The extremely rare northern white rhino of East Africa was on the brink of extinction when the second-to-last living male, Suni, died in 2014, leaving behind two females, Najin and Fatu - the last living creatures of their species.
Conservationists started an artificial breeding programme, using eggs from the females and sperm from Suni to produce an embryo – an unborn animal in the very early stages of development.
Recently there’s been a new development in the story, but before we hear more, it’s time for my quiz question. The name, ‘rhinoceros’, comes from the ancient Greek, but what exactly does it mean? Is it: a) thick skin?; b) horned nose? or c) small eye?
That’s a tricky one, because rhinos have all three! OK, I’ll guess a) thick skin.
这是一个棘手的问题，因为犀牛拥有这三个！好吧，我猜是a）厚脸皮。
Neil(尼尔)
OK, Sam, we’ll find out later. Now let’s get back to the story of those precious northern rhino embryos.
好的，山姆，我们稍后会知道的。现在让我们回到那些珍贵的北方犀牛胚胎的故事。
Sam(山姆)
Well, the good news is that so far five embryos have been produced. They’re being frozen until they can be implanted in southern rhinos – the northern species’ more common cousin.
Conservationist Thomas Hildebrandt runs the rhino breeding programme. He spoke to BBC World Service’s, Science in Action, who asked him whether the embryos were genetically from the northern species.
Absolutely right. They’re not hybrids, they’re pure northern white rhino embryos which were generated with the desired breeding partner, Suni, who died in 2014. So we have embryos which have a very high quality – there’s no inbreeding effect on these embryos, and it’s so important to make the next step, to transfer these embryos because we can preserve life – biological material - in liquid nitrogen, but what we can’t do – we can’t preserve social knowledge and therefore we need desperately a calf on the ground so that these two existing northern white rhinos, can teach the new calf how to behave as a northern white rhino.
Having genetically pure embryos prevents the birth of hybrids – animals that have been bred from two different species.
拥有基因纯正的胚胎可以防止杂交种的诞生 —— 从两个不同物种繁殖而来的动物。
Neil(尼尔)
It’s also important the embryos have no inbreeding – breeding of a young animal from two closely related parents, because this can cause disease.
同样重要的是，胚胎没有近亲繁殖 —— 从两个密切相关的父母那里繁殖幼小的动物，因为这会导致疾病。
Sam(山姆)
Fortunately, Thomas and his team have preserved five healthy and genetically pure northern rhino embryos in liquid nitrogen.
幸运的是，托马斯和他的团队在液氮中保存了五个健康且基因纯正的北方犀牛胚胎。
Neil(尼尔)
But while they can preserve ‘nature’, what Thomas’s team can’t provide is ‘nurture’ – the social knowledge that a young northern rhino – or calf – can only learn from other northern rhinos.
The good news for the survival of the northern white rhino is that experiments to implant the delicate embryos in southern rhinos have been successful.
对于北方白犀牛的生存来说，好消息是，将娇嫩的胚胎植入南方犀牛体内的实验已经成功。
Sam(山姆)
Here’s Thomas Hildebrandt again talking about these recent experiments with BBC World Service programme, Science in Action:
以下是托马斯·希尔德布兰特再次谈论BBC世界服务节目“科学在行动”最近的这些实验：
Thomas Hildebrandt(托马斯·希尔德布兰特)
We will, for sure, not wait until this pregnancy is completed because it takes 16 months for a full pregnancy in a rhinoceros. So if this embryo implants - and we can see that on ultrasound … and - forms a nice placenta, that is the goal for us to proceed with the next step on the northern white rhino embryos.
Normally it takes 16 months for a female rhino to complete her pregnancy - the state in which a woman or female animal has a baby developing inside her.
通常，雌性犀牛需要 16 个月才能完成怀孕 —— 女性或雌性动物在她体内发育婴儿的状态。
Sam(山姆)
But in the case of the northern rhino, the race is on to birth calves who can learn the rhino rules of social behaviour from Aunty Najin and Granny Fatu while they’re still alive…
Which is why conservationists are monitoring the pregnancy using ultrasound - a procedure using sound waves to create images of internal body parts, or in this case, growing rhino babies.
It’s an unusual episode in the ongoing ‘Nature versus Nurture’ debate.
在正在进行的“先天与后天”辩论中，这是一个不寻常的插曲。
Neil(尼尔)
And hopefully a big step towards restoring the northern white rhino population so that future generations get to see these magnificent creatures with their thick skin, horned nose and…
…and small eyes, Neil? So what was the answer to your quiz question?
...还有小眼睛，尼尔？那么你的测验问题的答案是什么？
Neil(尼尔)
Yes, I asked you what the name ‘rhinoceros’ meant. What did you say, Sam?
是的，我问你“犀牛”这个名字是什么意思。你说什么，山姆？
Sam(山姆)
I guessed it was a) thick skin. Was I right?
我猜是a）厚脸皮。我说得对吗？
Neil(尼尔)
Well, rhinos certainly do have thick skin, but their name actually comes from the Greek meaning, ‘horned nose’.
好吧，犀牛确实有厚厚的皮肤，但它们的名字实际上来自希腊语，意思是“角鼻子”。
Sam(山姆)
Well, luckily I’ve got a thick skin too, so I won’t take it personally! Let’s have another look at the vocabulary we’ve learned, starting with embryo – an unborn animal or human still inside its mother’s womb.
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