每日英語跟讀 Ep.831: About Animals -Aquarium staff use disguise to raise, breed emperor penguin 水族館工作人員變裝飼養皇帝企鵝與大熊貓狗

At first glance, aquarium staff here in Shirahama, Wakayama Prefecture, appeared to be engaged in a bizarre cosplay act involving an emperor penguin chick.

乍看之下，（日本）和歌山縣白濱町的一家水族館的工作人員，似乎在餵養一隻皇帝企鵝雛鳥時還玩奇特的變裝秀。

But the employees, wearing penguin costumes, were actually on a scientific mission.

但這些身穿企鵝裝的工作人員，其實是在從事一項科學任務。

As the Adventure World aquarium has learned, emperor penguin chicks raised by undisguised humans do not mate after being reunited with their real parents.

「冒險世界」水族館發現到，被未變裝的人類養大的皇帝企鵝雛鳥，重回企鵝親鳥身邊後也不交配。

So they hoped the chick would be duped into thinking that it was being raised by penguins, not humans, and would later breed.

所以他們（水族館工作人員）希望能（靠變裝來）欺騙雛鳥，讓牠們以為自己是被企鵝、而非人類養大，以及日後繁衍子嗣。

Adventure World hatched the first emperor penguin chick in Japan in 2004. And since 2012, the aquarium has been making efforts to return chicks to their parents after they grow to some extent.

「冒險世界」在2004年孵育出全日本第一隻皇帝企鵝，自2012年起便努力想辦法讓雛鳥長到某種程度後，回到親鳥身邊。

The recently hatched chick of the world’s largest penguin species is the 13th born at the aquarium.

最近孵化的這種全球體積最大企鵝皇帝企鵝的雛鳥，是在該水族館出生的第13隻皇帝企鵝。

Chinese cafe paints dogs to look like giant pandas 中國咖啡館將狗染色 使其宛如大貓熊

A Chinese cafe is under fire for painting dogs as pandas to stand out in the competitive pet cafe market.

中國一家咖啡館因為將狗塗染成好像大貓熊、俾便其在競爭激烈的寵物咖啡館市場脫穎而出而挨批。

The cafe － in the southwestern city of Chengdu, close to the native home of the giant panda － also offers a dyeing service for people who want to transform their own pets into pandas.

這家位於大貓熊故鄉附近、中國西南部城市成都的咖啡館，還對想將自家寵物變身成貓熊的飼主，提供染色服務。

The controversy started when the state-run People’s Daily posted a video of the fluffy Chow Chow dogs on social media.

當國營媒體「人民日報」在社群媒體上張貼一段毛茸茸的鬆獅犬影片後，爭議隨之而起。

"It costs 1,500 Chinese yuan （$212） to dye （a pet） each time," the owner, surnamed Huang, said in the video. He said the dye, which was imported from Japan, did not pose a threat to the pets’ well-being.

「染（一隻寵物）一次要價1500人民幣（212美元），」黃姓店主在影片中如是說。他說，從日本進口的染劑不會危及寵物健康。

In the video, the painted "pandas" can be seen roaming around in the cafe, where customers were encouraged to interact with them while they enjoyed their meals.

影片中可以看到，被塗染成「大貓熊」的狗兒在咖啡館內四處晃蕩，店內消費者在享用餐飲之餘，也被鼓勵與牠們互動。

However the gimmick provoked angry comments from pet lovers on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter.

然而，這個噱頭在中國版推特「微博」上挑起喜愛毛小孩的網友怒火。

"While they look adorable, dyeing the pet this way can easy hurt them," one user commented. "Why did he have to treat the dogs like that?" Another questioned.

「雖然看起來很可愛，但這樣幫寵物染色很容易會害了牠們，」一名（微博）使用者評論。「他為什麼要這樣對待這些狗？」另一人也質疑。

Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1350321 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1364772