中英對照讀新聞》Why a New York zoo is feeding a baby vulture with a hand puppet 為什麼紐約動物園用手偶餵養小禿鷹

紐約布朗克斯動物園的動物飼養員，利用一個精巧到看似真正禿鷹的手偶，來餵養禿鷹幼鳥，避免牠對人類產生銘印效應。（美聯社）

◎盧永山

A baby vulture at a New York zoo is being fed not by another bird but by hand puppet — a decades-old technique used to ensure the chick doesn’t identify too closely with its human handlers.

紐約1家動物園的1隻小禿鷹不是由其他鳥而是由手偶餵養，這是1種已有數十年歷史的技術，目的是確保小禿鷹不會對人類飼養員產生過於親密的認同感。

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King vultures can neglect their chicks, so hand-feeding is necessary to ensure the baby survives, the Bronx Zoo said in a statement Tuesday. But to make sure it doesn’t imprint on humans, staff train the bird’s instincts onto a hand puppet that’s crafted to look like a real vulture.

布朗克斯動物園週二在聲明中表示，王鷲（國王禿鷹）可能疏於照顧自己的幼鳥，因此需要手動餵食以確保幼鳥存活。但為了確保這隻幼鳥不會對人類產生銘印效應，工作人員利用1個精巧到看似真正禿鷹的手偶，來訓練牠的本能。

Footage of a feeding session shows someone with their arm clad in black and a puppet that looks like a vulture’s face and beak on their hand, which is used to grab morsels of food and deliver them to the chick’s mouth.

餵食過程的影片顯示，某個人的手臂上以黑布包覆，手掌操作1個看似禿鷹臉和喙的木偶，用來抓取少量食物，並送到幼鳥的嘴裡。

新聞辭典

instinct：名詞，本能、直覺。例句：It is instinct that tells the birds when to begin their migration.（本能讓鳥類知道何時開始遷徙。）

clad：動詞，穿著、覆蓋。例句：A strange figure appeared in the doorway, clad in white.（有個奇怪的人出現在門口，身穿白衣服。）

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