制作方的感言
In 1960, there were 400,000 lions living in the wild. Today, there are just 20,000.
1960年，有40萬只獅子生活在野外。而今天，只有20000只。
'That represents a 90 to 95 percent decline.' says National Geographic explorer-in-residence Dereck Joubert. 'Unless we start talking about this, these lions will be extinct within the next 10 or 15 years.'
“這是說有90%到95%的減少，” 常駐野外考察的《國家地理》雜志的探險家德雷克-朱伯特說:“除非我們開始討論(關注)這件事，這些獅子將在未來10年或15年內滅絕。”
Joubert and his wife, Beverly, have lived among populations of big wild cats for decades. Based in Botswana, the filmmakers and conservationists have spent much of their career documenting Africa's animal population for National Geographic. In their latest documentary project,
朱伯特和他的妻子巴維力，與這些大型野生貓科動物種群一直生活了幾十年。在博茨瓦納的基地裏，《國家地理》的制片人與非洲野生動物保育人士一起，在他們的大部分職業生涯裏，拍攝這些動物種群。
The Last Lions, the Jouberts follow the dwindling lion population living in Botswana's Okavango Delta as they battle their prey — the buffalo — as well as rival prides.
在他們最近的一部名爲《最後的獅子》的紀錄片裏，朱伯特夫婦在博茨瓦納的奧卡萬戈三角洲地區，跟隨著數量越來越少的獅子，觀察獅子們如何與它們的獵物 - 水牛 - 以及其他競爭對手戰鬥。
'Marauding lions [come] in from the outside into their territory and fight with them," says Dereck Joubert. "These territorial battles are dramatic and often end up in death one way or another.'
德雷克-朱伯特說：“外面的入侵獅子進入它們的領地，並與本地獅子打鬥，這些爭奪領土的戰鬥是慘烈的，往往最終以這樣或那樣的死亡而結束。”
But obtaining dramatic footage of lions battling each other in the murky, swamplike Okavango Delta is not easy, even for seasoned documentarians like the Jouberts. They followed lions across river systems, pushing their car into chest-height water while driving — and they often had a front-row seat to heated attacks.
但是，要在沼澤遍布的奧卡萬戈三角洲地區，拍攝獅子的日常戰鬥生活畫面，即使對於像朱伯特這樣經驗豐富的老手，也不是容易的事情。他們跟著獅子穿過河流水係，在齊胸高的水裏，他們駕駛汽車涉水而行，他們經常在"前排座位"觀看激烈的獅子們的攻守博鬥。
'Generally, we're situated about 20 to 30 paces from the action," says Dereck Joubert. "It's fairly chaotic. You never know where it's going to come from, where it's going to end up. Often, the action breaks closer to you than the ideal.'
“一般來說，我們在20至30步以外觀戰，”德雷克-朱伯特說。 “獅子打群架的場面是相當混亂的。你永遠不知道它是任何開始的，以及它將要如何結束。通常，沖突就在你近旁突然暴發。”
If the action breaks closer, the Jouberts are able to remain calm and in their vehicle — which doesn't have doors, a windshield or a roof — because, says Beverly Joubert, experience has given them insight into how the aggressive cats are likely to react.
如果沖突在近旁發生，朱伯特夫婦能夠保持冷靜，呆在車裏。 他們的敞篷車沒有車門，擋風玻璃以及車頂。 貝弗利-朱伯特說，經驗給了他們足夠的洞察力， 讓他們充分了解這些具有侵略性的大貓可能對於他們作出什麽樣的反應。
'We believe that our knowledge over 28 years has prepared us to keep safe, and it's kept us being good filmmakers, without ever challenging the animals, without wanting them to give us an incredible aggressive look,' she says. 'We feel like the luxury of time will eventually give us that look, but we never, ever want to threaten an animal. At the end of the day, it's all about respect and having ultimate respect for these animals.'
“我們相信過去28年來的知識，教會我們如何保持安全。這使我們成爲優秀的動物電影制片人，而不需要挑戰這些動物，我們可不想讓動物用非常有侵略性的眼光看著我們，”她說。“我們覺得有充裕的時間將最終讓我們看到一切，我們從未想過要威脅這些動物。說到底，保持安全的關鍵，是讓我們和這些動物之間有最高的相互尊重。”
In The Last Lions, the Jouberts focus on one lioness who tries to protect her three cubs from a vicious rival pride — by herself — after her mate dies in battle. Usually, a lioness will have a pride of female lions providing an additional layer of security for her cubs. But not in this case.
在《最後的獅子》這部紀錄片裏，朱伯特的鏡頭集中講述了一只母獅子的故事。她的原配在戰鬥中死亡以後，她試圖阻止惡性競爭的公獅子傷害她的三只幼崽。通常，母獅子之間會互相合作，共同保護她們的幼崽。但這次情況比較特殊，她只能孤軍奮戰。
'For her, the stakes were doubly high,' says Dereck Jouter. 'She had lost her mate and her protector, and she had to go out and hunt — a very, very dangerous activity — and make sure she didn't get injured long enough for her cubs to be vulnerable and in jeopardy.'
“對她來說，風險是雙倍的高”，德雷克-朱伯特說。 “她失去了她的配偶和保護者，她不得不自己出去捕獵。 捕獵是一項非常，非常危險的活動。 她的脆弱和處於危險之中的幼崽，需要她確保自己在這段足夠長的時期內不能受傷。”
The lioness — who the Jouberts dub Ma di Tau — decides to find a new territory for her cubs. The Jouberts tracked the lions as they made their way through muddy streams in an attempt to reach an island where, unbeknownst to Ma di Tau, a herd of buffalo live.
朱伯特稱這只母獅爲"馬迪頭"。馬迪頭決定爲她的幼崽找一塊新地盤。朱伯特夫婦追蹤這些獅子，通過泥濘的道路。它們企圖到達一座小島，但是，馬迪頭不知道現在一群水牛正盤踞在那裏。
'Their horns are incredibly sharp,' Beverly Joubert says, 'so that was a problem. Her initial stages [on the island] were having to learn how to hunt. And she studies them. You see she's watching, she's studying them. And she tries to take the [buffalo] calves. But in the finale, she is hunting a male buffalo bull.'
貝弗利朱伯特說，“水牛們的角鋒利無比，所以這就是個問題。馬迪頭上島後的最初階段，是要學習如何狩獵水牛。她研究這些水牛。你可以看到，她正在觀察琢磨它們。她試圖抓住一只小牛犢。但打到最後時，演變成她在撲殺一只成年公牛。
Learning to fight buffalo wasn't the only way Ma di Tau had to adapt. In order to save her cubs, she took them through water. And lions, Beverly Joubert says, traditionally hate water.
學習獵殺水牛的戰術，不是馬迪頭唯一需要適應的。爲了拯救她的幼崽，她必須領它們通過小河。貝弗利朱伯特說，傳統上獅子不喜歡下水。
'Crocodiles live in water. And even without crocodiles, lions aren't even comfortable getting wet when it's raining,' she says. 'These lions truly had to adapt.'
“有凶猛的鳄魚生活在水裏。即使水裏沒有鳄魚也不行。獅子也不喜歡被弄濕。甚至下雨天也讓它們感到不舒服，”她說。 “但是這些獅子必須學會適應這裏的一切。”
At one point in the film, Ma di Tau leaves one of her cubs behind after he's injured. It's heartbreaking, Dereck Joubert says.
德雷克朱伯特說，紀錄片中有一段很是令人心碎。講的是她的一只幼仔受傷以後，馬迪頭不得不放棄它。
'While we can't anthropomorphize, we can certainly understand that there's something going on,' he says, adding: 'For us, this moment was much more about [Ma di Tau's] struggling with that inevitable maternal instinct to stay and to take care of the cub when she knew she didn't have the capability.'
他說，“雖然我們不能把馬迪頭人格化，我們還是可以理解，有些什麽事情正在她的心裏發生，”於是我們看到，在這一刻，馬迪頭正在與不可避免的母性本能掙紮，即想要留下了照顧她的幼崽，同時她也知道，自己沒有足夠的能力。
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