Champion Swimmer 北極熊連續游泳9天 @ 看BBC學英文

Champion Swimmer 北極熊連續游泳9天

The US Endangered Species Act lists the polar bear as 'Threatened'

點此收聽音頻：http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukchina/simp/elt/media_english/110127_me_122_bear_swim_story.shtml

Background: 科學家最近驚奇的發現，一隻北極熊為了覓食連續游泳9天。

2008年研究人員在這只北極熊從阿拉斯加海北上到冰海時開始對它進行跟蹤。

所有細節都刊登在《極地生物學》雜誌上。

Polar bears are superb swimmers. But their hunting ground is the surface of the Arctic ice, where resting seals make easy and calorie-rich prey. In the summer though, a swim between ice floes to catch seals can turn into a marathon.

The researchers fitted the female bear with a radio collar, and tracked her as she swam continuously for nine days - the longest polar bear swim ever recorded. She covered almost 700 km in waters as cold as 2C. Then she hauled herself out of the water and travelled a further 1,800 km - intermittently swimming and walking on the surface of the ice.

When the team recaptured the bear, she had lost almost a quarter of her body weight and her year-old cub, which had been travelling alongside her, had disappeared.

The scientists say that the retreating Arctic ice could be forcing polar bears to take greater risks in search of food, embarking on ever more perilous long-distance journeys.

Glossary 單字表

superb 特棒的，極好的
calorie-rich 高熱量的
prey 被捕食的動物
ice floe 冰川、浮冰
to haul 拖，拉
intermittent 間歇的，斷斷續續的
cub 幼獸
retreating Arctic ice 融化消退的北極冰
to embark 開始
perilous 危險的，冒險的

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