A mother kangaroo has been captured reaching out to cuddle her joey one last time before she died.
袋鼠媽媽臨死之前伸出手，試圖最后一次去擁抱自己那年幼的小袋鼠。

The photographer, Evan Switzer, captured the moment on a bushland property in River Heads, Queensland, Australia.
在澳大利亞昆士蘭州河頭鎮的一處原始林區，攝影師埃文·斯威策捕捉到了這一幕。

He noticed what was going on while he was on a walk on the property on Monday morning.
周一早上他在林區散步時，看到了袋鼠一家。

The mother was dying under the shade of a mango tree, and being supported by a male companion as she reached out for her joey.
在芒果樹下有一只奄奄一息的雌袋鼠，她躺在雄袋鼠的臂彎，費力的想要伸出手來擁抱幼崽。

Mr. Switzer told the Daily Mail: "I saw the male pick up the female, he looked like he was just trying to get her up and see what was wrong with her.
斯威策告訴《每日郵報》：“我看到雄袋鼠托著雌袋鼠的頭，想要把她托起來，看她哪里不舒服。”

"He would lift her up and she wouldn't stand she'd just fall to the ground, he'd nudge her, stand besides her ... it was a pretty special thing, he was just mourning the loss of his mate."
“雄袋鼠想將雌袋鼠托起，但她站不起來，反而倒了下去。他站在旁邊試圖輕輕推她……這一幕很特別，伴侶的離去令他很悲傷。

As she died, the male propped up her head so she could see her joey before she passed away.
雌袋鼠將死時，雄袋鼠把她的頭托起，以便她能在離世前再看一眼幼崽。

The joey stared at her the whole time, and stood in a protective stance near her body.
小袋鼠的目光沒有離開母親過，以一種保護的姿勢站在母親身邊。

After she died, her male companion guarded the corpse.
雌袋鼠死后，雄袋鼠守護著她的尸體。

He chased after any kangaroos that came near her corpse.
只要有別的袋鼠靠近，他就會驅逐他們。

After the photographer saw what was going on, he ran home to get his camera.
攝像師看到這一幕后，趕緊跑回家去拿照相機。

Mr. Switzer has been walking there twice a day for ten years and said he had never seen anything like it.
十年來，斯威策每天都來這散步兩次，他說他從來沒有見過這種場景。

"I’ve travelled around a bit and you see a lot of dead roos on the side of the road – but I've never seen anything like that before," he said.
他說：“我來這兒散步時，會發現路邊有許多死了的袋鼠，但我從來沒有見過這種場景”。

"The male would chase the other kangaroos that came around away – he was sort of protective over the female.
“只要有袋鼠靠近那只雌袋鼠的尸體，雄袋鼠就會驅逐他們——他在保護她。”

"The young one looked kind of confused, it would stand by the mother and then hop off and chew some grass, and then come right back again."
“小袋鼠看起來有些迷惑，它一會站在媽媽身旁，一會又離開去吃些草，然后又會回到媽媽身邊。”

The photographer was unsure how the female kangaroo died. She had no visible injuries.
攝像師并不知道這只雌袋鼠是怎么死的，她身上并沒有明顯受傷的痕跡。

時隔一天 劇情逆轉

However, it looks as if this story has taken a shocking twist later.
不過，這個故事后來似乎又發生了驚人大逆轉。

Experts have said the male kangaroo may not have been mourning after all.
專家稱，雄袋鼠可能根本不是在傷心。

Dr Mark Eldridge at the Australian Museum told the BBC the male kangaroo was trying to lift the female in order to mate with her.
澳大利亞博物館的馬克·埃爾德里奇博士告訴BBC，雄袋鼠想把雌袋鼠托起來，其實是想與她交配。

Not only was he trying to mate with the dying animal, an expert said he could have caused the death.
不僅是要與垂死的雌袋鼠交配的問題，更有專家認為，雄袋鼠還可能一手造成了雌袋鼠的死亡。

Dr Derek Spielman at the University of Sydney told the Guardian: “Competition between males to mate with females can be fierce and can end in serious fighting,”
悉尼大學的德萊克·斯皮爾曼博士對《衛報》表示：“雄袋鼠之間爭奪交配權的競爭非常激烈，可能導致惡性打斗。”

“It can also cause severe harassment and even physical abuse of the target female, particularly when she is unresponsive or tries to get away from amorous male.”
“這種打斗還可能給雌袋鼠帶來嚴重傷害，甚至使她們身體受傷，尤其當雌袋鼠不配合或試圖逃脫求偶的雄袋鼠時。”

英文來源：每日電訊報
譯者：心若水
審校&編輯：杜娟