双语新闻：在炎热的天气里，猎豹会改变狩猎活动

Cheetahs usually hunt during the day. But the fast cats change their activity to early morning and early evening hours during warmer weather, a recent study says.

猎豹通常在白天捕猎。但最近的一项研究表明，在温暖的天气里，猫科动物会在清晨和傍晚的早些时候活动。

The time change sets the creatures up for more possible conflicts with competing predators - such as lions and leopards - that often hunt at night, say the study writers. Their research was published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

该研究的作者说，时间的变化使这些生物与经常在夜间捕猎的掠食者——如狮子和豹子——发生更多可能的冲突。他们的研究最近发表在《英国皇家学会学报B》上。

Briana Abrahms of the University of Washington was a study co-writer. Abrahms said that changing temperatures can have an effect on "the behavior .... of large carnivore species and also the dynamics among species."

华盛顿大学的布里安娜·亚伯拉罕是这项研究的共同作者。亚伯拉罕斯说，温度的变化会对“行为”产生影响....大型食肉动物物种以及物种之间的动态。”

While cheetahs only eat fresh meat, lions and leopards will sometimes take food from smaller predators.

猎豹只吃鲜肉，而狮子和豹子有时会从较小的捕食者那里获取食物。

"Lions and leopards normally kill prey themselves, but if they come across a cheetah's kill, they will try to take it," said Bettina Wachter of the Cheetah Research Project at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research.

莱布尼茨动物园和野生动物研究所猎豹研究项目的Bettina Wachter说:“狮子和豹子通常自己捕杀猎物，但如果它们遇到猎豹的猎物，它们会试图吃掉它。”

"The cheetahs will not fight the larger cats, they will just leave," said Wachter, who was not involved in the study.

没有参与这项研究的Wachter说:“猎豹不会与大型猫科动物搏斗，它们只会离开。”

Hunting at different times of the day is one way to reduce meetings between the different predator species that share northern Botswana's mixed grass and forest lands.

在一天中的不同时间狩猎是减少不同掠食者之间相遇的一种方法，这些掠食者共享博茨瓦纳北部的混合草地和林地。

But the new study found that on the hottest days, when daily temperatures got to nearly 45 degrees Celsius, cheetahs became more active at night. This means cheetahs spent 16 percent more time hunting when other big cats hunt.

但这项新研究发现，在最热的日子里，当每天的气温接近45摄氏度时，猎豹在晚上变得更加活跃。这意味着猎豹比其他大型猫科动物多花16%的时间来捕猎。

Kasim Rafiq of the University of Washington and the nonprofit Botswana Predator Conservation Trust was another co-writer of the study. Rafiq said about the shared hunting hours: "There's a greater chance for more unfriendly encounters and less food for the cheetahs."

华盛顿大学的卡西姆·拉菲克和非营利性的博茨瓦纳捕食者保护信托基金是这项研究的另一位合著者。拉菲克谈到了共同的狩猎时间:“猎豹更有可能遭遇不友好的遭遇，食物也更少。”

For the current study, researchers placed GPS devices on 53 large carnivores — including cheetahs, lions, leopards and African wild dogs. Researchers then recorded their positions and hours of activity over eight years. They compared this data with the highest daily temperature records.

在目前的研究中，研究人员在53种大型食肉动物身上放置了GPS设备，包括猎豹、狮子、豹子和非洲野狗。研究人员随后记录了他们在八年内的位置和活动时间。他们将这些数据与最高日温度记录进行了比较。

While seasonal differences explain most temperature changes in the time between 2011 to 2018, the scientists say the observed behavior changes offer information about the future of a warming world.

虽然季节性差异解释了2011年至2018年期间的大多数温度变化，但科学家们表示，观察到的行为变化提供了有关全球变暖未来的信息。

In future research, the scientists plan to use audio-recording devices and accelerometers — "like a Fitbit for big cats," said Rafiq. The goal is to document the number of meetings between large meat-eating animals.

在未来的研究中，科学家们计划使用录音设备和加速度计——“就像大型猫科动物的Fitbit，”拉菲克说。目的是记录大型食肉动物之间相遇的次数。

In addition to competition with lions and leopards, cheetahs already face strong pressure from the loss of living space and conflict with humans.

除了与狮子和豹子的竞争外，猎豹还面临着生存空间的丧失和与人类的冲突带来的巨大压力。

The fastest land animal, cheetahs are the rarest big cat in Africa, with fewer than 7,000 left in the wild.

猎豹是陆地上跑得最快的动物，是非洲最稀有的大型猫科动物，目前野外只剩下不到7000只。

"These climate changes could become really critical if we look into the future — it's predicted to become much warmer in this part of Africa where cheetahs live, in Botswana, Namibia and Zambia," said Wachter of the Cheetah Research Project.

猎豹研究项目的Wachter说:“如果我们展望未来，这些气候变化可能会变得非常关键——据预测，在非洲的博茨瓦纳、纳米比亚和赞比亚，猎豹生活的这部分地区会变得更加温暖。”