（本文发表于2021年2月19日，作者为澳大利亚南十字大学副教授，文化地理学家凯文·马克威尔）

The koala is a much-loved species and lucrative tourism drawcard. Yet, for all its popularity, koalas are forecast to be extinct in NSW within 30 years.

考拉是深受人们喜爱的物种，也是旅游观光中有利可图的卖点。然而，尽管人见人爱，但根据估计，新南威尔士州的考拉会在30年内灭绝。

Understanding the koala-human relationship might go some way to saving the species. My research examined the dynamic by tracing the representation of koalas in natural history books, children’s stories, postcards and tourism brochures.

理解考拉和人类的关系，也许能在某种程度上拯救这个物种。我的研究检视了这方面的动态，方法就是追踪自然史书籍、儿童故事、明信片和旅游宣传册中描绘的考拉。
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I found that “anthropomorpism” – attributing human qualities to a non-human animal – has helped shift attitudes towards the koala away from the scientific and economic to a more romantic, emotional view. In particular, koalas share physical characteristics with human babies, which further endears them to us.

我发现，“拟人化”（即把人类的特征赋予非人类的动物）已经帮助人们改变了对考拉的态度，从科学和经济的视角转变成了更浪漫、更感性的视角。特别是，考拉和人类的婴儿在体貌特征上存在一些共同点，这样一来我们就更愿意亲近它们了。

Anthropomorphism can trigger positive emotions in humans which helps with conservation actions. Ultimately, however, threats to koalas are the result of political decisions in which sentiment plays little part.

拟人化可以触发人们的正面情绪，这能给保育行动带来好处。不过，对考拉的各种威胁终究是政治决策带来的，情感在其中起到的作用极小。

Seeing ourselves in koalas

在考拉身上照见我们自己

When humans see themselves in other animals, this can engender greater empathy and concern for the species. And the koala, with its human baby-like qualities can be readily anthropomorphised.

当人类在其他动物身上照见自己时，就会对这个物种产生更深切的共情和关注。而具有人类婴儿般特质的考拉，能更容易地被拟人化。

Indeed, koalas exhibit “neoteny”, whereby mature animals retain juvenile physical features. This has been shown to trigger positive emotional responses from human adults.

考拉确实展现出了“稚态延续（neoteny）”的情况，也即已经发育成熟的动物身上保留了幼年的特征。这已经被证明能触发成年人的正面情绪反应。

These features include:
a prominent forehead with eyes positioned below the centre of the head
rounded head and body
soft elasticity of the body surface
a vertical posture.

这些特征包括：
-前额突出，眼睛位于头部的中间靠下
-圆圆的头和身体
-体表柔软有弹性
-直立的身姿

Newspaper articles published in the first half of the 20th century often infantilised koalas. For instance, an article in the Glen Innes Examiner refers to koalas as “little bears” that sit “up like babies in the trees”.

20世纪上半页发表的报纸文章经常把考拉稚态化。举例来说，《格伦因斯观察家报》上发表的一篇文章就把考拉说成是“熊崽”，它们的坐姿“就像上了树的婴儿”。

Koalas even make a crying sound when hurt or upset, adding to their baby-like qualities.

考拉在疼痛或不安时，甚至还能发出一种哭声，这就加重了其婴儿般的特质。

A scientific curiosity

科学上的好奇心

Koalas have not always endeared themselves to post-colonial Australians.

考拉并不是一贯受到后殖民时期澳大利亚人的喜爱的。

European settlers sought to understand the animal with frxs of reference available at the time. As such, the earliest accounts of the koala variously referred to it as a monkey, a sloth, a lemur and a bear.

欧洲移民设法用当时现成的参考系来理解这种动物。如此一来，最早关于考拉的记载，便各自不同地将其称为猴子、树懒、狐猴和熊。

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Australians viewed the koala predominantly through a detached, scientific lens. Scientific illustrations and paintings were made of koalas, and information and images were published in natural history and zoology publications.

在19世纪和20世纪初，澳大利亚人主要是以一种超然且科学的视角来看待考拉的。制作出了考拉的科学图解和绘画，在自然历史和动物学的出版物上也登载了相关的信息和画像。

At the same time, the koala was also seen as an economic resource. From the early 1800s until the 1920s, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, were slaughtered for the fur trade.

与此同时，考拉也被视为一种经济资源。从19世纪初一直到20世纪20年代，为了皮毛贸易有数十万只甚至上百万只考拉被屠杀。

Into the 1900s, zoological representations of the koala continued to be published in natural histories. They included Le Souef and Burrell’s The Wild Animals of Australasia, published in 1926, which stated:

进入20世纪，自然历史书刊中持续不断地发表针对考拉的动物学描述。其中包括Le Souef和Burrell所著的《澳大利亚野生动物》，出版于1926年，其中写道：

The quaint koala, or native bear, a creature which, perhaps, holds the affection of Australians more than any other of their wild animals – a fact for which its innocent, babyish expression and quiet and inoffensive ways are largely responsible.

“离奇的考拉，也叫本土的熊，澳大利亚人对这种生灵的喜爱，可能超过了他们国家其他任何一种野生动物，个中的主因其实是天真无邪的稚态表情以及安详无害的举止。”

This passage indicates a shift towards a more romantic view of koalas as akin to humans.

这段话表明，对考拉的看法变得更浪漫了，向着贴近人类的方向而去了。


An 1803 illustration by JW Lewin titled ‘Koala and young’. In the 1900s koalas were often depicted in scientific illustrations.

（图解：名为《考拉和幼崽》的插图，J·W·勒温创作于1803年。在1900年代，考拉经常被画进科学插图中。）

The love affair

由爱生出的轶事

Two books published in 1918 encouraged public affection for koalas. Norman Lindsay’s The Magic Pudding, featured an anthropomorphised koala character called Bunyip Bluegum, who wore smart slacks, a jacket and a bow tie. May Gibbs’ Snugglepot and Cuddlepie also included friendly koalas.

1918年出版的两本书激发了公众对考拉的喜爱。诺曼·林赛《魔法布丁》一书中的主角是一个人格化的考拉角色，名叫Bunyip Bluegum，它身着休闲裤、夹克衫，还戴着领结。梅·吉布斯的《小胖壶和小面饼》中也出现过友善的考拉。



（译注：图为Bunyip Bluegum；诺曼·林赛（1879 - 1969）为澳大利亚雕塑家、作家、漫画家；梅·吉布斯 (1877-1969)，澳洲最著名的儿童作家之一，小胖壶和小面饼为两个桉树果小精灵）

The books reached a far wider audience than natural histories. They helped fuel outrage when the open season of koala hunting was declared in Queensland in 1927.

这些书的受众远比自然历史书籍广泛。1927年昆士兰宣布考拉狩猎季开始的时候，它们助长了人们的怒火。
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The emergence of the very popular blxy Bill koala character in 1933 helped further humanise the species.

1933年时，极为流行的考拉角色blxy Bill（《恶作剧考拉》）的出现进一步助长了对这个物种进行人性化的势头。

The rapid rise of photography in the 20th century also helped cement koalas’ public appeal. Groups of koalas were arranged for photos to be reproduced as postcards, often captioned “Australia’s teddy bear”.

20世纪中迅速兴起的摄影也帮助巩固了考拉对公众的吸引力。当时安排了好几群考拉去拍照，转制成明信片，标题则通常会是“澳大利亚的毛绒玩具熊”。

Zoologist Ellis Troughton, in his landmark 1931 book Furred Animals of Australia, recorded the special place koalas occupied in the national psyche:

动物学家埃利斯·特劳顿在他1931年出版的里程碑式作品《澳大利亚的毛皮兽》一书中，记录下了考拉在国民心理中占据的特殊地位。
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This attractive and rather helpless orphan which has become world famous in caricature and story, holds the affection of fellow Australians more than any other animal of their adopted country.

漫画和故事书中的这只迷人而又相当无助的孤儿已经逐渐名满全球了，它比其他任何移居国的动物都更受澳大利亚人的青睐。
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The popularity of koalas fed into an emerging tourism industry eager to create national distinctiveness in the global tourism market.

考拉的广受欢迎推动了旅游业的兴起，后者急欲在全球旅游市场中打造出一国的独特性。

Today the koala’s image is still reproduced on tea towels, t-shirts, postcards and other souvenirs. Pre-COVID, the economic value of the koala to Australian tourism was estimated at up to A$3.2 billion a year.

今天，考拉的形象仍然会出现在茶巾、T恤衫、明信片和其他纪念品上。在新冠瘟疫之前，考拉给澳大利亚旅游业带来的经济价值估计高达每年32亿澳元。

Unlike other native species, koalas now have their own dedicated “hospitals” in three states. At the time of writing, a crowd-funding campaign for the Port Macquarie Koala Hospital, set up after the Black Summer bushfires, had raised almost A$8 million.

和其他本土物种不同，考拉现在在三个州都有自己专用的“医院”。就在我撰写本文时，针对“黑色夏天”丛林大火后建立的麦考瑞港考拉医院的众筹活动，已经筹集了约800万澳元。

And koalas attract far more government funding than most species. For example, research last year showed conservation funding for the koala far outstripped that for the northern hairy-nosed wombat. The wombat is listed as critically endangered while the koala is off less conservation concern – listed as vulnerable in parts of Australia.

而且，考拉吸引的政府资金远远超过大多数物种。例如，去年的研究表明，考拉的保护资金远远超过北毛鼻袋熊。这种袋熊被列为极度濒危物种，而考拉保护不太让人担心，它在澳大利亚部分地区被列为易危物种。


Vet holds injured koala
The plight of koalas after the Black Summer fires drew international attention. Daniel Mariuz/AAP

（图解：兽医抱着受伤的考拉，“黑色夏天”大火后考拉陷入的困境引发了国际关注）

Saving what we love

拯救我们所爱的

Anthropomorphism can be a powerful way to generate concern and action for a species. However, there are limits to its effectiveness.

拟人化或许是产生对一个物种的关注度乃至付诸行动的一种强有力的方式。然而，其有效性也是有局限的。
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For all their popularity, koalas face extinction in NSW within 30 years. Estimates of the wild national koala population vary from 140,000 to 600,000.

尽管考拉颇受欢迎，它们还是面临着30年内在新南威尔士州灭绝的风险。据估计，全国的野生考拉种群从14万只到60万只不等。

It might seem baffling that such a well-loved animal could be headed for extinction. But the koala’s continued survival depends on political decisions where emotion and public sentiment are so often overridden by economics and vested interests.

看起来也许会让人困惑的是：这么一种如此招人喜欢的动物居然有可能走向灭绝。但考拉能否继续生存下去取决于政治决策，而在政治决策中，情感和公众情绪往往会被经济利益和既得利益践踏。
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Australians clearly care deeply for their koalas. But that sentiment must translate into collective political pressure if the species is to survive.

显然，澳大利亚人非常在乎他们的考拉。但如果想让这些物种继续生存下去，那这种情感就必须转化为公众集体施加的政治压力。