Name: 動物園到底好還是不好（How do we fix the zoo?）
Uploaded: 2023-04-13T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 8 min 25 s

A few months ago, we got this question from one of our subscribers, Gaurav.

幾個月前，我們收到我們的觀眾 Gaurav 的提問。

When I was a kid, one of my most favorite things to do was to visit a zoo.

小時候，我最喜歡做的一件事就是去動物園。

But as I grew older, I came across evidence to the fact that animals in zoos often suffer from boredom.

但隨著年齡增長，我了解到動物園裡的動物往往受精神匱乏所苦。

我想深挖 Gaurav 提出的這個問題，

in part because, as a parent of a young toddler, zoos are very much a part of my everyday life.

一部分是因為作為幼兒的家長，去動物園已然成為我日常生活的一部分。

Going to the zoo clearly makes my kid happy.

去動物園顯然讓我的孩子很高興。

And most zoos market themselves as a force for conservation,

而大多數動物園都主打「保育」

protecting endangered species, and making us humans better stewards of the planet.

「保護瀕危物種」或是「讓人類更好地管理地球」。

But then there's that evidence Gaurav mentioned.

但同時又出現了 Gaurav 提到的那個問題。

Videos showing what zoologist call stereotypies:

影片中的是動物學家所稱的「固著行為」

Repetitive behaviors like hair pulling, tongue flicking,

重複性行為，如拉扯頭髮、反覆伸出舌頭、

bobbing and swaying that indicate under-stimulation and stress.

晃動和搖擺，以上都顯示其刺激接受不足和壓力過大。

All of this left me with a couple questions:

What are zoos doing for humans, and for animals?

動物園對人類和動物有什麼貢獻？

動物園是否有達成我們的期望？

我第一通電話打給了蘇珊·克萊頓，

a conservation psychologist whose job is basically to go to the zoo and spy on people.

蘇珊是位保育心理學家，她的工作基本上就是去動物園監視人們。

We watch people and we listen to people and, you know, pay attention to what they say.

我們觀察、傾聽人們的聲音，注意他們說的話。

Parents will use that as an opportunity to talk to their children about how it's important to try and keep species from going extinct.

家長將參觀動物園視為讓孩子瞭解防止物種滅絕重要性的機會。

But something much more concrete and more simple also happens.

但有個更具體、更簡單的現象此時也會出現。

Susan and her colleagues noticed that around primates, in particular,

蘇珊和她的同事注意到，特別是對於靈長類動物，

visitors will frequently imagine themselves in the animals' place.

遊客經常會想象自己身處動物的位置。

They might speak as if they were the animal.

遊客可能會以動物的角度說話，就好像自己是牠們。

"What are these people looking at me for?"

So you are temporarily imagining what it would be like to be the animal.

你會暫時想象著自己成為動物的樣子。

That does open the door to a greater empathy and concern.

這確實能增加我們的同情和關心。

Susan is describing an expansion of what philosophers call our circle of empathy.

蘇珊所描述的是哲學家稱之為「同理圈」的延伸。

We might start by only caring about  our family and close friends,

這可能始於關心自己的家人和親友，

but we can extend that circle to include other people and even other species.

但我們可以把圈子擴大，囊括至其他的人，甚至其他物種。

I was just wondering if that kind of resonates with you as far as thinking back to your experiences in zoos growing up?

我想知道你是否對此有共鳴？會讓你想起關於動物園的成長經歷嗎？

Sometimes they would even allow us to feed giraffes.

有時他們甚至會讓我們餵長頸鹿。

We were allowed to touch some snakes and things like that.

他們會讓我們摸蛇之類的東西。

我曾經很喜歡回到那個動物園，

so that they can create this bond and this empathy with animals.

這樣能與動物建立聯繫和共鳴。

So maybe zoos help us feel more empathy for animals.

所以，也許動物園能幫助我們對動物產生更多同情心。

艾瑪·馬里斯科學領域的作家，

who spends a good chunk of her book, Wild Souls,

在她的著作《野性靈魂》中，她花了很大的篇幅

Do the benefits of zoos to wild animals and to conservation

outweigh any minimal amount of discomfort or unhappiness that the animals in the zoo might experience?

是否勝過動物園裡的動物可能經歷的任何不適或不快？

Talking with Emma convinced me that instead of just looking for pros and cons

與艾瑪交談後，我了解到與其一味尋找優和缺點，

I should look for evidence for two claims:

不如專注在驗證一下兩點主張：

That keeping animals in a zoo somehow helps wild populations thrive.

把動物關在動物園裡，某程度上有助於野生物種繁衍。

And that visiting them has a measurable impact on human attitudes about conservation.

參觀動物園對人類看待動物保育的態度可產生可觀影響。

Emma had already spent a lot of time looking into this first question.

艾瑪已花了許多時間研究此議題。

The idea that zoo animals are a sort of backup or reserve.

把動物園內的動物視為一種備份或儲備動物這個想法，

Basically, if a species was about to go extinct,

基本上，如果一個物種快滅絕了，

we could replenish their numbers with these reserve animals who had spent their lives in zoos.

我們可以用這些一生都在都在動物園的儲備動物來回填數量。

The tricky part about that is that for a lot of species,

但棘手的部分是，對很多物種來說，

especially the bigger, more cognitively complex species,

特別是體型較大，認知能力較強的物種，

putting them back out into the wild  is incredibly difficult.

The key to knowing which ones can actually be released is a concept called cognitive complexity.

知道哪些動物真的可以回歸野外的關鍵是一個叫「認知複雜度」的概念。

A good way to think about it is to look at how long it takes for a particular species to learn skills in the wild.

了解這點的一個好方法是觀察該物種需要多長時間學習野外生存技能。

Orangutans stay with their mothers for up to 9 years.

猩猩會跟在媽媽身邊長達 9 年。

It takes elephants the same amount of time

to learn how to function as members of one of the most complex social groups in the animal kingdom.

學習如何在動物界中複雜程度名列前茅的群體中生存。

Orcas stay with their mothers until age 13.

虎鯨在 13 歲前都不會與母親分開。

For lions, polar bears, and gorillas, it's at least 2 years.

獅子、北極熊和大猩猩則至少需要兩年時間適應。

Once you realize how much these cognitively complex animals have to learn to survive in the wild,

一旦瞭解這些認知複雜度高的動物有學習野外生存有多難，

it makes sense why the ones you see in zoos could never join their wild cousins.

就很好明白為什麼動物園裡的動物永遠無法融入野生環境了。

This idea of cognitive complexity was just really game changing for me

認知複雜度這個概念真的大大地改變了我的想法，

as far as, like, understanding why so few zoo animals are able to be out in the wild.

讓我瞭解為何這麼少動物園動物能夠回歸野外。

When you were talking about this, I had a few examples in my head.

談及這個問題時，我腦中浮現幾個例子。

I remember seeing the footage of a baby gazelle that cheetahs often hunt.

我記得看過一個片段，內容是關於獵豹經常會獵的瞪羚。

So the mother would capture the baby gazelle and let her cubs, you know, go out and finish it, like kill it.

獵豹媽媽會將瞪羚抓回，然後讓小獵豹解決它。

這種體驗在動物園裡是很難複製的。

For comparison, the California Condor only needs 180 days to learn how to survive after hatching.

相比之下，加州神鷲在孵化後只需 180 天就能學會生存。

And a program to save them from extinction

by breeding them in zoos and releasing them in the wild has been a huge success.

也就是在動物園裡繁殖並野放牠們的計畫，已取得了極大的成功。

According to the Association for Zoos and Aquariums website,

根據動物園和水族館協會網站的資訊，

there are approximately 8700 species represented in zoos around the world

世界各地的動物園中大約有 8700 個物種，

This sort of notion that someday they're going to be like

"Let's get all the ones from the zoo and just pop them out into Africa and Asia."

「我們把動物園裡的都放回非洲和亞洲吧。」

他們永遠不會放這些動物出來。

it's really hard for me to see the benefits and the drawbacks seem pretty obvious.

似乎找不太到優點，缺點卻很明顯。

But what about the second item on the list?

Does visiting the zoo make us more conservation minded?

參觀動物園會讓我們更有保育意識嗎？

One study gave visitors a survey when they first got to the zoo

一項研究讓遊客入園時填寫問卷，

and asked them to write down actions they could think of that would help save animal species,

要求他們寫下能想到的防止動物滅絕的方法，

then have them do the same thing after they'd visited the exhibits.

然後在他們逛完動物園後，讓他們再做一次同樣的問卷。

Slightly more people mentioned recycling, responsible purchasing and diet choices.

提到回收、理性購買和飲食選擇的人多了一些。

But the share of visitors who mentioned habitat protection actually decreased.

但提到棲息地保護的遊客比例反而下降了。

So I really didn't find much evidence that zoos in their current form do much to help wild populations

所以，我真的沒發現多少證據表明動物園在目前形式下對野生物種有多大幫助，

or change people's attitudes and behavior.

或對人們的態度和行為有什麼改變。

But what if we could imagine a different kind of zoo?

但想象一下，如果創造一個不一樣的動物園呢？

Do the benefits of zoos outweigh its cons?

But now, after listening to this and the evidence that you have provided,

但現在，聽完這些和看完你給的資訊後，

now I feel that we must assess each species individually.

我認為我們必須獨立評估每個物種。