Taronga动物园正在庆祝
COMM: Taronga Zoo is celebrating its first
近三十年来首只短喙针鼬的诞生
births of short-beaked echidnas in nearly thirty years.
你听到了吗 它在吱吱叫呢
ZOO KEEPER: Do you hear that? It’s squeaking.
针鼬也被叫做刺状食蚁兽
COMM: Echidnas are sometimes known as spiny
它们的宝宝被叫做puggles 众所周知 圈养它们非常困难
anteaters. Their babies are called puggles and they are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity.
这三只puggles的妈妈Ganyi Spike和Pitpa在2016年8月的最后两周生下了它们
COMM: The three puggles were born to three
三个妈妈都是第一次生育
first time mothers called Ganyi, Spike and Pitpa in the last two weeks of August 2016,
宝宝们刚刚睁开眼睛 开始长出特有的体刺
and they have only just opened their eyes and began to develop their characteristic spines.
针鼬是澳大利亚仅有的两种产卵类哺乳动物之一
COMM: Echidnas are one of only two Australian
另一种是鸭嘴兽 Puggle十天后会被孵出
mammals to lay eggs. The other is the duck-billed platypus. The puggle hatches after 10 days
然后便被装到妈妈的育儿袋里
and is then carried around in his mother’s pouch.
一旦Puggle开始生长体刺
COMM: Once the puggle starts to develop spines,
它就会被放到一个专门建造的洞穴温床里 它们的妈妈每隔三到六天喂一次
it’s put in a specially constructed nursery burrow and the mother returns to feed it every
饲养员每三天给它们称一次体重 监察它们的生长情况
three to six days. Keepers have begun to weigh them every three days to check their development.
让我们看看你有多重
ZOO KEEPER: Let’s see how much you weigh.
658克
ZOO KEEPER: 658 grams.
这三只都发育地不错
COMM: And all three are doing well.
413克
ZOO KEEPER: 413 grams.
这三只小朋友还没起名字
COMM: The three youngsters are yet to be named
也还没确定性别 大部分时间它们都在睡觉
or have their sex determined. And they spend most of their time sleeping. They won’t
直到明年早些时候它们才会去洞穴之外探索
start to explore outside their burrow until early next year.