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A Forests of spiny cacti cover much of the uneven lava plains that separate the interior of the Galapagos island of lsabela from the Pacific Ocean. 多刺仙人掌丛林覆盖了大部分将伊莎贝拉的加拉帕戈斯岛和太平洋分割开来凹凸不平的熔岩平原。 With its five distinct volcanoes, the island resembles a lunar landscape. 和5个不同的火山在一起像是一处月球景观。 Only the thick vegetation at the skirt of the often cloud-covered peak of Sierra Negra offers respite from the barren terrain below. 在这贫瘠的地形下面，只有在常云覆盖谢拉·内格拉火山的山顶上才存留着一抹生气，那里生长着茂密的植被。 This inhospitable environment is home to the giant Galapagos tortoise. 这种荒凉的居住环境却是大型加拉帕戈斯陆龟的家。 Some time after the Galapagos’s birth, around five million years ago, the islands were colonised by one or more tortoises from mainland South America. 大约在500万年以前，加拉帕戈斯岛在它诞生后的一段时间里被来自于南美内陆地区的陆龟所占据。 As these ancestral tortoises settled on the individual islands, the different populations adapted to their unique environments, giving rise to at least 14 different subspecies. 当这些乌龟祖先登陆到各个岛屿上时，这些不同的种群适应了这种独特的环境并且繁衍出14类亚种。 Island life agreed with them. 岛上的生物接受了它们。 In the absence of significant predators, they grew to become the largest and longest-living tortoises on the planet, weighing more than 400 kilograms, occasionally exceeding 1.8 metres in length and living for more than a century. 在缺少重要的捕食者情况下，它们变成了这个星球上最大、最长久的乌龟，超过400公斤重，有的体长1.8米，存活超过一个世纪。

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B Before human arrival, the archipelago’s tortoises numbered in the hundreds of thousands. 在人类到来之前，这个群岛的乌龟有数十万之多。 From the 17th century onwards, pirates took a few on board for food, but the arrival of whaling ships in the 1790s saw this exploitation grow exponentially. 从17世纪开始，海盗们捕食过一些作为食物，但在18世纪90年代捕鲸船的到来见证了成倍增长开发情况。 Relatively immobile and capable of surviving for months without food or water, the tortoises were taken on board these ships to act as food supplies during long ocean passages. 由于这些乌龟相对固定的居住习惯和数月没有水和食物的生存能力，它们被带上船作为远洋旅途的食品。 Sometimes, their bodies were processed into high- grade oil. 有时候，它们的躯体被加工成高档油。 In total, an estimated 200,000 animals were taken from the archipelago before the 20th century. 在20世纪之前在加拉帕戈斯岛上约有20万只动物被夺走。 This historical exploitation was then exacerbated when settlers came to the islands. 当殖民者来到这个岛屿上时这种历史性的开发被加剧了。 They hunted the tortoises and destroyed their habitat to clear land for agriculture. 他们捕杀乌龟、摧毁它们的栖息地用以种植农作物。 They also introduced alien species — ranging from cattle, pigs, goats, rats and dogs to plants and ants — that either prey on the eggs and young tortoises or damage or destroy their habitat. 他们还引入外来物种，从牲畜、猪、山羊、老鼠和狗到植物和蚂蚁-这些物种掠夺他们的蛋和幼小的乌龟，或损坏或破坏他们的栖息地。

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C Today, only 11 of the original subspecies survive and of these, several are highly endangered. 到今天，只有11类原亚种幸存下来，其中有些种类已经高度濒危。 In 1989, work began on a tortoise-breeding centre just outside the town of Puerto Villamil on Isabela, dedicated to protecting the island’s tortoise populations. 1989年在伊莎贝拉岛上普维多维拉米小镇外乌龟繁殖中心里，有项工作致力于保护岛上乌龟数量。 The centre’s captive-breeding programme proved to be extremely successful, and it eventually had to deal with an overpopulation problem. 这个中心的圈养繁殖计划被证明是非常成功的，并且最终解决了数量过多的问题。

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D The problem was also a pressing one. 这个问题也是很紧迫的。 Captive-bred tortoises can’t be reintroduced into the wild until they’re at least five years old and weigh at least 4.5 kilograms, at which point their size and weight — and their hardened shells — are sufficient to protect them from predators. 圈养的乌龟直到至少5岁大，并且至少4.5公斤重，也就是在尺寸或重量上抑以及它们坚硬的壳都足以能够抵抗捕食者时才可以被重新放归野外。 But if people wait too long after that point, the tortoises eventually become too large to transport. 但如果人们在乌龟成长后搁置太久，就会因为体积过大而难以运输。

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E For years, repatriation efforts were carried out in small numbers, with the tortoises carried on the backs of men over weeks of long, treacherous hikes along narrow trails. 多年以来，少量的乌龟经过遣返工作被带走，人们肩挑背扛经过数周携带乌龟，沿着小路进行着艰难的旅途。 But in November 2010, the environmentalist and Galapagos National Park liaison officer Godfrey Merlin, a visiting private motor yacht captain and a helicopter pilot gathered around a table in a small café in Puerto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz to work out more ambitious reintroduction. 但在2010年11月，环保主义者兼锚点加拉帕戈斯国家公园联络官戈弗雷梅林， 一个参观私人马达游艇的船长和一个直升机飞行员，他们聚在圣克鲁什岛阿约拉港一个小咖啡馆的圆桌旁，计划着更具野心的再引渡工作。 The aim was to use a helicopter to move 300 of the breeding centre’s tortoises to various locations close to Sierra Negra. 目标就是要用直升机来迁移繁殖中心300只乌龟至谢拉·内格拉火山附近的各个地区。

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F This unprecedented effort was made possible by the owners of the 67-metre yacht White Cloud, who provided the Galapagos National Park with free use of their helicopter and its experienced pilot, as well as the logistical support of the yacht, its captain and crew. 这场前所未有的努力在67米长游艇“白云”拥有者们的帮助下得以实现。他们给加拉帕戈斯国家公园提供了免费使用的直升机并配备富有经验的飞行员，同时给予游艇，游艇船长和船员的后勤保障。 Originally an air ambulance, the yacht’s helicopter has a rear double door and a large internal space that’s well suited for cargo, so a custom crate was designed to hold up to 33 tortoises with a total weight of about 150 kilograms. 最初时一架救护飞机，游艇直升机有一个尾部双开门和巨大的内部空间来承载货物，所以一个机箱被定制成可以容纳33只总重量为150公斤的乌龟。 This weight, together with that of the fuel, pilot and four crew, approached the helicopter’s maximum payload, and there were times when it was clearly right on the edge of the helicopter’s capabilities. 这个重量，加上燃料、飞行员和4名机组成员，已经接近直升机的最大运载量，实际上有些时候总重量达到了直升机运载能力的临界点。 During a period of three days, a group of volunteers from the breeding centre worked around the clock to prepare the young tortoises for transport. 在3天的时间里，来自繁殖中心的一队志愿者不分昼夜准备小乌龟的运输工作。 Meanwhile, park wardens, dropped off ahead of time in remote locations, cleared landing sites within the thick brush, cacti and lava rocks 同时，公园管理员在遥远的地点提前下车用厚刷子清理着陆点、仙人掌和熔岩。

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G Upon their release, the juvenile tortoises quickly spread out over their ancestral territory, investigating their new surroundings and feeding on the vegetation. 到他们释放之时，这些少年乌龟迅速分散在它们祖先的领土上，检查着它们周遭的事物并且以植物为食。 Eventually, one tiny tortoise came across a fully grown giant who had been lumbering around the island for around a hundred years. 最后，一只小乌龟撞见了一颗在岛上生活了近百年的纯熟古树。 The two stood side by side, a powerful symbol of the regeneration of an ancient species. 它们并排站着，仿佛一种祖先物种重生般强大的象征。