双语：珍稀动物黑犀牛“飞往”新家（图）

　　A black rhino has appeared to fly as it is air-lifted out of the South African bush to a new location in an extraordinary set of photographs. The surreal images show the 2,200-pound herbivore slung from a helicopter over stunning rivers and over rolling vegetation all whilst blindfolded.

　　一组照片不同寻常地记录了一架直升机“吊着”一头黑犀牛“飞”出了南非的丛林，送往新的栖息地。在这些离奇的照片中，这头重达2200磅的食草动物蒙着双眼，吊在直升机上，穿越青山绿水。

　　Another picture shows the rhino floating through the clouds. Other shots show the critically endangered species fitted with a tracking device and being lowered to the ground. The spectacular images were taken at the Great Fish River Reserve, South Africa.

　　另一张照片中犀牛“飘浮”在云层中，而另一些照片记录了人们给这个濒危物种戴上追踪器，送到地面。这些照片拍摄于南非的大鱼河保护区，令人印象深刻。

　　Professional wildlife and conservation photographer Pete Oxford, 58, from Torquay, Devon, was behind the lens. "I was living and working in a National Park in South Africa and was associated with documenting many animal captures and relocations," Pete said.

　　而这些照片都源自皮特·欧克斯福德的镜头。皮特来自英国德文郡的托尔坎镇，今年58岁，是一名专业的野生动物摄影师，还是一名野生动物保护者。他说：“我当时居住在南非的一个国家公园，并在那工作，我的任务是记录许多动物被捕获以及运往新栖息地的过程。”

　　"Based on this I was asked to document the capture and relocation of a new founder population of fifteen black rhino from a well-managed and protected reserve in South Africa to an undisclosed new location in the north of the country. "The idea was to establish a new population with good anti-poaching protection to help to geographically diversify black rhinos in South Africa.

　　“由于我的工作经历，记录这个只有15头的珍稀动物的‘新成员’的任务落到了我身上。我负责记录它从一个管理良好，保护完善的保护区运到南非北部的一个秘密的栖息地。”这一做法是为了在没有偷猎者的威胁下保护这一物种，使得黑犀牛在南非实现地理的多样化。

　　"Black rhino can be airlifted by a helicopter, they live in an impenetrable habitat. "With a Robinson 44 helicopter we darted the rhino from the air and then were lowered to the ground. "A Super Hewi helicopter then flew over us, lowered a chain and we slung the animal to be pulled vertically out of the thick bush and transported to the nearest road.

　　“黑犀牛由一架直升机运往秘密的安全栖息地。”犀牛“乘”罗宾逊R-44号直升机抵达栖息地。“一架Super Hewi 直升机从我们上方飞过，降下一根链子，我们将犀牛挂在上面然后从茂密的灌木丛将它直直地拉出来，送到最近的路上。”

　　Few rhino live outside of protected habitats with human poaching for horns to be used in traditional medicine playing a large factor in their declining numbers. According to WWF, there are just over 5,000 black rhino left on the planet. "Conservation of this magnitude is expensive and needs support, conservation in general should be done by all of us and starts at home," said Pete.

　　随着人们猎杀犀牛，取它们的角入药，很大程度上造成了它们的数量锐减，现在生活在保护区外的犀牛数量很少。据世界自然基金会的消息，现存的黑犀牛数量只有5000多头。“保护这一珍稀物种费用昂贵，并且需要帮助支持，一般的保护需要我们所有人共同完成，并且从我们国内开始，”皮特说道。

　　"Rhino horn is worth its weight in gold and threats to all of the world’s rhino populations are grave everywhere. Protection is costly and often too much of a financial burden for National Parks or private areas where rhino are found." To take the photos, Pete used a Nikon D3S camera, a brand he has used for 18 years.

　　“犀牛角堪比黄金，同时却也严重威胁着全世界各地所有犀牛的数量。保护措施费用昂贵，对于存在犀牛的国家公园或者私人地区来说通常也是难以承重的财政负担”。皮特使用了一台尼康D3S相机拍摄了这些照片，他用尼康这个牌子用了18年。