每日英語跟讀 Ep.K088: About Nature - Lion has vasectomy after siring five cubs in a year
A lion had a vasectomy on Thursday after his Dutch keepers decided he had sired enough cubs.
一頭獅子週四做了輸精管切除術，在荷蘭保育員確定牠繁衍夠了以後。
Thor, 11, had fathered five cubs with two lionesses in the past year, staff at Burgers’ Zoo in Arnhem said.
阿納姆市「柏格動物園」的職員說，11歲的索爾過去一年和2頭母獅子交配後，當了5隻小獅子的爸爸。
Veterinarian Henk Luten said it was the first time in his 35-year career at the zoo that he had carried out the procedure on a lion.
獸醫亨克‧盧滕說，這是他在動物園工作35年以來，第一次在獅子身上進行這項手術。
"Why are we doing it? Because he’s a proven breeder. We have a lot of offspring and we don’t want to have him overpopulating the genetic pool," Luten said.
盧滕說，「我們為什麼這樣做？因事實證明牠很能生。我們有一堆幼獅，不想讓牠在這個基因庫種群過多。」
Staff said they had chosen to carry out a vasectomy not a castration which could have caused Thor to lose his mane, along with his standing in the pride’s social hierarchy.
職員說，他們選擇進行輸精管切除術，而非去勢，後者可能導致索爾掉鬃毛，及喪失在獅群社會階層的地位。
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Danish Mayfly named 2021 insect of the year－丹麥蜉蝣被選為2021年度昆蟲
The Danish Mayfly, whose scientific name is Ephemera danica, was selected as the Insect of the Year for 2021.
學名為Ephemera danica的丹麥蜉蝣，被選為2021年的年度昆蟲。
Mayflies have existed for about 355 million years and today some 140 species live in Central Europe. Despite their fleeting time on earth in their final form, their developmental cycle is quite long.
蜉蝣已生存約3.55億年，中歐現有約140種。儘管牠們以最終樣態待在地球的時間很短暫，但成長週期相當長。
Female mayflies lay thousands of eggs under water between May and September every year. Larvae hatch within a few days, and eventually develop gills. Buried in riverbeds, they take between one to three years to develop.
每年5至9月間，雌性蜉蝣會在水面產下數千個蟲卵。幼蟲數天內孵化後長出鰓，接著便蟄伏在河床中，需1至3年才能蛻變。
Shortly before the transition from aquatic to terrestrial life, a layer of air forms between the old and new skin of the larvae. By reducing its specific weight, the larva rises to the water surface.
從水生生物蛻變為陸生生物的過渡期前不久，幼蟲的新舊皮層間會注入一層空氣，並透過減少比重浮上水面。
Once there, the larval skin bursts and within a few seconds a flyable mayfly hatches. With no mouth parts nor an intestine, the fully developed mayfly has only a few days then to mate and lay new eggs before it dies.
之後，幼蟲皮層便會破裂，短短幾秒內變成能飛的蜉蝣，但成蟲既無嘴巴也無腸子，只能在生命最後幾天交配並產下後代。
Source article: https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/paper/1439215
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