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About 200 freshwater dolphins were found dead in Lake Tefé of the Amazon River in Brazil during a period of severe dry weather last year.
去年，在一段严重干旱的时期，大约200只淡水海豚被发现死在巴西亚马逊河的特菲湖。
That is why a team of biologists, animal doctors, and fishermen temporarily captured some river dolphins recently to study their health.
这就是为什么最近一组生物学家、动物医生和渔民暂时捕获了一些江豚来研究它们的健康状况。
The researchers hope the findings will help protect the dolphins from another weather disaster.
研究人员希望这些发现将有助于保护海豚免受另一场天气灾难的影响。
One of the captured dolphins was a female with her offspring nearby.
其中一只被捕获的海豚是一只雌性，它的幼崽就在附近。
Fishermen were careful not to injure her and kept her close to her offspring to avoid stressing the animals.
渔民们小心翼翼地不伤害她，并让她靠近她的幼崽，以避免给动物带来压力。“
"She relaxed and we could do all the tests. She appeared in good health," said project leader Miriam Marmontel.
她放松了，我们可以做所有的测试。“它看起来健康状况良好，”项目负责人米里亚姆·马蒙特说。
She is a researcher at the Mamirauá Institute of Sustainable Development based in Tefé, Brazil.
她是位于巴西特费的马米拉瓦可持续发展研究所的一名研究员。
The organization planned the temporary capture of up to 20 dolphins. The team took blood from the animals and performed other medical tests.
该组织计划临时捕获多达20只海豚，从动物身上抽取血液并进行了其他医学测试。
The work included removing a small amount of fat to see if harmful chemicals were in the dolphin’s body.
这项工作包括去除少量脂肪，以查看海豚体内是否存在有害化学物质。
They also put microchips in the animals to follow their movements. The Solim?es River feeds water into Lake Tefé.
他们还在动物身上植入微芯片以跟踪它们的行动。索利蒙伊斯河为特费湖供水。
Unusually dry weather last year caused water levels in the river to drop. As a result, the water became warmer than usual.
去年异常干燥的天气导致河水水位下降。结果，水变得比平时更温暖。
Thousands of fish also died in the Amazon rivers because of a lack of oxygen in the water. Many Amazon river dolphins are the color pink.
由于水中缺氧，亚马逊河中也有成千上万的鱼类死亡。 许多亚马逊河海豚都是粉红色的。
They are found only in the rivers of South America, and they are among only a few kinds of freshwater dolphins still living in the world.
它们只在南美洲的河流中被发现，并且它们是世界上仅存的几种淡水海豚之一。
Because they reproduce slowly, threats to their environment can more easily reduce their populations.
由于它们的繁殖速度很慢，因此环境中的威胁更容易使它们的数量减少。
Marmontel said researchers hope to better understand what caused last year's deaths, so that experts and officials can react faster to the effects of this year’s dry weather.
马尔蒙泰尔说，研究人员希望能更好地了解去年的死亡原因，以便专家和官员能更快地应对今年干旱天气的影响。
"We aim to learn more about the health of the dolphins at a time when water begins to go down and temperatures start to rise, so we can identify the changes and know whether they are due to higher temperatures or a toxin or pollutant in the water," she told Reuters.
“我们的目标是在水位开始下降、气温开始上升的时候，更多地了解海豚的健康状况，这样我们就能识别出变化，并知道它们是由于水温升高，还是由于水中的毒素或污染物造成的，”她告诉路透社。
The river dolphin research project received financial support from the National Marine Mammal Foundation of California in the United States.
该江豚研究项目获得了美国加利福尼亚州国家海洋哺乳动物基金会的资金支持。
That organization’s researchers helped examine the dolphins using ultrasound technology.
那个组织的研究人员帮助使用超声波技术检查海豚。
Marmontel said most of the dolphins that died last year were in Lake Tefé. The lake is very close to the Solim?es River.
马尔蒙泰尔说，去年死亡的大多数海豚都在特费湖。该湖非常靠近索利蒙伊斯河。
The lake's waters reached 40.9 degrees Celsius during the 2023 dry season, more than 10 degrees higher than the average for that time of year.
该湖的水温在2023年的旱季达到了40.9摄氏度，比该季节的平均水温高出10多度。
The water is now at 30 degrees Celsius, said Ayan Fleischmann.
阿扬-弗莱施曼表示，现在的水温是 30 摄氏度。
He is a geosciences researcher at the Mamirauá Institute.
他是马米拉瓦研究所的一名地球科学研究员。
Environmental activists have blamed climate change for the severe dry weather that made the river water warmer than normal.
环保活动人士将严重干旱天气归咎于气候变化，干旱天气使河水温度高于正常水平。
However, El Ni?o, the periodic and natural Pacific Ocean warming weather event could also have brought about last year’s dry weather in the Amazon.
然而，厄尔尼诺现象，即太平洋周期性的自然变暖天气事件，也可能导致了去年亚马逊地区的干旱天气。
I’m Andrew Smith.
我是安德鲁·史密斯。
