About 20 years ago, some 15,000 red pandas wandered the treetops of the Himalaya forests in South Asia. But with the large number of people entering their habitats, these shy and solitary (独处的) creatures can’t meet each other and reproduce. Now the population has declined by more than 50 percent.

To save the red pandas here, Lama and his research team need to know which parts of the forests the remaining pandas are living in. That’s where the tracking devices come in. “Mapping the path they travel will let us know which areas of the forest need to be reforested to connect the most red pandas to one another,” Lama says.

Because red pandas can be hard to spot and catch, no one had ever used GPS collars to study them in the wild. But Lama and his team had a great plan. They first would make sure the animals would be comfortable wearing the collars. So, they tested the collars on two red pandas in a local zoo. “We convinced them to let us measure their necks and fit them with the collars by letting them choose a reward — grapes, apples, or bananas.” Lama says.

Then came the next challenge: catching red pandas. Once they spotted a red panda, a team of vets set up a tall, fence-like tarp (油布) around the base of the tree with a box trap at the bottom. That way when the red panda climbed down the tree surrounded by the tarp, it had no choice but to enter the trap. It was then quickly controlled, collared and released.

From September to December 2019, the team trapped 10 red pandas — six females and four males. Their collars recorded their location every two hours and sent the information to researchers once a day. Over the next year, the team tracked the red pandas’ movements so that they identified where to plant new forests and helped red pandas meet more easily.

Tom arrived at the bus station quite early for Paris bus. The bus for Paris would not leave until five to twelve. He saw a lot of people waiting in the station. Some were standing in line, others were walking around. There was a group of school girls. Their teacher was trying to keep them in line. Tom looked around but there was no place for him to sit.

He walked into the station café. He looked up at the clock there. It was only twenty to twelve. He found a seat and sat down before a large mirror on the wall. Just then, Mike, one of Tom’s workmates came in and sat with Tom.

“What time is your bus?” asked Mike.

“There’s plenty of time yet,” answered Tom.

“Well, I’ll get you some more tea then,” said Mike.

They talked while drinking. Then Tom looked at the clock again. “Oh! It’s going backward (倒行)!” he cried. “A few minutes ago it was twenty to twelve and now it’s half past eleven.”

“You’re looking at the clock in the mirror.” said Mike. Tom was so sad. The next bus was not to leave for another hour. Since then Tom has never liked mirrors.