#6: Uganda's Gorilla Baby Boom

Episode 6: Today's news in English will look at Uganda’s gorilla baby boom this summer in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park. Look below for a full transcript:  

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Hello my beautiful students and welcome back to English News Pod, the best way for you to learn practical English through the news. I’m your host and teacher, Caroline. 

Now, let’s take a look at today’s top news. You can find a full transcript of this podcast episode in the description. 

Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is experiencing a baby boom. No, not of humans, but gorillas! This boom is unprecedented. At least 5 baby gorillas were born from July to August this year. Some people attribute the baby boom to the halting of tourism to the park due to the coronavirus, which created a more calm environment for the gorillas to flourish. However, officials believe the baby boom is a sign that heightened conservation efforts to protect and monitor the endangered gorillas are finally paying off. 

Let’s take a look at some grammar:

1. Baby boom - a “baby boom” is a period of time when a lot of babies are born.
2. Unprecedented - unprecedented means that the event has not happened before, or has not happened as intensely as in the past. In this example, this number of babies born in the park is unprecedented because it has never happened in such a short amount of time. 
3. Attribute - “to attribute” is a verb which means that someone believes one thing is caused by another thing. For example, some people attribute the baby boom to the lack of tourism during coronavirus, meaning some people believe the baby boom was caused by the park closing during coronavirus.
4. Halting - “to halt” is a verb that means to stop. In this example, we are talking about tourism being halted, or stopped, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
5. Flourish - “to flourish” means to grow very quickly and oftentimes in a beautiful way. For example, you can say your garden is flourishing when all of the flowers grow quickly and beautifully. In our case, we are saying the gorillas are flourishing because they are having a baby boom.
6. Heightened - “heightened” is an adjective which means increased or more than normal. So, the park officials believe heightened, or increased, conservation efforts caused the baby boom.
7. Conservation efforts - the word “conservation” comes from the verb “to conserve something.” When you conserve something, you are trying to save it or protect it. “Effort” is a noun that means an attempt, or when you try to do something. So, together, a “conservation effort” is the attempt to save or protect something. In our case, we are discussing the attempt to protect the gorillas in Uganda.
8. Endangered - “endangered” is an adjective which comes from the word “danger” and means that a group is in danger of becoming extinct, or disappearing forever. Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park is a place to protect endangered gorillas, so they can continue to live without the danger of disappearing.   
9. Paying off - “pay off” is a phrasal verb which means to get a good result. In this case, the conservation efforts are paying off and the baby gorillas are the good result! 

That wraps us up for today. If you liked this podcast, please subscribe and follow for episodes 3 times a week, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. 

Thanks for listening, and I will see you soon for more news in English!

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