1st baby pangolin in Europe born in Prague zoo

歐洲第一隻小穿山甲在布拉格動物園出生

【摘要2023.2.27.一.自由】◎陳成良

A Chinese pangolin has been born in the Prague zoo, the first birth of the critically endangered animal in captivity in Europe, and is doing well after initial troubles, the park said on Thursday.

園方週四表示，一隻中華穿山甲在布拉格動物園出生，成為這種極度瀕危動物在歐洲圈養的繁殖首例，並且在最初遭遇麻煩之後情況良好。

For the first few days after the baby female was born on Feb. 2, park keepers were worried because it was losing weight.

在2月2日這隻雌性寶寶出生後的頭幾天，園方管理員很擔心，因為牠的體重一直掉。

The reason was found to be that the mother, Run Hou Tang, didn’t have enough milk. Following consultations with experts from Taiwan, a program of artificial feeding with milk from a cat was introduced and the mother was stimulated to produce more of her own.

查明原因是媽媽「潤喉糖」奶水不夠。在與台灣專家協商後，引進人工餵養貓奶的計畫，並刺激母親分泌更多自己的奶水。

That turned things around, with the zoo now expressing cautious optimism about the pup, which still has no name but has been nicknamed “Little Cone” because it resembles a spruce cone.

此舉扭轉了局面，動物園現在對這隻幼崽表示謹慎樂觀，牠還然沒有名字，但被暱稱為「小錐」，因為牠長得像雲杉毬果。

新聞辭典

pup：名詞，動物幼崽；小狗。例句：We found three little pups under our car.（我們在車底下發現三隻幼犬。）

turn sth around：片語，使（企業、計畫或體系）好轉，使扭轉，使有起色。例句：The new management team turned the ailing company around in under six months.（新的管理團隊使這個不景氣的公司，在不到半年的時間裡煥發生機。）