◎魏國金

A Japanese zoo puzzled by its lack of success in getting two polar bears to mate has discovered the reason -- both are female.

日本一家因無法讓兩頭北極熊成功交配，而百思不得其解的動物園，已經發現了原因︰兩頭熊都是母的。

The zoo in the northern city of Kushiro swapped an orangutan for a polar bear cub in January 2005, hoping it would eventually produce offspring with a female bear called Kurumi.

這家位於日本北部都市釧路的動物園2005年1月間用紅毛猩猩交換了一頭北極熊幼熊，希望牠最終能與名為核桃的母熊繁衍子嗣。

The cub, named Tsuyoshi after the popular baseball slugger Tsuyoshi Shinjo, reached the reproductive age of four last December.

這頭以人氣棒球強打手新庄剛志命名為剛志的幼熊，去年12月到了4歲生育年齡。

"Even though the rutting season came in spring this year, Tsuyoshi didn’t show mating behaviour such as chasing after a female bear," said zookeeper Hiroyuki Kubono. "We thought it might be because Tsuyoshi was still too young."

「即使今年春天到了發情期，剛志沒有顯露像是追逐母熊的交配行為」，動物園管理員久保野博之說，「我們認為也許是因為剛志還太年輕。」

But suspicions deepened when Tsuyoshi was seen urinating just like Kurumi. "We realised it’s really odd," the zookeeper said.

然而當看到剛志像核桃那樣尿尿時，猜疑加深。「我們了解到事情真的很怪異」，管理員說。

The zoo sent some of Tsuyoshi’s hair for a DNA test, the results of which suggested "he" was really a she.

動物園將剛志的一些毛髮送去做DNA檢測，結果顯示「他」實際上是她。

Just to make sure, earlier this month the zoo anesthetised the bear and directly checked its body, said Kubono, adding： "It was female."

為了確定，本月初動物園將這頭熊麻醉，直接驗明正身，久保野表示，並補充︰「牠是母的。」

It is not an isolated case： Tsuyoshi’s "brother," who was adopted by another zoo and turns three this year, has also turned out to be female.

這不是個案︰剛志的「弟弟」也被驗明是母的；牠今年3歲，被另一家動物園收養。

新聞辭典

slugger︰名詞：（棒球）強打者。動詞slug，意為激戰、重擊；slug it out（決一勝負。）例句︰They are slugging it out to the bitter end.（他們非鬥出個結果不可。）

mate︰結婚、交配，也有緊密配合之意，例句︰You did not mate your words with deed.（你的言行並不一致。）

rut︰可做動、名詞，指動物的發情，也有常規、慣例之意；be in a rut （墨守成規。）fall into a conversational rut（開始老調重彈。）