Even by the brutish standards of Tasmanian devils, Rosie, Harry, and Clyde have
led a lamentable life. A year ago, when the three were each the size of a sesame
seed, they wriggled out of their mother’s birth canal and undulated their way to
her pouch. There, each locked onto a teat and grew quickly. But within months, their
mother developed devil facial tumor disease—a mysterious malady that in the last
three years has killed nearly half of all the world’s devils, marsupials that are
found only in Tasmania. Shortly after she died, the baby devils, grown to the size
of tiny puppies, were found dangling from their mother’s pouch, starving to death.
Rescued and reared by hand, Rosie, Harry, and Clyde recently joined six similarly
orphaned devils at the Launceston Lakes and Wildlife Park, all in strict quarantine.
The fate of their exotic species—Sarcophilus harrisii—may lie in what happens to
these rambunctious youngsters in the next 12 to 18 months. “If they contract the
disease, devils may be headed for extinction in the wild,” said a wildlife
biologist. Right now, wildlife experts are struggling to comprehend the nature of
the fast-moving epidemic. Moving at a rate of 10 to 16 kilometers a year, it is 100
percent fatal. Only the west coast, isolated by mountain ranges inhospitable to
devils, is disease free. Nearly half of the estimated 150,000 devils in Tasmania are
now dead.
【題組】49.What happened to Rosie, Harry, and Clyde after their mother’s death?
(A)Killed by hunters (B)Contracting the disease
(C)Reared by humans (D)Being dead from starvation
已上岸大家加油 高二下 (2019/07/25) Rescued and reared by hand, Rosie, Harry, and Clyde recently joined six similarly orphaned devils at the Launceston L.....觀看完整全文，請先登入
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