The “strangest parrots on earth”are being saved

難詞探意

1. plump /pl?mp/ adj. 微胖的；飽滿的

2. triple /?tr?pl/ adj. 三倍的

3. breed /bri?d/ v. 繁殖；飼養(yǎng)

4. snugly /?sn?gli/ adv. 緊貼地

5. pellet /?pel?t/ n. 小球；小彈丸

6. poach /p??t?/ v. (侵入他人地界)偷獵

It's asplumpas a goose, has the face of an owl and waddles like a duck. It sleeps in the day and is active at night. And it can climb just about anything but can't fly anywhere. No wonder people call the kakapos the strangest parrots on earth.

Once found in large numbers all over New Zealand, kakapos have been on the edge of disappearing for more than a century. In 1977,trackers counted just 18 kakapos left in the entire country and all of them were males. Then something amazing happened. A previously unknown kakapo population was found. It included the first females seen in more than 60 years.This exciting discovery made the local government help the parrots by moving them to three small, predator-free islands.

New Zealand is an isolated island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. Many of its plants and animals, like the kakapo, are found nowhere else. Protecting them is a matter of national pride as well as urgency. “As the largest type of parrot on earth, they are quite the sight in person,” said Wes Sechrest of Global Wildlife Conservation, which is helping the kakapo recovery program. “They have a teddy-bear quality with their soft feathers, wide eyes and owl like expressions.” Today the recovery program counts 147 adult birds, nearlytriplethe number since its start in 1995. And that number will soon grow, as the currentbreedingseason is expected to set a record and add 30 to 50 healthy chicks.

To improve kakapo breeding, recovery team members watch and track the parrots using nest cameras, infrared beams (紅外光束), microchips and radio transmitters in small “backpacks” fittedsnuglyunder the birds' wings. Individual feeding stations supply extrapelletfood and clean water. The stations have electronic scales to check weight and are programmed to open only for the target bird, automatically locking if a parrot wearing the “wrong” transmitter tries topoachfrom another parrot's station.

Eggs are often removed from the nest and put in incubators (孵化器), machines that help them develop. In their place, team members leave 3D-printed “smart eggs” that make noise and get the moms ready to raise their chicks once they hatch and are brought back.

Recovery team caretakers are very dedicated. They hike the forest all day with equipment and supplies weighing nearly 50 pounds, then curl up at night in tents near the birds. Like new parents, they awake several times each night to tend to their assigned nest. Every new chick is celebrated. A few years ago, when a female accidentally crushed her egg, team members patched it with tape and glue. Days later,they watched excitedly as the first kakapo chick in three years hatched. Success!

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True (T) or False (F)

( )1. Kakapos are called as the strangest parrots mainly because of their sleeping habits.

( )2. There were only 18 kakapos left in New Zealand in 1977.

( )3. The recovery program helps the kakapos a lot in their recovering.

( )4. Modern technologies are used to improve kakapo breeding.

( )5. Taking care of kakapos is a tough but wonderful job for the recovery team workers.