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听力文本
Researchers say that as few as three major criminal groups are responsible for smuggling African elephant ivory tusks.
研究人员称，走私非洲大象象牙的主要犯罪团伙只有三个。
A tusk represents a dead elephant.
一根象牙代表一头死去的大象。
And the research comes as Africa's elephant population is decreasing quickly.
这项研究是在非洲大象数量迅速减少的情况下进行的。
The elephant population in Africa is estimated to be about 415,000.
据估计，非洲大象的数量约为41.5万头。
In 1979, there were about 1.3 million elephants on the continent and 100 years ago, the number was 5 million.
1979年，非洲大陆大约有130万头大象，而在100年前，非洲大陆有500万头大象。
The new study was published in Nature Human Behavior.
这项新研究发表在《自然-人类行为》上。
The researchers examined the DNA of elephant tusks and evidence including telephone, financial, automobile and shipping records.
研究人员检查了象牙的DNA和包括电话、财务、汽车和航运记录在内的证据。
They used the information to identify connections in trafficking operations across the continent.
他们利用这些信息来确定整个非洲大陆的象牙走私行动之间的联系。
Biologist Samuel Wasser of the University of Washington is a lead writer of the study.
华盛顿大学的生物学家塞缪尔·瓦塞尔是这项研究的主要作者。
He said he hopes it helps police target the leaders of these networks instead of the elephant killers themselves.
他说，他希望这能帮助警方锁定这些组织网络的头目，而不是大象杀手本身。
Criminal organizations can easily replace the low-level poachers.
犯罪组织可以很容易地更换下级偷猎者。
"If you can stop the trade where the ivory is being consolidated and exported out of the country, those are really the key players," said Wasser.
瓦塞尔说：“如果你能阻止象牙交易，阻止象牙被整合并出口到国外，这些才是真正的关键参与者。”
Consolidate means to join or combine together into one thing.
Consolidate的意思是连接或结合在一起变成一件东西。
Each year, an estimated 500 metric tons of poached elephant tusks are shipped from Africa, mostly to Asia.
据估计，每年有500公吨被偷猎者拔走的象牙大多被从非洲运往亚洲。
For around twenty years, Wasser has been interested in a few key questions: "Where is most of the ivory being poached, who is moving it, and how many people are they?"
大约20年来，瓦塞尔一直对几个关键问题感兴趣：“大部分象牙在哪里被偷猎者拔走，是谁在运输这些象牙，他们有多少人？”
He works with wildlife officials in Kenya, Singapore, Malaysia and elsewhere, who contact him when they discover ivory shipments.
他与肯尼亚、新加坡、马来西亚等地的野生生物官员合作，当这些官员发现象牙运送时，就会联系他。
He flies to the countries to take small samples of tusks to study the DNA.
他飞到这些国家采集象牙的样本来研究DNA。
He has samples from the tusks of more than 4,300 elephants taken out of Africa from 1995 to the present.
他有从1995年到现在从非洲走私的4300多头大象的象牙样本。
Biologist Robert Pringle, who was not involved in the study, praised the work.
没有参与这项研究的生物学家罗伯特·普林格尔称赞了这项工作。
He said the data shows connections that can lead to "strong inferences."
他说，数据显示了可能导致“强有力的推论”的联系。
In 2004, Wasser showed that DNA from elephant tusks and waste could be used to find an elephant's home location to within a few hundred kilometers.
2004年，瓦塞尔证明，象牙和大象排泄物中的DNA可以用来在几百公里内找到大象的家。
In 2018, he recognized that finding identical DNA in tusks from two different ivory seizures meant they were taken from the same animal--and likely by the same poaching network.
2018年，他认识到，在两次缴获的象牙中发现了相同的DNA，这意味着它们是来自同一头大象——很可能是由一伙偷猎网络组织走私的。
The new research identifies DNA belonging to elephant parents and children, as well as brothers and sisters.
这项新研究确定了大象父母和孩子以及兄弟姐妹的DNA。
Such genetic links can provide information for wildlife officials seeking other evidence--cell phone records, license plates, shipping documents and financial statements--to link different ivory shipments.
这种基因联系可以为野生生物官员寻找其他证据——手机记录、车牌、运输文件和财务报表——提供信息，以将不同批次的象牙运输联系起来。
John Brown III is a special agent with the United States Homeland Security Department and wrote the study with Wasser.
约翰·布朗三世是美国国土安全部的一名特工，他与瓦塞尔共同撰写了这份研究报告。
The agent's work on environmental crimes goes back 25 years.
这名特工在25年前就开始调查环境犯罪了。
Brown has told the Associated Press that in the past, a single seizure of illegal goods would rarely lead to the identification of the major crime group responsible.
布朗告诉美联社，在过去，一次非法货物的缴获很少能确定主要犯罪集团的身份。
But now, he said, "The DNA links can alert us to the connections between individual seizures."
但现在，他说，“DNA的联系可以让我们意识到个体缴获之间的联系。”
The new research led to the discovery that only a very few criminal groups are behind most of the ivory trade in Africa.
这项新研究发现，只有极少数犯罪团伙是非洲大部分象牙交易的幕后黑手。
Researchers identified several poaching hotspots, including areas of Tanzania, Kenya, Botswana, Gabon and Republic of Congo.
研究人员确定了几个偷猎热点地区，包括坦桑尼亚、肯尼亚、博茨瓦纳、加蓬和刚果共和国。
Tusks are often moved to storage centers where they are loaded into shipping containers with other illegal goods.
象牙通常被转移到储存中心，在那里它们与其他非法商品一起被装入集装箱。
Then, the containers go to ports for travel out of Africa.
然后，这些集装箱被运往港口，离开非洲。
Traffickers that smuggle ivory also often deal in other illegal goods, as well, the research shows.
该研究表明，走私象牙的人还经常买卖其他非法商品。
A fourth of large seizures of pangolin scales are mixed with ivory, for instance.
例如，在缴获的大量穿山甲鳞片中，有四分之一是与象牙混合在一起的。
The pangolin, a large ant-eating mammal, is poached heavily.
穿山甲，一种以蚂蚁为食的大型哺乳动物，被大量偷猎。
Brian Arnold, a Princeton University biologist who was not involved in the research, said, "Confronting these networks is a great example of how genetics can be used for conservation purposes."
普林斯顿大学生物学家布莱恩·阿诺德没有参与这项研究，他说：“直面这些网络组织是遗传学如何被用于保护计划的一个很好的例子。”
I'm John Russell. And I'm Ashley Thompson.
约翰·罗素和阿什莉·汤普森共同为您播报。
译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
