“In little over a century we have lost nearly 95 percent of the world’s rhinos. Once there were 500,000 of them roaming the wilds of Africa and Asia, but now fewer than 29,000 survive: about 20,000 southern white rhinos, just over 5,000 black rhinos, 100 Sumatran rhinos, 61-63 Javan rhinos and just three northern white rhinos…”
只在100多年的時間，我就已經失去了95%的犀牛了。
現在非洲和亞洲，僅剩29,000 頭了。其中南白犀牛20,000頭，黑犀牛5,000頭，蘇門達臘犀牛100頭，爪哇犀牛61-63頭，而北白犀牛僅剩3頭。
White rhinos(there are two sub-species, northern and southern) have a wide upper lip. White is actually mistranslation of Dutch word wijd, meaning wide, and nothing to do with their skin color…”
白犀牛(有北白犀牛和南白犀牛兩個亞種)有一片寬寬的上唇，白犀牛的「白」這個字，和犀牛的膚色沒有關係。「白」的英文「white」是由荷蘭文「wijd」這個字錯譯而來。
荷蘭文的「wijd」，是「wide」的意思，表示該種犀牛有「寬」(wide=wijd)的上唇。
“All rhinos spend up to half their lives eating and a third of the time sleeping. They need to drink regularly and although they can go several days without, they prefer to stay close to water…”
犀牛的一生，有一半的時間在吃，有三分之一的時間在睡覺。
它們需要經常補充水份，雖然可以不進滴水耐渴數日，但它們還是喜歡棲息在水源充足的地方。
“Rhinos communicate using a wide range of sounds, including infrasonic notes that humans cannot hear but which travel long distances. Their eyesight is poor, but is compensated by their excellent hearing and sense of smell…”
犀牛溝通的聲音頻率很廣，包含人聽不到但可以傳得很遠的超低頻。
它們的視力不好，還好聽覺和嗅覺都很敏銳。
Rhino’s gestation is 15-16 months.
犀牛的妊娠懷孕期是15-16個月。
“Calves remain with their mothers until they are two or three years old, sometimes older, but an older calf is always driven away if the mother give birth again. However, if a calf is in any way poorly, the mother will always reject it…”
小犀牛在二、三歲前都跟在媽媽身邊，有些甚至會跟更久，可是，一旦犀牛媽媽再產下小小犀牛，那麼小犀牛就會被趕走。
只要小犀牛表現得太弱了，不管是什麼原因，犀牛媽媽往往會直接遺棄了它。
“Although rhinos have few natural predators, it is us who once again are the biggest enemy.”
犀牛幾乎沒有天敵，如果說有，那就又是我們人類了。
“In Asia countries, particularly China and Vietnam, rhino horn has been used as aphrodisiac, a luxury tonic, even as a cure for cancer…The true is that rhino horn has none of these curative properties…”
在亞洲的國家，主要是中國和越南，犀牛角被製成春藥、昂貴的飲品、癌症治劑。
其實，犀牛角的成份裏，完全都沒有這些宣稱的療效。
“…And then there are survivors. Badly mutilated and traumatized, they are in desperate need of intensive care from a handful of vets dedicated to their recovery…With more than a thousand rhinos killed for their horns each year, the stakes have never been higher.”
最難處理的是倖存的犀牛。
被粗暴鋸走犀牛角、身心受到重創的犀牛，它們急需要加護救治，但能全心投入的獸醫師卻寥寥無幾。
每年超過1,000頭的犀牛，因為犀牛角而被殺害，代價非常的高。
“…Not only it is traumatic, it is also emotionally draining to deal with dead and injured rhinos on an endless basis, Veterinarians, rhino owners, anti-poaching units, helicopter pilots; they all face the same tragedies and go through the same emotional rollercoaster…”
除了心裏感到受傷害，必須無窮無盡地不斷面對受傷或死亡的犀牛，是令人身心俱疲的事。
獸醫、犀牛主、反偷獵小組、直昇機駕駛等等，都受到這種衝擊，他們都必須面對相同的悲劇，辛苦調適𠄘受壓力之後情緒的巨大震盪起伏。
“South Africa alone has lost more than 5,000 rhinos over the past five years., conservatively speaking. Wildlife crime and corruption is spreading like a cancer, while elephants and rhinos are being massacred across the Africa continent…”
保守估計，在過去5年，單單在南非洲我們就痛失了超過5,000頭的犀牛。
獵殺野生動物的犯罪和貪污勾結，像癌症發作一樣，野火燎原。大象和犀牛所當其衝，在非洲大陸各地被殘忍屠殺⋯⋯
*: Editor: Keith Wilson, “Remembering Rhinos,” 2019, Remembering Wildlife Ltd
2023/8/24 Remembering Rhinos Damakey
