ENVIRONMENT
REPORT - Pygmy Elephants of Borneo
By Caty Weaver
Scientists have identified the elephants that live
on the island of Borneo in Malaysia as separate from other Asian elephants.
The group Worldwide Fund for Nature, or W-W-F, announced the finding.
This follows genetic tests on waste from Borneo's Pygmy Elephants, as
they are called.
The Sabah Wildlife Department in Malaysia permitted
researchers to collect droppings from forests on Borneo. They sent the
material to Columbia University in New York City. There, the Department
of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology carried out the tests.
Scientists compared the D-N-A to the genes of
elephants that live in mainland Malaysia and in Sri Lanka, India and
other Asian countries.
The research shows that Borneo elephants were
separated from other Asian elephants about three-hundred-thousand years
ago. Some differences are easy to see. The Borneo elephants are smaller
than other elephants. Their ears and tails make up a larger part of
their bodies. And their tusks are straighter.
Also, the chairman of the W-W-F program in Malaysia
says the Borneo elephants are gentler compared to other Asian elephants.
The group says the test results mean that the
pygmy elephants of Borneo should be treated as their own kind. It says
the elephants should not be permitted to reproduce with other Asian
elephants. It says there should also be research into the reproductive
rates of the Borneo elephants and survival of their young.
The nature group notes a long-standing dispute
about where the Borneo elephants came from. One theory is that their
ancestors were gifts from the British East India Company to the Sultan
of Sulu in the seventeenth century. The scientists, however, say the
new findings reject the argument that humans brought the elephants to
the island.
The other theory is that the elephants could
remain from a native population that traveled between Borneo and Sumatra.
During the ice ages, more than ten-thousand years ago, sea levels were
much lower. Land sometimes linked the two islands. The elephants could
have been trapped on Borneo after the water rose again.
This VOA Special English Environment Report
was written by Caty Weaver.
万千英语族关于VOA Special English听力材料的特别说明：
- 本站收集整理、转载VOA Special English之音频及文本仅出于方便英语爱好者学习英语，练习听力之目的，不代表本站赞同VOA之任何观点。
- 新闻一般都有其倾向性，VOA做为境外站点，其新闻报导的倾向性必然带有其自身的目的，本站作为公益性英语学习站点，在收集资料时力求不损害国家和民族之利益，对于明显与主流媒体观点不一致的资料已经进行了删减，但是由于我们自身的局限性，可能对于个别篇章把握尺度不够严格，若您在使用这些听力资料时发现个别材料不合适，请与我们联系处理。更多信息，请点击关于我们链接获得。
- 本站VOA Special English音频资料为rm格式，需要安装RealPlayer 或 RealOne方可使用，关于RealPlayer下载、安装使用等问题，请访问其官方站点http://www.real.com/products/player。若您需要mp3格式文件，请下载RM格式文件后自行转换。
|
| 