科普知识学英语 60%的非洲森林象被非法猎杀.docVIP

African forest elephants are being poached out of existence. A study just published in the online journal PLOS ONE shows that across their range in central Africa, a?staggering（蹒跚的，令人惊愕的）?62 percent of all forest elephants have been killed for their ivory over the past decade. The analysis confirms what conservationists have feared: the rapid trend towards extinction -- potentially within the next decade -- of the forest elephant, says Dr. Samantha Strindberg of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), one of the lead authors of the study. ? Saving the species requires a coordinated global effort in the countries where elephants occur -- all along the ivory smuggling routes, and at the final destination in the Far East. We dont have much time before elephants are gone, says the other lead author Dr. Fiona Maisels also of WCS. ? The study, which examines the largest ever amount of Central African elephant survey data, comes as 178 countries gather in Bangkok to discuss wildlife trade issues, including poaching and ivory smuggling. ? The study -- the largest ever conducted on the African forest elephant -- includes the work of more than 60 scientists between 2002 and 2011, and an immense effort by national conservation staff who spent 91,600 person-days surveying for elephants in five countries (Cameroon, Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Republic of Congo), walking over 13,000 kilometers (more than 8,000 miles) and recording over 11,000 samples for the analysis. ? The paper shows that almost a third of the land where African forest elephants were able to live 10 years ago has become too dangerous for them. ? Co-author Dr. John Hart of the Lukuru Foundation says: Historically, elephants ranged right across the forests of this vast region of over 2 million square kilometers (over 772,000 square miles), but now?cower（退缩）?in just a quarter of that area. Although the forest cover remains, it is empty of elephants, demonstrating t