Chapter 9

Getting animals used to the presence of humans is at theheart of the art and science of zookeeping. The key aim is todiminish an animal's flight distance, which is the minimumdistance at which an animal wants to keep a perceived enemy.
A flamingo¹ in the wild won't mind you if you stay more thanthree hundred yards away. Cross that limit and it becomestense. Get even closer and you trigger a flight reaction fromwhich the bird will not cease until the three-hundred-yard limitis set again, or until heart and lungs fail. Different animals havedifferent flight distances and they gauge² them in different ways.
Cats look, deer listen, bears smell. Giraffes will allow you tocome to within thirty yards of them if you are in a motor car,but will run if you are 150 yards away on foot. Fiddler crabsscurry when you're ten yards away; howler monkeys stir intheir branches when you're at twenty; African buffaloes³ react atseventy-five.
Our tools for diminishing flight distance are the knowledgewe have of an animal, the food and shelter we provide, theprotection we afford. When it works, the result is anemotionally stable, stress-free wild animal that not only staysput, but is healthy, lives a very long time, eats without fuss,behaves and socializes in natural ways and – the best sign –reproduces. I won't say that our zoo compared to the zoos ofSan Diego or Toronto or Berlin or Singapore, but you can'tkeep a good zookeeper down. Father was a natural. He madeup for a lack of formal training with an intuitive gift and akeen eye. He had a knack⁴ for looking at an animal andguessing what was on its mind. He was attentive⁵ to hischarges, and they, in return, multiplied, some to excess.

1 flamingo   

n.红鹳，火烈鸟

参考例句：

• This is the only species of flamingo in the region,easily recognized by its pink plumage.这是那个地区唯一一种火烈鸟，很容易凭粉红色的羽毛辨认出来。
• In my family,I am flamingo in the flock of pigeons.在家里，我就像一只被困在鸽笼里的火烈鸟。

2 gauge   

v.精确计量；估计；n.标准度量；计量器

参考例句：

• Can you gauge what her reaction is likely to be?你能揣测她的反应可能是什么吗？
• It's difficult to gauge one's character.要判断一个人的品格是很困难的。

3 buffaloes   

n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓

参考例句：

• Some medieval towns raced donkeys or buffaloes. 有些中世纪的城市用驴子或水牛竞赛。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Water buffaloes supply Egypt with more meat than any other domestic animal. 水牛提供给埃及的肉比任何其它动物都要多。 来自辞典例句

4 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

5 attentive   

adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的

参考例句：

• She was very attentive to her guests.她对客人招待得十分周到。
• The speaker likes to have an attentive audience.演讲者喜欢注意力集中的听众。