Intruders at a French zoo have shot dead a white rhino and hacked off its horns in a grisly overnight poaching incident, police said Tuesday last week.
The perpetrators forced the main gate to Thoiry Zoo near Paris and broke through at least two other security barriers on Monday night last week, without disturbing five people who live on the grounds.
The animal, a four-year-old critically endangered southern white male named Vince, was attacked inside an area where at least two other rhinos are kept.
Photo: Huang Mei-chu, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者黃美珠
“Staff left the rhino enclosure on Monday. When they returned on Tuesday, an animal had been killed and its two horns had been sawn off,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
Black market rhino horn sells for up to US$60,000 per kilo — more than gold or cocaine — with demand principally coming from China and Vietnam where it is coveted as a traditional medicine and aphrodisiac.
(AFP)
法國警方上週二表示,法國的杜里動物園發生嚴重的盜獵事件,有人在夜間闖進動物園,射殺了ㄧ隻白犀牛並砍下犀牛角。
這群盜獵者於上週一強行通過動物園的大門,並越過兩道安全屏障,而園內五名工作人員都未察覺。
被獵殺的犀牛是四歲的雄性南方白犀牛「文斯」,屬於極危物種。事發當時,圈內還有另外兩隻犀牛。
一名警方發言人告訴法新社:「工作人員在週一離開犀牛區後,週二回來就發現一隻犀牛被殺了,頭上的ㄧ對角還被鋸掉。」
一支犀牛角在黑市上能賣到每公斤六萬美元,比金子和古柯鹼都還值錢。最大宗的犀牛角市場為中國和越南,當地人將犀牛角當做傳統藥材,常做為春藥使用。
(台北時報編譯涂宇安,譯自法新社)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
Everyone has seen a piece of fruit turn brown after being cut. Have you ever wondered why that happens? It is a common phenomenon that occurs due to a chemical reaction called enzymatic browning. The appearance, flavor and nutritional value of the fruit are all affected by this reaction. Some fruits, such as apples, pears, bananas, avocados and peaches, are more prone to enzymatic browning than others. These fruits contain high levels of an enzyme called polyphenol oxidase, or PPO for short. __1__ This causes a chain of chemical reactions that ultimately transforms the phenolic compounds into