北海道冬季野生動物(Hokkaido Winter Wildlife)

　　這是一片霜封的舞臺，匯集了丹頂鶴，大天鵝，梅花鹿，雪猴等動物。日本能夠將他們對動物的古老崇敬轉化成現代的動物保護嗎?

　　in other seasons there might be 20 of us and only a few of them. but now, in the heart of winter, there are 20 of us and 150 of them. we are homo sapiens, a gaggle of bird-watchers, scientists, and photographers; they are grus japonensis, the rare and celebrated red-crowned crane.

　　如果是在別的季節，我們這邊的人馬大概會有20個，而對方只會有幾個。但是現在正值隆冬，我們這邊的數目還是20，對方卻增加到150。我們是人類，一群嘈雜的賞鳥人士、科學家和攝影師;它們則是grus japonensis，也就是罕見而知名的丹頂鶴。

　　the field is white and the wooded edges dark with evergreen. out in the open in the fine snow of hokkaido cluster the great white cranes, the black tertial plumes of their broad wings arranged over their rumps like elegant bustles. known in japan as tancho (red peak), the red-crowned is the second rarest crane species, after the whooping crane, with a world population of fewer than 2,500 birds. it is in other seasons fiercely territorial, but now the birds are gathered in one clangorous flock to scoop up the winter feed laid down for them by farmers. some stalk the field or stand in pairs, lifting their bills to trumpet a shrill, rolling cry, a "unison" call that carries across the fields. one flares its wings and arches its back in a dramatic threat display to relieve the tension of crowding. a swoop of six arrives on motionless wing from their roost site in a nearby river, drop lightly to the ground amid the others, and lower their heads to pluck the scattered corn, flashing their brilliant caps of crimson like blood on snow.

　　野地上銀白一片，遠處圍繞著暗綠色的常綠樹木。在北海道的曠野上，丹頂鶴群聚在柔細的白雪上，它們雙翅上醒目的黑色羽毛優雅地圍在尾部，很像貴婦優雅的裙撐。丹頂鶴是世上第二罕見的鶴，僅次于美洲鶴，目前全球幸存數量低于2500只。在其它季節中，它們的領土意識很強，但現在它們喧鬧地聚集成群，搶著享用農夫為它們準備的冬季美食。有些鶴在原野上高視闊步或成雙站立，仰頭發出尖銳響亮的叫聲，這是鶴的“齊鳴”，聲音響遍四野。有一只丹頂鶴展翅拱背，擺出威嚇的姿態以紓解擁擠的壓力。六只丹頂鶴從附近河中的巢址翩然而至，輕盈地在其它鶴群之間落地，低頭啄食四散的谷粒，露出一頂頂艷紅色的頭冠，一如雪中之血。

　　the japanese have a word, aware, for the feelings that arise from the poignant beauty of an ephemeral thing. the word refers not to the fragility or loss of the thing itself, but to the human feelings evoked by its passing. those of us pressed against the rail are elated and grateful for this close look at the cranes concentrated here like a vision—and which, like a vision, may just as quickly vanish. no wonder people fly halfway around the world, board buses and trains and ferries, and wait patiently in the heavy snow to see these birds gather to preen and flare and dance their wild courtship dances. no wonder the crane is revered by the japanese and so admired that their art never tires of representing it.

　　日本人用“哀”這個字來形容美麗卻短暫易逝的事物給人的感受。這個字指的不是事物本身的脆弱或消逝，而是指它的消逝在人心中激起的情感。我們緊貼著欄桿，心中充滿喜悅與感激，只因我們能在近距離欣賞如夢似幻的鶴群──而且正如夢幻一般，它們很可能迅速消失。難怪有人愿意飛越大半個地球，搭公車、火車和渡船前來，耐心地在大雪中守候，只為欣賞這些鶴整理羽毛，展翅跳著熱烈的求偶之舞。也難怪日本人如此尊崇丹頂鶴，并且永不厭倦地透過藝術表現對它們的欣賞。

　　only in japan's winter does this spectacle occur, and others as well, a striking assemblage of animals, from cranes and eagles to snow monkeys and sika deer, that endure the season's hard tenancy in small refuges, natural and man-made, on hokkaido and in the mountains of japan's main island, honshu. some of the animals that take shelter in these spots are abundant, even overabundant; others are rare, having been hunted to the brink of extinction or chivied out of their last natural redoubts by human pressures. some are in the winter of their existence and endure only through the courageous efforts of a few people working against great odds.

　　唯有在日本的冬季，才見得到這個群鶴共食的奇觀和其它特殊景致。這里聚集的動物種類之多令人稱奇，從鶴、鷹、雪猴到梅花鹿都有;它們棲息在北海道及日本主島本州島的山區間，在自然或人造的小庇護區內度過嚴冬。在這些地點找尋庇護的動物，有些數量很多、甚至過多;有些則很稀有，正因人類的獵殺而處于滅絕邊緣，或是因人類造成的壓力而逐漸離開最后的自然堡壘。其中有些動物正處于生存的嚴冬，多虧有些人不畏艱難地在種種不利條件下努力，它們才能繼續生存。

　　the concentration of these creatures in small shards of habitat on a crowded island nation creates scenes of startling beauty—and sometimes, startling conflict. i've come to hokkaido to learn what lessons might underlie these spectacles, what they might teach us about wildness and survival and the riddle of our own relations to nature.

　　在日本這個擁擠的島國上，這些動物集中在幾塊小棲息地上，創造出如此驚人的美麗──有時也會造成驚人的沖突。我之所以來到北海道，就是為了找出這些奇景背后可能的意義，看它們能否讓我們更加了解原野、了解生存之道，以及人類與自然之間的不解之迷。

　　winter brings 2,000 steller's sea-eagles to the coast of hokkaido—almost a third of the species' population. come spring, they head north to russia to breed. with a wingspan of up to nine feet (two meters) and weight of up to 20 pounds (ten kilograms), the steller's far outsizes north america's bald eagle.

　　冬天，2000只虎頭海雕來到北海道海岸，這個數字占了該物種總數量的三分之一。春天一到，它們都前往北方的俄羅斯繁殖。翼展幾達三公尺、重可達九公斤的虎頭海雕，體型上遠超過北美洲的白頭海雕。

　　even cloaked in ice, an oldsquaw duck finds hokkaido's winter climate bearable. the ducks' densely packed feathers trap enough air to insulate them from frigid waters.

　　即使身上被冰塊覆蓋，這只長尾鴨還是經得起北海道冬天的氣候;這是因為它緊密的羽毛能夠留住足夠空氣，讓它在冰寒的水中保持溫暖。

　　it may be called the jigokudani wild monkey park, but the japanese macaques here have taken up one of life's more civilized pleasures: hot tubbing. a series of hot springs help keep the monkeys warm through the cold winters. also known as snow monkeys, japanese macaques are the world's northernmost non-human primates.

　　這里雖然名為“地獄谷野生猴園”，但這里的日本獼猴已經開始享受生命中比較文明的樂趣：泡熱水澡。一連串火山池使獼猴能在酷寒的冬天保持溫暖。日本獼猴又稱為雪猴，是人類以外生活在地球最北方的靈長類動物。

　　red-crowned cranes sing a "unison" call on hokkaido, the northernmost of japan's main islands. once almost extinct in japan, hundreds of the revered cranes now winter here, helped by handouts of grain from local farmers.

　　丹頂鶴在日本最北的主島北海道發出“齊鳴”。雖然丹頂鶴在日本備受崇敬，然而它們卻一度幾乎滅絕，現在有幾百只在北海道過冬，當地農民以谷物喂食來幫助它們生存。

　　punctuated by leaps that can reach ten feet, the dance of the red-crowned crane is so arresting that japan actually named a city for it: maizuru, or dancing crane.

　　丹頂鶴的舞蹈中也包含高達三米的跳躍，它們的舞蹈如此迷人，日本人甚至以它們的舞蹈為一座城市命名：舞鶴。

　　too many animals, too little space: it's not an uncommon problem in japan. consider the japanese macaque, a natural treasure and winter spectacle. these monkeys are famous for their cultural transmission behavior (young monkeys learn from their elders novel kinds of behaviors, from grooming techniques to food preparation) and for living farther north than any other primate except humans. some 110,000 live in japan, 7,000 of them in the cold, snowy alps of honshu, where they have earned the moniker "snow monkey."

　　動物太多，空間太少：在日本，這是個常見的問題。日本的自然珍寶與冬季奇觀日本獼猴就是一個例子。日本獼猴最出名的是它們的文化傳遞行為(幼猴會從年長猴處學習新的行為，從理毛技巧到食物處理)，它們也是人類以外，生活在地球最北處的靈長類動物。約有11萬日本獼猴居住在日本，其中7000只住在本州島寒冷而多雪的高山，使它們贏得了“雪猴”的別名。

　　jigokudani wild monkey park draws hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to watch the macaques, especially in winter. to help keep the monkeys in the area, the park staff feeds them several times a day and has done so for 40 years. when the feeding started, the troop numbered 23 individuals; now it has about 200.

　　地獄谷野生猴園每年吸引幾十萬游客前來觀賞日本獼猴，尤其在冬季。為了將猴子留在園區內，園區的工作人員40年來每天都會喂食猴子幾次。園區剛開始喂食猴子時，猴群內共有23只猴子，現在已有大約200只。

　　here and elsewhere in japan, artificial feeding of the monkeys with "human" foods and their burgeoning numbers in populated areas have begun to cause problems. in ancient japanese folktales, monkeys often appear as tricksters, cleverly duping other animals out of their rice ball or persimmon fruit. the macaques at jigokudani and other spots in japan are living up to their bad rap, raiding orchards and gardens, taking apples, prize grapes, and other crops. the situation is especially bad where expanding numbers of monkeys are moving closer to villages and growing bolder in their exploits, occasionally attacking humans and stealing food from inside houses.

　　不論在這里或是日本其它地方，用人類的食物喂食猴子，以及它們在有人類居住地區的數量增長，都已經開始造成問題了。在古老的日本民間故事里，猴子往往扮演愛惡作劇的妖精，狡獪地騙走其它動物的飯團或柿子。地獄谷和其它地方的日本獼猴也還真是不負它們的壞名聲，侵襲果園和花園，偷走蘋果、葡萄和其它作物。越靠近村莊的地方問題越嚴重，在數目膨脹的猴群中，猴子們的行為越來越膽大妄為，偶爾還會攻擊人類，甚至從住屋內偷取食物。