外媒看中國 動物變身南京市地震預報員

Chinese scientists are using Animals to try to predict when an earthquake may strike, it's reported.
據報道，中國科學家正在嘗試用動物預報地震。

SeisMologists in Nanjing, the capital of eastern Jiangsu province, have set up seven observation centres at zoos and animal parks in the region, the Modern Express website reports. They'll be watching for changes in behaviour among thousands of animals, which might be a sign of an imminent tremor. An ecological park in the city's Yuhuatai district has become one of the seismic monitoring sites, with 2,000 chickens, 200 pigs and 2 sq km (0.8 sq miles) of fish ponds, the report says. Cameras have been installed around the park, and staff will report back to the seismological bureau on the animals' behaviour twice a day.
南京是中國東部的江蘇省的省會，據《現代快報》報道，那裏的地震學家在動物園裏開設了7個觀測中心。他們將對數千動物的行爲進行觀測，這些行爲可能爲即將到來的地震提供線索。記者報道，這些地震觀測點之一的南京雨花臺區一座生態公園裏有2000只雞、200只豬以及2平方公里的魚塘。公園裏到處都裝上了攝像頭，工作人員每天將向地震局彙報兩次動物的行爲。

"Animals sometimes become stressed before an earthquake," says Zhao Bing, Nanjing Seismological Bureau's chief of scientific monitoring. But the occasional bit of oddness from one chicken doesn't necessarily spell trouble, so groups of animals are being observed, "so that their behaviour can be cross-checked", he explains. A member of staff at Hongshan Forest Zoo, another monitoring site, says animals can be just as effective as specialist technology when trying to predict a quake. "Birds can become 'nervous' - if their tails are wagging like a dog's, you should pay attention," Shen Zhijun tells the paper.
南京地震局科技監測處處長趙兵說：“有時地震前動物會變得緊張”。但是，一隻雞偶爾的反常不足以預報地震，因此需要對大量動物進行觀測，“以便彼此應證”。另一個觀測站位於紅山森林公園，那裏的一名工作人員稱，在預測地震上，動物可以和專業科技一樣有效。沈志軍告訴《現代快報》，“鳥類會變得緊張。如果它們的尾巴像狗一樣擺動，就要加以注意了。”

It has long been thought that animal behaviour could provide an early warning of seismic activity. In 2011, scientists said animals may be able to detect chemical changes in groundwater which precede a quake. Their study was prompted by a colony of toads abandoning its pond in the Italian city of L'Aquila days before it was devastated by a 6.3 magnitude quake. Another study observed changes in wild animal behaviour in the three weeks before Peru's 7.0 magnitude earthquake in 2011.
很久以來，人們就認爲動物的行爲能夠爲地震提供早期預警。2011年，一些科學家稱動物或許能夠察覺到地震前地下水裏化學物質的變化。一場6.3級的地震摧毀了意大利拉奎拉地區的一座城市，那裏的一羣蟾蜍在地震前離開了它們棲息的池塘。這一現象推動了這些科學家們的研究。另一項研究發現，祕魯7級地震前三週裏，野生動物的行爲發生了變化。