Hi there. You're listening to an all-new episode of News Bites.
I'm Jacob Ingram, I'm Nancy Sun and I'm Ron Stuart!
Welcome to the show, Ron.
In today's news: Mountain trekkers ask fire bureau to deliver food and hermit crabs are using trash as shells.
And in today's Tasty Tidbit: Almonds and peaches! Oh!
Stay tuned for more on those stories, coming up next.
________________________________
登山客請消防局外送食物
Mountain Trekkers Ask Fire Bureau to Deliver Food
In the past, firefighters in Taiwan had to do everything.
Other than putting out fires, they even had to catch snakes and remove beehives.
In order to lighten the workload (減少工作量), animal-related issues were assigned (指派) to local agriculture bureaus (農業局).
This allowed firefighters to focus mainly on what they do best: Putting out fires (滅火).
A while ago, the Nantou County Fire Bureau received a call asking them to deliver food.
The call came from a group of mountain trekkers who had ran out of food.
Mountain trekkers out of food, eh?
I guess they didn't have any "lembas bread" with them.
Or maybe a greedy guzzler (貪吃的人) in the group ate the whole lot!
Uh, what bread?
Lembas bread!
That's how Frodo and Sam made it to Mordor.
那是電影《魔戒》裏面，兩個哈比人佛羅多和山姆吃的麵包。
They lived off of lembas bread, which can stay fresh for months.
Uh, lembas bread is from Lord of the Rings, Jake.
I don't think it exists in real life.
That's disappointing.
Anyhow, after making sure the trekkers were not in any danger or had any medical emergencies, the Bureau refused the request to deliver food.
"There ain't no rest for the wicked," as the saying goes.
Likewise, there ain't no food delivery in the mountains.
But boy, them trekkers got some nerve.
他們好大膽！
Imagine askin' fire folks to deliver yo lunch!
The trekkers were taking on the famous South Third Section (南三段).
It's an arduous trail (陡峭的步道) across the Central Mountain Range (中央山脈).
Usually it takes about 10 days.
They originally planned to finish their trek at the village of Dongpu (東埔) in Nantou county.
However, the group met the recent cold wave which brought freezing weather to the mountains.
I'm still feelin' the chill from that cold wave.
No, wait! It's just the air con.
Oh! …
The trails at high altitudes (高海拔的地方) were frozen.
This slowed down the group, meaning they could not make it to their destination on time.
They did not prepare enough food for the extra days.
As a result, the leader of the group called the fire bureau and asked them to deliver food.
After the bureau refused, the leader then called companies in Nantou that specialize in mountain trekking services.
They provided guides and porters (搬運工) who could carry food and supplies to their site.
The fire bureau also kept in contact with the trekking group to make sure they got to their destination safely.
Remember, folks, it's not a good idea to misuse emergency services.
________________________________
全球百分之六十的寄居蟹 以垃圾為家
Hermit Crabs Using Trash as Shells Across the World
Have you ever seen a hermit crab?
They are usually small crabs that use marine snail shells (海蝸牛的殼) as protection.
Over the past decade, pictures and videos of hermit crabs using human litter as homes have been circulating the internet.
They use anything they can find: Lego pieces, bottle caps, soda cans and many more such items.
Who da heck be throwin' Lego in the trash?
I mean, come on, folks!
Recently, researchers have used these internet sightings to conduct an analysis (分析).
They tried to find out how often hermit crabs repurpose our waste.
他們想知道，寄居蟹如何使用人類製造的垃圾。
The study identified 386 instances (實例) of crabs wearing shells taken from trash.
Out of the 16 species of terrestrial hermit crabs (陸生寄居蟹) identified, 10 were spotted wearing trash.
This behavior occurred in every tropical region (熱帶區域) on the planet.
The researchers scoured through thousands of hermit crab pictures and videos on the internet.
They found out that 85% of the chosen trash was plastic.
Metal, glass and other materials comprised the remaining 15%.
There are a few theories as to why the crabs are making homes out of human trash.
One of them is the decline of the number of marine snail shells.
A reason for this might be humans picking up the shells off shores and using them as souvenirs (紀念品).
Whoopsie…
Therefore the crabs may be turning to plastic as it's more readily available.
However, there aren't enough statistics (數據) to support this theory at the moment.
Phew! Dodged a bullet there…
Other experts suggested the crabs preferred plastic, as it's lighter and easier to carry.
But they have not yet studied the effects trash shells have on the crabs.
Nevertheless, they are confident plastic pollution inside our ocean is seriously damaging the ecosystem.
A study in 2019 showed more than half a million hermit crabs die each year after getting stuck in bottles and other trash.
Alright, folks! Let's make more of an effort to recycle, reuse and repurpose plastic waste.
________________________________
So in today's news,
Mountain trekkers ask fire bureau to deliver food.
The trekkers were slowed down due to the cold front and ran out of food.
The fire bureau responded that food delivery is not included in their emergency services.
And,
Hermit crabs are using trash as shells across the world.
This phenomenon has been spotted in every tropical region on earth.
Experts warn plastic pollution is damaging the eco-system.
________________________________
趣味小點
Tasty Tidbit
And in today's Tasty Tidbit,
Did you know almonds are a member of the peach family?
Wait, what?! No way!
The family is scientifically known as Rosaceae.
Ain't nobody goin' to remember that.
This botanical family encompasses a diverse range of plants, including not only peaches and almonds but also cherries, apricots, plums and even roses.
Almonds and peaches may seem different in appearance and taste, but they share common ancestry and genetic characteristics.
You learn something new every day.
And that's today's episode of News Bites!
________________________________
If you have a fun fact or a joke you'd like to share with us, record your message and send us your Tasty Tidbit to newsbites@icrt.com.tw, and you might hear it at the end of an episode!
We'll see you next time for an exciting new episode of News Bites!