Scientists study dolphins' 'happiness' 科學傢研究圈養海豚的“幸福度”

本集內容

Scientists study dolphins’ ‘happiness’ 科學傢評估圈養寬吻海豚的“幸福”程度

學習要點

有關“animal welfare 動物福利”的詞匯

邊看邊答

What’s the flaw of the study, according to Professor Shultz?

文字稿

Bottlenose dolphins are the marine world’s most charismatic mammals, which is why so many of them are kept in dolphinariums like this one near Paris.

寬吻海豚是海洋世界中最有魅力的哺乳動物，這就是為什麼它們中的很多都被養在類似巴黎附近的這傢海豚表演館裡。

There are an estimated five thousand bottlenose dolphins in captivity around the world – and it’s only recently that scientists have begun to ask and investigate how these animals feel in this kind of an environment. This was an experiment designed to assess anticipation and enthusiasm.

全世界共有約五千隻被圈養的寬吻海豚，但直到近期科學傢才開始探詢並調查它們生活在這類環境中的感受。這項實驗旨在評估海豚表現出的期待和熱情程度。

Dr Isabella Clegg, Dolphin welfare scientist

So we found a really interesting result was that all dolphins waited around most for the event where the trainer would come and play with them. And we’ve seen it in other zoo animals, other farm animals that better human-animal bonds equals better welfare.

伊莎貝拉·克雷格博士海豚福利科學傢
“我們得出瞭一個很有趣的結果，那就是所有海豚都對與訓練師一同玩耍的活動表現出瞭最迫切的期盼。我們在其它生活在動物園和農場中的動物身上也觀察到過這樣的情感，即人與動物之間的關系越親密，動物就有更好的福利保障。”

The aim is to use these findings to improve the lives of captive dolphins around the world, but for critics of this industry, a concrete pool can never be an acceptable home for these marine creatures.

該實驗的目的是利用這些研究結果來改善世界各地馴養海豚的生活質量，但對於業界的評論人士來說，海洋館內的混凝土水池終究不能成為用來安置這類海洋生物的傢園。

Professor Susanne Shultz, University of Manchester

This study is very much telling us how we can manage animals in the best possible way if they are captive. I don’t think the study can tell us whether these animals are happier in captivity, or nearly as happy as they would be in the wild.

蘇珊·舒爾茨教授英國曼徹斯特大學
“這項研究有效地告訴我們怎樣以盡可能最佳的方式去照顧圈養動物。我不認為它能說明生活在圈養環境中的這些動物是否更快樂或和在野外環境中時一樣快樂。”

The much larger question remains of whether these animals are here to educate people about life in the oceans or simply for our entertainment.

有一個更大的問題仍需回答：這些圈養動物存在的目的是為瞭讓人們瞭解海洋中的生命，還是僅供我們娛樂？

詞匯

dolphinariums 海豚表演館

in captivity 被圈養的，人工馴養的

human-animal bonds 人與動物的紐帶、關系

in the wild 在野外環境中

你知道嗎？

Dolphins have their own individual whistle. When greeting, they first produce their signature whistle to identify themselves and have been shown to remember a member of their original group’s own whistle years after last hearing it.

海豚能吹出有各自特色的口哨。每當見面打招呼時，它們會先發出自己的哨聲，從而讓同伴識別自己，有研究還發現海豚能記住其數年前聽到的來自其原群體成員的哨聲。