中國科學家首次成功繁育世上最美的蛇!
A research team in China has artificially bred a rare snake species, elaphe perlacea, for the first time, reported.
據澎湃網報道，中國的一個研究團隊首次人工繁育了一罕見蛇種--橫斑錦蛇。Elaphe perlacea, hailed as the most beautiful snake in the world, is a mild and non venomous snake species.
橫斑錦蛇被譽爲“世界上最美麗的蛇”，是一種溫和、無毒的蛇種。It was first spotted by the U.S. scholar Leonhard Stejneger in southwestern China's Sichuan province 98 years ago.
它於98年前被美國學者萊昂哈德·史丹吉在中國西南部四川省首次發現。
It remained undiscovered for the next couple of decades. Some people even doubted its existence. The snake was later spotted in 1980, 1987, and 1988.
不過在接下來的幾十年裏這種蛇類均未被發現。一些人甚至懷疑它是否存在。在隨後的1980年、1987年和1988年，人們又發現了這種蛇。
Ding Li, the leader of the Chinese research team, who is also a researcher with the Chengdu Institute of Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed the snake as a unique species in 2017.
中國研究團隊的帶頭人、中國科學院成都生物研究所研究員丁利於2017年證實了這種蛇是一個獨特的物種。According to Ding, less than 30 elaphe perlacea have been found in the recent century. Even pictures of the mysterious snake are very precious, let alone artificial breeding, Ding added.
據丁利介紹，在最近一個世紀裏，被發現的橫斑錦蛇不足30條。他補充道，甚至連這種神祕的蛇的照片都十分珍貴，更別說是人工繁育了。Ding captured the snake three years ago, and he finally made a breakthrough in the artificial breeding of the species after three years of hard work. The first batch of snake eggs was hatched recently.
三年前，丁利抓到了這種蛇，經過三年的努力工作，他最終在人工繁育這一物種上取得了突破。近日，首批蛇蛋已被孵化。Ding believes the snakes could make good pets for reptile lovers, but people should not capture them from the wild, since they might face extinction once their habitats are destroyed.
丁利認爲，這種蛇會是爬行動物愛好者們不錯的寵物，但是人們不應將它們從野外捕獲，因爲一旦它們的棲息地被破壞，它們就有可能滅絕。
