Home
登录
注册
学习内容
Loading...
The Largest Turtle Species | Secrets of the Zoo: Down Under - Video học tiếng Anh
听力练习
听力练习
/
Video
/
National Geographic
/
The Largest Turtle Species | Secrets of the Zoo: Down Under
The Largest Turtle Species | Secrets of the Zoo: Down Under
选择学习模式:
查看字幕
选词
重写单词
Highlight:
3000 Oxford Words
4000 IELTS Words
5000 Oxford Words
3000 Common Words
1000 TOEIC Words
5000 TOEFL Words
字幕 (114)
0:02
- A lot of people like the slower pace of country life.
0:09
- Hey, Franklin.
0:11
- And out at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in Dubbo,
0:14
the world's largest species of tortoise, the Galapagos,
0:18
takes the whole slower pace thing down to the next level.
0:23
- So these guys are from the Galapagos Islands,
0:25
so they're an archipelago of islands about 500 kilometers
0:29
off Ecuador, South America.
0:30
And they are just so unique.
0:32
They are up to 300 kilos for the males.
0:35
Franklin here is about 260 kilos, so he's very, very big.
0:40
And here at Dubbo at Taronga Western Plains Zoo,
0:42
we have eight Galapagos tortoises.
0:44
So we actually have five adults, so three
0:46
males, two females, and then we have
0:49
our three little hatchlings.
0:51
So NJ here, he was the first Galapagos tortoise
0:53
that we've ever had, hatched here in the whole Australasian
0:56
region.
0:57
So we were the first zoo to breed them.
0:59
And since he was born, we've actually
1:00
had two more hatchlings born six years ago, so Pena and Turbo.
1:05
They weigh about a kilo each.
1:08
It's definitely been a team effort
1:10
to breed such a challenging species,
1:12
and I feel very, very grateful to work with them every day.
1:16
- But astonishingly, these youngest tortoises
1:19
actually came from the zoo's oldest resident.
1:22
- So this is Audrey.
1:23
She is about 95 years old, and she is the proud mom
1:28
of our three little hatchlings.
1:29
So pretty amazing, 95 years old and a mum.
1:33
But everything about Galapagos tortoises
1:35
is just incredibly slow.
1:37
They move very slowly.
1:38
They move at a top speed of about 0.3 kilometers an hour.
1:43
- And here lies the main reason they
1:45
are so difficult to breed, as they really, really
1:49
take their time doing anything.
1:52
- It takes them about 30 years before they'll generally
1:54
start breeding, and it'll often be even longer than that
1:57
before they're in the prime of their breeding age,
1:59
before they feel comfortable, and before they
2:01
actually lay that first clutch.
2:05
- The Galapagos tortoise is a perfect example
2:07
of evolution, ideally illustrated by how they've
2:10
evolved to be able to breed.
2:13
- Basically, the tortoiseshell is made up
2:15
of two parts, the carapace which is the top part,
2:18
and then that connects all the way
2:20
through to underneath the plastron, which is just
2:22
the bottom half of the shell.
2:24
The plastron, so the under part of the shell there, for males
2:27
is completely-- it's quite concave,
2:29
and that's just for mounting the females.
2:32
So they fit together when they mate with the females.
2:34
They fit together like two spoons, so quite
2:36
an amazing shell, I think.
2:38
- Evolution has also given them another strange quirk,
2:41
but this one is more to do with cleanliness.
2:45
- So this very handsome fellow is
2:48
actually our largest Galapagos tortoise here at the zoo.
2:50
This is Albert.
2:52
He is 50 years old, and I'm going to get him to do
2:55
a very impressive behavior.
2:57
And he's already done it.
2:58
He knows the drill.
3:00
So you can just see, he was in a total sitting position there,
3:03
just grazing on this hay.
3:05
And then as soon as I approached him and started to give him
3:07
a little bit of a tickle, he's raised up
3:09
into this really impressive finch
3:11
pose, as we like to call it.
3:13
So we can see, he's got his neck stretched as far as he can,
3:16
his legs stretched up as far as he can,
3:19
and he's staying incredibly still.
3:23
So on the Galapagos Islands, they
3:25
have this symbiotic relationship with finches
3:27
that live on the islands.
3:28
And basically what they'll do, the finches
3:30
will fly up to the tortoise.
3:31
It'll elicit this behavior, and they'll rise up
3:34
like this and the finch can then feed off dead skin
3:37
and bugs from the tortoise.
3:38
Here at the zoo, if there's anything
3:40
we need the vets to come down and have a look at,
3:42
they can come down.
3:43
We'll get the tortoises up like this in the exact same pose.
3:46
They're the best patients in the zoo.
3:47
The vet's love them because of how willing they are
3:51
to participate in all their health checks,
3:53
and they're even able to get-- take blood from the tortoises
3:55
in this position.
3:57
We'll just give the tortoises a really, really good
3:58
scratch, which will distract them
3:59
and they'll be able to take blood.
4:01
So amazing patients and amazing to work with.
4:06
- And after spending time with these gentle giants--
4:09
- Here you go, Wilbur.
4:11
- --how could their zen lifestyle
4:13
not rub off on the keepers?
4:16
- It is an awesome experience being
4:19
a Galapagos tortoise keeper.
4:20
You learn patience very, very quickly.
4:23
Everything about them is slow.
4:24
But you're just in awe the whole time you're down here.
4:26
You can't believe that a tortoise
4:28
can be this big, that they can have so much personality.
4:32
It is such a nice way to spend some of your day.
4:35
You can just come down here and just chill out even.
4:38
You know, they're just calming to be around, and they--
4:40
yeah.
4:41
They remind me to take things slow.
4:43
[music playing]
