Thai zoo finds gold in giant pandas‘ dung
A Thai zoo has discovered a way to utilise unwanted dung from a couple of pandas by using it to make paper for souvenirs, the country‘s panda project manager said on Tuesday. 泰国熊猫计划的负责人14日表示,该国一家动物园已经从那些原本令人生厌的大熊猫粪便里找到了一条新的生财之道,他们先是利用大熊猫的排泄物制造纸张,然后再进一步将其做成各种纪念品加以出售。 The zoo had improvised a traditional way of making paper from mulberry trees in the northern city of Chiang Mai by using bamboo pulp that the pair of pandas could not digest, Prasertsak Buntrakoonpoontawee said. 泰国熊猫计划的负责人班特拉库彭塔威说,在一家位于泰国北部清迈市的动物园内生活着两只大熊猫,园内工作人员将当地传统的造纸工艺移植到它们的粪便中,只不过是把原料由以前的桑树换成了熊猫肠胃无法消化的竹浆。 The pandas, who are fed chopped bamboo, excrete about 23 kg (50 lb) of the pulp a day, he said. 他说,两只熊猫通常总是吃工作人员砍下来的竹子,每天所排泄出的竹浆重量为23公斤左右。 "We know that any kind of pulp can be used to make paper, so we have applied the 2,000-year techniques of making paper from mulberry tree in this rural neighborhood to bamboo pulp from panda dung," Prasertsak said. The zoo had earned 300,000 baht (4,309 pounds) a year from selling fans, greeting cards, key chains, book marks -- all with panda faces and made from panda excrement paper -- and dried panda dung, enough to fund the project, he said. “我们知道任何种类的植物纤维素都可以被用来制造纸张,所以我们就在这个充满田园风光的地方,以熊猫粪便中的竹子纤维素为原料来造纸,而采用的方法则与迄今为止已有2000年历史的以桑树为原料的造纸术完全相同。”班特拉库彭塔威说,该动物园现在每年可从熊猫粪便中获得30万泰铢(4309英镑)的收入,具体的赚钱方式则包括出售由那种“特殊”纸张制成的且印有熊猫头像的各种扇子、贺卡、钥匙链以及书签等,游客们甚至还可以买到干燥后的熊猫粪便。 The project would be presented at a four-day international panda conference in Chiang Mai that started on Monday, drawing 200 wildlife and panda specialists from around the world. 一次为期4天的国际大熊猫会议已于13日开始在清迈举行,来自于世界各地大约200名从事野生动植物研究,特别是有关熊猫研究的专家学者们参加了会议。 |