国家地理:佛罗里达美洲狮的回归(2)
Her tracks are thrilling to see -- a reminder that Florida still has wilderness and large cats, some of them resilient enough to live unseen along the fringes of the expanding suburbs.
能看到它的足迹，着实让人兴奋，因为这正告诉我们，佛罗里达仍有荒野与大型猫科动物，其中有些猫科动物非常顽强，能够在不断扩张的市郊边缘过着不为人知的生活。
Most Floridians will never see any signs of these predators, which weigh from 65 to 165 pounds as adults, depending on sex, and can leap more than 10 yards in a single bound. But the panther -- known to the Cherokee as "lord of the forest" -- depends on the millions of acres of swamps, forests, and fields in southwestern and central Florida, many of which are at imminent risk of development.
按性别不同，成年后的佛罗里达狮体重介于65至165镑，单次跳跃可达10公尺远，不过，多数佛罗里达人永远不会看到这些掠食者的任何踪迹。这种动物仰赖佛罗里达西南部与中部数百万公顷的沼泽、森林与田野为生，然而，这些地区有许多都面临了迫在眉睫的开发风险。
The Florida panther, classified as a subspecies of mountain lion, or cougar, once ranged throughout most of the southeastern United States. But the animals were hunted aggressively, and by the 1970s they were only found in Florida, and their numbers had fallen to fewer than 30, making them highly vulnerable to inbreeding. They were within a whisker of going extinct, says Kelly, a slim man often adorned in clothes bearing the insignia of his employer, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
佛罗里达狮是美洲狮的亚种，分布范围曾经遍及美国东南部大部分地区。然而它们遭到滥捕，到20世纪70年代，只有在佛罗里达州才可以找到它们的身影，而且数量降到低于30只，这使得它们非常容易发生近亲繁殖的情形。凯利说，它们当时几乎就要灭绝了。
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