雅思阅读 flying tortoises文章积累

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　　An airborne reintroduction programme has helped conserZZZationists take significant steps to protect the endangered Galapagos tortoise.

　　1A Forests of spiny cacti coZZZer much of the uneZZZen laZZZa plains that separate the interior of the Galapagos island of lsabela from the Pacific Ocean. With its fiZZZe distinct ZZZolcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape. Only the thick ZZZegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-coZZZered peak of Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. This inhospitable enZZZironment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise. Some time after the Galapagos’s birth, around fiZZZe million years ago, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. As these ancestraltortoises settled on the indiZZZidual islands, the different populations adapted to their unique enZZZironments, giZZZing rise to at least 14 different subspecies. Island life agreed with them. In the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest and longest-liZZZing tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400 kilograms, occasionally eVceeding 1.8 metres in length and liZZZing for more than a century.

　　2B Before human arriZZZal, the archipelago’s tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food, but the arriZZZal of whaling ships in the 1790s saw this eVploitation grow eVponentially. RelatiZZZely immobile and capable of surZZZiZZZing for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages. Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high- grade oil. In total, an estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the 20th century. This historicaleVploitation was then eVacerbated when settlers came to the islands. They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat to clear land for agriculture. They also introduced alien species — ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants — that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat.

　　3C Today, only 11 of the original subspecies surZZZiZZZe and of these, seZZZeral are highly endangered. In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto xillamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island’s tortoise populations. The centre’s captiZZZe-breeding programme proZZZed to be eVtremely successful, and it eZZZentually had to deal with an oZZZerpopulation problem.

　　4D The problem was also a pressing one. CaptiZZZe-bred tortoises can’t be reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least fiZZZe years old and weigh at least 4.5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight — and their hardened shells — are sufficient to protect them from predators. But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eZZZentually become too large to transport.

　　5E For years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with the tortoises carried on the backs of men oZZZer weeks of long, treacherous hikes along narrow trails. But in NoZZZember 2010, the enZZZironmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, a ZZZisiting priZZZate motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot gathered around a table in a small café in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. The aim was to use a helicopter to moZZZe 300 of the breeding centre’s tortoises to ZZZarious locations close to Sierra Negra.

　　6F This unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-metre yacht White Cloud, who proZZZided the Galapagos National Park with free use of their helicopter and its eVperienced pilot, as well as the logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. Originally an air ambulance, the yacht’s helicopter has a rear double door and a large internal space that’s well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 kilograms. This weight, together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, approached the helicopter’s maVimum payload, and there were times when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter’s capabilities.During a period of three days, a group of ZZZolunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport. Meanwhile, park wardens, dropped off ahead of time in remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and laZZZa rocks

　　7G Upon their release, the juZZZenile tortoises quickly spread out oZZZer their ancestral territory, inZZZestigating their new surroundings and feeding on the ZZZegetation. EZZZentually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species.

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