Vaccinate Prairie Dogs to Save Ferrets
免疫草原土拨鼠可以拯救雪貂

As was widely reported on social media, the U.S. is indeed going to use aerial drones to spread vaccine-laced pellets among prairie dogs to save endangered ferrets, although, contrary to some reports, no M&Ms will be involved.
大众媒体争相报道，美国将会运用无人机将带有疫苗的药丸播撒在草原土拨鼠聚集地带，从而拯救濒危雪貂，但和一些报道不同的是，不会涉及到M&M豆。

撰文/播音 史蒂芬˙斯基（Steve Mirsky）
翻译      郭丰茹
校对      丁可含

A recent headline on the Web site theverge.com got a lot of attention on social media. Because each new phrase seemed to take the message in an unexpected direction. The headline read: U.S. government plans to use drones to fire vaccine-laced M&Ms near endangered ferrets.
近来，The Verge网站发布的头条新闻在社交媒体上引起了广泛关注。因为每个新的词语都传达出意想不到的信息。头条的题目是：美国政府计划运用无人机将带有疫苗的M&M豆撒在濒临灭绝的雪貂栖息地。（the U.S. government plans to use drones to fire vaccine-laced M&Ms near endangered ferrets）

Some background. Black-footed ferrets have been on the endangered species list since 1967. Only about 300 were known to be alive in the wild at the end of 2015. They tend to live in the Great Plains and the West. Because they love to eat prairie dogs, which tend to live in the Great Plains and the West. Unfortunately, prairie dogs often harbor fleas, and fleas can carry the plague. Yup, that plague, the so-called Black Death that killed millions in Europe in the 14th century.
以下是一些背景报道：黑腿雪貂（Black-footed ferrets）早在1967年就位列濒危物种名单(the endangered species list since)之上。到2015年底，世界上现仅存约摸300只野生雪貂。它们倾向于生活在大平原（Great Plains）和西部(West)地区。不幸的是，草原土拨鼠（prairie dogs）通常寄生有跳蚤（fleas），跳蚤又是鼠疫（plague）的携带者。不错，就是那个鼠疫，被称作黑死病（Black Death）的疾病在14世纪夺去了欧洲成千上万人的生命。

So ferrets suffer when fleas cause a plague outbreak in prairie dogs, either because the ferrets also catch the disease or because the prairie dogs die and the ferrets go hungry. Officials have tried vaccinating individual ferrets and they’ve tried treating prairie-dog burrows with flea-killer. But neither method is particularly efficient.
因此，当跳蚤引起鼠疫在草原土拨鼠当中爆发性流行的时候，也会波及到雪貂，原因无外乎雪貂也感染鼠疫，或是吃了病鼠的尸体。相关部门早已尝试免疫每一只雪貂，而且他们也试图在草原土拨鼠的洞穴里撒杀虫剂。但这些办法都不奏效。

And so the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing a study for September in the UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge in Montana. The viral headline was incorrect about the M&Ms, but otherwise, yes, aerial drones will shoot vaccine-laced pellets designed to be irresistible to prairie dogs. The drone delivery system should quickly spread the vaccine-carrying goodies over a wide area so that lots of prairie dogs gobble them up—thus making the prairie dogs available to be gobbled up, safely, by the endangered ferrets.
所以，美国鱼类和野生动物服务组织（ U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service）准备于九月在蒙大拿州（Montana）的UL弯国家野生动物保护基地（the UL Bend National Wildlife Refuge）进行一项研究。关于M&M的报道是不确切的，但是无人机将会把带有疫苗的药丸散布在草原上，这种药丸对草原土拨鼠来讲是极具诱惑力的。无人机的射击系统会将疫苗修饰的“糖果“迅速大面积播撒，确保在不会伤害到雪貂的前提下更多的草原土拨鼠摄食。

 And so everybody wins. Except for the prairie dogs that get eaten. And the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause plague. Well, that’s it for me, I’ve droned on long enough.
这是一个共赢的策略。除了那些摄入经过疫苗修饰的“糖果”的草原土拨鼠。鼠疫杆菌（Yersinia pestis bacteria）会引起鼠疫。好了，我讲完了。

—Steve Mirsky

原文链接：
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/vaccinate-prairie-dogs-to-save-ferrets/

（题图来源：http://www.scientificamerican.com）