find food. But this is the furthest north I’ve heard of an emperor penguin.”
“帝企鹅会四处行动,因为它们必须在冰盖或冰川上养育幼崽,而冰川正在逐渐消失,”她说,“这并不罕见。你得一直游,直到找到食物。但这是我听说过的帝企鹅到达的最北的地方。”
Record low sea-ice levels in the Antarctic have wreaked havoc on the lives of emperor penguins. Penguins have sought new breeding grounds as a result, but normally they stay relatively close to their old homes.
南极海冰的创纪录低水平给帝企鹅的生活带来了严重破坏。企鹅因此寻找新的繁殖地,但通常会相对靠近它们的旧家园。
The penguin who arrived in Australia did not seem to have been flummoxed too much by its new surroundings. The penguin “seemed completely happy,” Mr. Fowler said. “It was not at all shy. It was very friendly. It was quite happy in our company.”
这只来到澳大利亚的企鹅似乎并没有被新环境搞糊涂。福勒说,这只企鹅“似乎挺开心的”。“它一点也不害羞,非常友好,和我们待在一起很开心。”
Mr. Fowler alerted the authorities about the newly immigrated Aussie penguin. It was picked up and is being cared for; its rehabilitation is expected to take a few weeks, the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions of Western Australia said.
福勒向相关部门报告了这只刚移民澳洲的企鹅的情况。它已被接走,并正在接受照顾,西澳大利亚生物多样性、保护和景点部门表示,它身体康复预计需要几周时间。
“The penguin appeared to be malnourished,” the agency said, “and was removed from the beach to avoid potential threats from dogs, cats, foxes and vehicles.”
该机构称:“这只企鹅似乎营养不良,为了避免受到狗、猫、狐狸和车辆的潜在伤害,它已被带离海滩。”
While the penguin may be settling into life Down Under, on the beach it soon discovered that sand and ice are two different things. “He did a little belly slide on the sand; I think he thought it was snow,” Mr. Fowler said. “He didn’t get far. He had a bit of a tumble.”
虽然这只企鹅现在可能正在澳大利亚安顿下来,但当时在海滩上,它很快就发现沙子和冰是不同的。“他用肚皮在沙子上滑行了一下,我想他以为那是雪,”福勒说,“他没滑多远,还差点翻了一跟头。”