Super Koalas超級考拉

Koalas are famous worldwide for being cuddly and sleepy. But their numbers are in dramatic decline due to habitat loss and diseases like chlamydia， an infection which is spreading through populations， making koalas very sick.

To help， the University of Queensland， Queensland University of Technology and the Dreamworld Wildlife Foundation have come together to breed super koalas with healthy genes that can be released into the wild to improve the health of threatened populations.

Jagger， the first koala bred in the Living Koala Genome Bank pilot project， spent his first two years at Dreamworlds koala breeding center before being released to live in a koala colony in Elanora Conservation Park on the Gold Coast.

“Jagger is fully vaccinated against chlamydia， is disease-free and， thanks to his diverse genetics， will help protect koalas in this population，” said Associate Professor Stephen Johnston， from the University of Queenslands school of agriculture and food sciences.

The federal government announced in February， 2022 that it planned to list koalas as endangered in NSW， Queensland and the ACT after populations were ravaged by the Black Summer bushfires， as well as drought， disease and habitat loss.

考拉因其可愛和嗜睡而聞名于世。但由于棲息地喪失和感染衣原體等疾病，考拉的數量急劇下降。衣原體是一種通過種群傳播的傳染病，它會讓考拉病得很嚴重。

為了幫助考拉，澳大利亞的昆士蘭大學、昆士蘭科技大學和夢幻世界野生動物基金會聯合起來，培育帶有健康基因的超級考拉。這些考拉可以被放生到野外，以促進受到威脅的考拉種群的健康。

賈格爾是“活著的考拉基因庫”試點項目中培育出的第一只考拉，它在“夢想世界”的考拉繁殖中心度過了頭兩年，然后被放生到黃金海岸的Elanora保護公園的考拉棲息地生活。

昆士蘭大學農業與食品科學學院的副教授斯蒂芬·約翰斯頓說：“賈格爾已經接種了衣原體疫苗，沒有任何疾病，多虧了它多樣化的基因，這將有助于保護考拉種群。”

2022年2月，澳大利亞聯邦政府宣布，計劃將新南威爾士州、昆士蘭州和澳大利亞首都地區的考拉列為瀕危物種。此前，“黑色夏季”森林大火、干旱、疾病和棲息地喪失等因素導致考拉數量大幅減少。

The cutting down of eucalyptus trees to make way for roads， houses and other buildings is a big problem， because koalas have a big diet—a koala can eat up to 1kg of eucalyptus leaves a day.

Professor Johnston said the team bred the super koalas to have “high genetic merit”. This means they not only have healthy， disease-free genes but also a variety of genes， which is extremely important for a species to be able to adapt to changing environments.

By releasing the specially bred super koalas into the wild， it is hoped they will mate with other koalas and boost the populations genetic diversity and resistance to disease.

Professor Johnston said he hoped the initiative could be expanded into other wildlife parks to help “safeguard the future of koalas”.

“Koala population densities have seen a rapid decline by 80 per cent in the past 25 years，” researcher Ms Barnes said.

“With most east coast koalas now listed as endangered， so much more needs to be done in this space to protect them from extinction.”

為了修建道路、房屋和其他建筑而砍伐桉樹是一個大問題，因為考拉需要吃大量的食物——一只考拉每天可以吃掉1千克的桉樹葉。

約翰斯頓教授說，研究小組培育這種超級考拉是為了讓它們具有“高基因優勢”。 這意味著它們不僅擁有健康、無疾病的基因，而且還擁有多樣化的基因，這對一個物種能否適應不斷變化的環境至關重要。

通過將這種特殊繁殖的超級考拉放生到野外，研究人員希望它們能與其他考拉交配，從而提高考拉的基因多樣性和抗病能力。

約翰斯頓教授說，他希望這項新方案可以擴展到其他野生動物園，以幫助“保護考拉的未來”。

研究員巴恩斯女士說：“在過去的25年里，考拉的種群密度迅速下降了80%。”

“隨著大多數東海岸考拉被列為瀕危物種，我們需要做更多的工作來保護它們免于滅絕。”

Word Bank

breed /bri?d/ v.繁殖

colony /'k?l?ni/ n.（同地生長的植物或動物）群，群體

diverse /da?'v??s/ adj.各種各樣的；不同的

My interests are very diverse.

ravage /'r?v?d?/ v.嚴重損害；毀壞

boost /bu?st/ v. 使增長；促進

initiative /?'n???t?v/ n. 新方案；倡議