Script 4
Unlikely Friends
Narrator: We’re off to California, where the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park is finding new ways to raise wild animals. Here’s a sight you’re likely never to see in the wild. A puppy and a lion cub playing together, peacefully. Koza was separated from his mother at birth, so keepers put him together with a puppy named Cairo so he would have a companion. Randy Rieches works at the San Diego Zoo. He says many wild animals are social creatures, which means that when they are young, they need to learn to get along with others.
Randy Rieches: In any instance where you have a social animal, it’s always better to pair something specific with that animal to actually help that animal psychologically progress into adulthood.
Narrator: For years now, the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park have been pairing lone wild animals with different, but compatible, species. Majani the cheetah and Clifford the dog are old friends. They were put together as youngsters years ago, and now the shy cat feels comfortable when out in public with his canine companion. This young Indian rhino liked to play, so keepers found him a playmate: a banteng, a type of large cow. Someday this rhino will grow to be huge, weighing about 1800 kilos. While the ox will only be about 700. But keepers say animals like these are kept together as long as they enjoy each other’s company. And the rhino will learn social skills he’ll need when it’s time to be introduced to other rhinos. On the other hand, Koza and Cairo will soon be separated. Lion cubs grow quickly, and today’s companion could be tomorrow’s prey.
Randy Rieches: You have a lion which is a predator, a very large predator, that at some point in time, we will have to split them.
Narrator: Cross-species friendships don’t happen in the wild, but they are used sometimes in zoos as a way to keep social animals, social.
[释义]你有一头狮子，它是掠食者
