Florida wildlife managers have launched an experiment to see if they can keep crocodiles from returning to residential neighborhoods by temporarily taping magnets to their heads to disrupt their "homing" ability.
佛羅里達州野生動物管理者已經開始一項實驗，看看暫時將磁鐵放到鱷魚頭上以干擾牠們的「導航」能力，是不是真能阻止鱷魚返回住宅區。
Researchers at Mexico’s Crocodile Museum in Chiapas reported in a biology newsletter they had some success with the method, using it to permanently relocate 20 of the reptiles since 2004.
墨西哥洽帕斯「鱷魚博物館」的研究人員曾在生物學通訊中指出，他們曾經利用這種方式達到部分效果，自2004年開始永久移置20隻鱷魚。
"We said, ’Hey, we might as well give this a try," Lindsey Hord, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s crocodile response coordinator, said on Tuesday.
「我們說，『嘿，我們一樣可以試試看啊』」，佛州「魚類與野生動物保護委員會」的鱷魚應變協調官林賽．霍爾德週二表示。
Crocodiles are notoriously territorial and when biologists move them from urban areas to new homes in the wild, they often go right back to the place where they were captured, traveling up to 10 miles a week to get there.
鱷魚具有非常強的領域性，當生物學家將牠們從都市區移到野外的新棲地時，牠們常常會直接返回牠們的被捕地點，為此一週能爬上10英里。
Scientists believe they rely in part on the Earth’s magnetic fields to navigate, and that taping magnets to both sides of their heads disorients them.
科學家相信，牠們的導航能力一部分來自地球的磁場，所以將磁鐵依附在頭的兩側將能干擾方向感。
新聞辭典
homing：名詞，返回原生地的能力。此字來自當動詞用的home，意為回家、（飛彈等的）導航。homing ability，指洄游魚類、候鳥返回原生地的能力。
relocate：動詞，重新安置。We have to relocate the refugees to a safer location.（我們得將難民安置到更安全的地方。）
disorient：動詞，使……失去方向。The trick disorients many.（這招能讓很多人失去方向感。）
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