Keepers at a British zoo are in a flap about a flamingo missing since it was blown away by the storms that battered Europe in mid-January.
Florence, a pink Chilean flamingo, was caught unaware by a sudden gust on January 15 and was blown clean out of Drusillas Park Zoo near the southeast English coast.
The flamingo was sucked into the air and dumped in a nearby field —and despite a number of sightings since, worried zookeepers have failed to recapture her.
Managers have offered annual membership and entry passes for the zoo for information leading to the safe recapture of Florence, who was born at the park in 2004.
But despite their best efforts, Florence — who has clipped wings — has so far managed to give them the slip.
“It's quite difficult to catch a flamingo as when she's been in open fields she can see the keepers approaching so she's been taking flight. They're trying to wait until she goes into an area that's not as open when it's dusk, so they can sneak up on her,” said a spokeswoman for the zoo.
“She must be a cheeky flamingo if she's taught herself how to fly.”
As time goes on, zookeepers are increasingly worried about how Florence is coping on her own.
“It will be distressing for her as flamingos are a flock species,” the spokeswoman said. “In the wild, flamingos eat crustaceans and shrimps, so she's not going to come across many of those.
“She's in a very vulnerable state. She was seen feeding off the algae in a waterlogged field, but otherwise we don't know how she's managing to get food. We just want to get her back as soon as possible.”
(AFP)
英國一間動物園內有一隻紅鶴被一月中侵襲歐洲的狂風捲走後失蹤至今,讓動物園管理員急得像熱鍋上的螞蟻。
一月十五日突然刮起一陣強風,將粉紅色的智利紅鶴「佛羅倫斯」吹出英國東南岸附近的杜希拉斯動物園。
佛羅倫斯被捲入空中,拋在附近的空地,儘管不少民眾看到牠的身影,憂心忡忡的動物園管理員還是無法將牠捉回。
民眾若提供安全捉回佛羅倫斯的資訊,動物園將提供成為動物園一年會員和門票作為獎勵。佛羅倫斯二○○四年在杜希拉斯動物園出生。
儘管他們使出渾身解數,翅膀被剪過的佛羅倫斯還是有辦法逃脫。
動物園女發言人說︰「曠野中不太容易抓到的佛羅倫斯,她可以看到看守人接近,提早飛走。他們會等到她在天黑時進入不太空曠的地方,再偷偷靠近。」
他說︰「她必須是隻大膽的紅鶴,才有
辦法教自己學飛。」
日子一天天過去,動物園管理員愈來愈擔心佛羅倫斯如何自力求生。
女發言人表示︰「紅鶴是群居動物,所
以這個情況對她來說很糟糕。野外的紅鶴吃甲殼類動物和蝦子,她無法自己找到足夠的甲殼類食物。」
她說︰「她現在情況非常危險,要不是有人看見她在淹水區食海藻,我們也不會知道她如何覓食,我們只希望能盡速將她帶回來。」
(法新社╱翻譯︰鄭湘儀)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110