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A research team in China has artificially bred a rare snake species, elaphe perlacea, for the first time, thepaper.cn reported.
据澎湃网报道，中国的一个研究团队首次人工繁育了一罕见蛇种--横斑锦蛇。
Elaphe perlacea, hailed as the most beautiful snake in the world, is a mild and non venomous snake species.
横斑锦蛇被誉为“世界上最美丽的蛇”，是一种温和、无毒的蛇种。
It was first spotted by the U.S. scholar Leonhard Stejneger in southwestern China's Sichuan province 98 years ago.
它于98年前被美国学者莱昂哈德·史丹吉在中国西南部四川省首次发现。
It remained undiscovered for the next couple of decades. Some people even doubted its existence. The snake was later spotted in 1980, 1987, and 1988.
不过在接下来的几十年里这种蛇类均未被发现。一些人甚至怀疑它是否存在。在随后的1980年、1987年和1988年，人们又发现了这种蛇。
Ding Li, the leader of the Chinese research team, who is also a researcher with the Chengdu Institute of Biology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, confirmed the snake as a unique species in 2017.
中国研究团队的带头人、中国科学院成都生物研究所研究员丁利于2017年证实了这种蛇是一个独特的物种。
According to Ding, less than 30 elaphe perlacea have been found in the recent century. Even pictures of the mysterious snake are very precious, let alone artificial breeding, Ding added.
据丁利介绍，在最近一个世纪里，被发现的横斑锦蛇不足30条。他补充道，甚至连这种神秘的蛇的照片都十分珍贵，更别说是人工繁育了。
Ding captured the snake three years ago, and he finally made a breakthrough in the artificial breeding of the species after three years of hard work. The first batch of snake eggs was hatched recently.
三年前，丁利抓到了这种蛇，经过三年的努力工作，他最终在人工繁育这一物种上取得了突破。近日，首批蛇蛋已被孵化。
Ding believes the snakes could make good pets for reptile lovers, but people should not capture them from the wild, since they might face extinction once their habitats are destroyed.
丁利认为，这种蛇会是爬行动物爱好者们不错的宠物，但是人们不应将它们从野外捕获，因为一旦它们的栖息地被破坏，它们就有可能灭绝。
