In fact, LA is one of only two mega cities in the world to have big cats living within the city limits.

事實上，洛杉磯是世界上僅有的兩個在城市範圍內生活著大貓咪的超級城市之一。

In LA, the freeways have sliced the mountain lion's habitat into ever-shrinking pieces.

在洛杉磯，高速公路把山獅的棲息地切成了越來越小的碎片。

And this isolates the populations from each other and causes problems with genetic diversity.

而這就使種群之間相互隔離，造成遺傳多樣性的問題。

All leading to a risk of local extinction in as few as 12 years.

都會導致在短短12年內出現局部滅絕的風險。

But there's hope in saving them by re-linking these lonely lions, even one at a time.

但只要把這些孤獨的獅子重新聯繫起來，哪怕一次只救一隻，也是有希望的。

If one individual could come across every two or three years,

如果每兩三年能碰到一個人。

then the genetic makeup of the population would stay fairly stable.

那麼人口的基因構成將保持相當穩定。

Seriously, it only takes the introduction of one new mountain lion to renew genetic health for

說真的，只要引進一隻新的山獅，就能為基因健康續命。

the local species.

當地物種。

But before we get into that, let's explore how mountain lions got into this situation,

但在進入這個問題之前，我們先來探討一下山獅是如何陷入這種局面的。

or more specifically, how we forced them into this situation in the first place.

或者更具體地說，我們當初是如何迫使他們陷入這種境地的。

Mountain lions live in a variety of habitats in Southern California.

山獅生活在南加州的各種棲息地。

So they are sort of everywhere that there is cover, habitat and deer.

所以它們算是到處都有遮擋物、棲息地和鹿。

We tend to attract some wildlife because of our lawns and our watered areas and our golf courses and things like that.

我們傾向於吸引一些野生動物，因為我們的草坪和我們的澆灌區以及我們的高爾夫球場和類似的東西。

So mountain lions oftentimes live much closer to people than we think.

所以，山獅往往比我們想象的更接近人的生活。

At the lower elevations and the passes and things where highways, have been built,

在低海拔和山口和事情的地方，高速公路，已經建成。

The freeways carve the area up, and they make it such that the animals

高速公路把這一地區分割開來，它們讓動物們的生活也變得如此。

can't reach from one area to another very easily at all.

從一個區域到另一個區域完全不能很容易地到達。

Either get killed trying to cross, or the highway itself is so noisy,

要不就是想過馬路被殺，要不就是高速路本身太吵。

and there's so much light relating to cars that they just can't, they don't want to try it.

和汽車有關的光景太多，他們就是不能，也不想嘗試。

So, although there are quite a few mountain lions living in the Southern California mountain ranges,

所以，雖然有不少山獅生活在南加州的山脈中。

and they've been there for thousands of years, the highways are now forcing individual mountain lions

它們已經在那裡呆了幾千年了，現在高速公路迫使個別山獅...

to stay where they are, without roaming to new areas as they naturally would.

留在原地，而不像它們自然地漫遊到新的區域。

They tend to become inbred, they tend to keep breeding with each other,

它們往往會變得近親繁殖，它們往往會不斷地相互繁殖。

they don't have new animals coming in to introduce new genetics and so that inbreeding phenomenon,

他們沒有新的動物進來引進新的基因，所以，近親繁殖現象。

then leads to potentially health problems and susceptibility to disease, reproductive issues.

然後導致潛在的健康問題，容易出現疾病、生殖問題。

Then the population could go extinct or, in the models, actually did go extinct within that 12 or 13 year period.

那麼種群可能會滅絕，或者，在模型中，實際上確實在這12年或13年內滅絕了。

So, it can happen quickly. If reproduction rates can't keep up with mortality rates.

所以，會很快發生。如果繁殖率跟不上死亡率。

Unfortunately, Dr. Vickers has seen this before.

不幸的是，維克斯博士已經看到了這一點。

The only mountain lion population we have as an example of what happens with inbreeding

我們唯一的山獅種群就是近親繁殖的例子。

is the the Florida Panther, and it was isolated and is isolated in the Everglades

是佛羅里達黑豹，它是孤立的，是孤立的在沼澤地的

and southern Florida.

和佛羅里達州南部。

And when its population became low because of all of these same factors, and by low I mean

而當它的人口因為所有這些相同的因素而變得很低的時候，我所說的低是指：

less than 20 individuals in the entire state, they also were tending to just breed with each other.

全州不到20個個體，他們也往往只是互相繁殖。

They also started having physical abnormalities changes in their haircoats, kinked tails

他們也開始出現身體上的異常變化，毛髮變了，尾巴打結了

were one thing that they saw.

是他們看到的一件事。

Cleft palates, physical abnormalities that began to show up because of inbreeding.

顎裂，因為近親繁殖而開始出現的身體異常。

Female mouth lions were brought in from Texas to breed with that population, and that was a successful

雌性口獅被從德克薩斯州帶來與該種群繁殖，這是一個成功的。

introduction of genetic material, and the kitten survival went up, and overall survival went up, and the population

遺傳物質的引入，小貓的存活率就上去了，整體存活率就上去了，種群的

has now expanded to between one and 200 animals.

目前已擴大到1至200只動物。

In the case of the Southern California mountain lions, conservationists don't want to translocate the animal.

在南加州山獅的情況下，保護主義者不希望遷移動物。

But what they really want is to enable the mountain lions to move themselves. And one of the best way to

但他們真正想要的是讓山獅能夠自己移動。而其中一個最好的方法就是

mountain lions for genetic purposes, is to link one wild area to another, with a network

山地獅的遺傳目的，是將一個野生區域與另一個野生區域連接起來，用一個網絡

of well-disguised movement corridors and road crosses.

偽裝得很好的移動走廊和道路交叉口的。

Wildlife corridors aren't a new idea. They've worked in many other areas with other animals,

野生動物走廊並不是一個新想法。他們已經在許多其他領域和其他動物一起工作。

a wildlife corridor could be anything from a fish ladder, a tunnel for toads, or a highway overpass.

野生動物走廊可以是任何東西 從魚梯，蟾蜍的隧道，或高速公路立交橋。

Creating passageways across I-15 or improving the existing passageway can certainly allow animals to come

建立橫跨I-15的通道或改善現有的通道，當然可以讓動物來

across the freeway more freely than they do now.

比現在更自由地穿過高速公路。

And that could be enough.

而這可能就夠了。

Overpasses allow the mountain lions to roam freely and mix their gene pools,

立交橋可以讓山獅自由活動，混合它們的基因庫。

without ever having to dash across traffic.

而無需在車流中飛奔。

Currently, two wildlife overpass projects are being proposed - one over the interstate 15

目前，擬建兩個野生動物立交橋項目--一個在15號州際公路上。

in Western Riverside County.

在河西縣。

And another over the US-101 freeway in Los Angeles.

而另一個在洛杉磯的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

2011年，其中一隻獅子在沒有橋的情況下成功過橋，證明了混雜在一起是多麼有用。

individuals can be.

個人可以。

That was M86, a male mountain lion that found mates in the Santa Ana mountains, after migrating from a

那是M86，一隻雄性山獅，在聖安娜山找到了配偶，在從聖安娜山遷徙過來後，它就在聖安娜山找到了配偶。

genetically diverse population.

遺傳多樣性的人口。

He had 11 detected offspring, adding the desperately needed unique genes into the inbred population.

他有11個檢測到的後代，將急需的獨特基因加入到近親繁殖的人群中。

So far we've only documented one in 15 years that was successful.

到目前為止，我們在15年裡只記錄了一個成功的案例。

M86 was hit by a car and killed the next time he tried to cross.

M86次想穿越時被車撞死。

And of course, having these mountain lions so close to humans poses its own challenges, even if the populations

當然，讓這些山獅離人類如此之近，也帶來了自己的挑戰，即使種群

are able to mix together.

是能夠混在一起的。

Many locals worry about having large predators so close to their backyards, pets, and children.

許多當地人擔心有大型食肉動物離他們的後院、寵物和孩子如此之近。

As top predators they, like wolves and bears, tend to regulate the ecosystem through their prey behavior,

作為頂級捕食者，它們和狼、熊一樣，往往通過獵物行為來調節生態系統。

with their behavior toward prey.

與它們對獵物的行為。

So they reduce deer numbers, versus what would be present if they weren't there.

所以，它們會減少鹿的數量，而如果它們不在那裡，鹿的數量就會減少。

And that can help to downregulate things like vegetation types and browsing levels and things that affect other

這可以幫助降低對植被類型和瀏覽量等影響其他事物的管制

animals down lower on the food chain.

食物鏈上的低級動物。

There's been some work that suggests that their role regulating deer populations has not only promoted vegetation

有一些工作表明，它們調節鹿群的作用不僅促進了植被?

balance, but also helps to reduce roadkill and collisions with cars, which endanger humans.

平衡，同時也有助於減少危害人類的道路殺傷力和與汽車的碰撞。

Of course, it really helps to preserve large spaces of wild land, before we build on it. Rather than trying to

當然，在我們進行建設之前，保護大片的荒地，確實是有幫助的。而不是試圖

put the pieces back together after the fact

亡羊補牢

I think the role of our populace of people who care about mountain lions is to become more and more

我想，我們廣大關心山獅的民眾的作用是越來越多的

active in the conservation of land and the conservation of animals and in whatever way might be

積極參與土地保護和動物保護，並以任何可能的方式

suitable to them because local decisions, oftentimes really determine a lot of these habitat issues.

因為當地的決定，經常會決定很多這些棲息地的問題。