科学美国人60秒 SSS 有关土拨鼠的7个事实

（单词翻译）

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。

"That's right, woodchuck-chuckers. It's Groundhog Day! Get up and chuck that hog¹ out there!"

“没错，是土拨鼠。今天是土拨鼠日！快起床，将它们赶出来吧！”（电影《土拨鼠日》片段）

February 2: the day each year when we look toward an oversized rodent² to find out how much more winter we'll endure. In honor of the occasion, here's seven things you might not have known about the groundhog.

2月2日：每年这一天我们都会关注一各超大型啮齿类动物，以此确定我们还要忍受多少冬日。为了纪念这一时刻，我们列出了你可能不了解的有关土拨鼠的7件事。

1. The groundhog's scientific name is Marmota monax, making it one of 14 types of marmot that can be found in the Northern Hemisphere. "Wow, nice marmot." Marmots are members of the Sciuridae family, which makes the groundhog just a really big ground squirrel.

1、土拨鼠的学名是美洲旱獭，是北半球发现的14种旱獭中的一种。“哇哦，这旱獭真不错。”（电影《土拨鼠日》片段）旱獭属于松鼠科，因此土拨鼠只是种非常大的地松鼠。

2. As just noted³, groundhogs are a type of marmot. So you can accurately⁴ say, "Hey, that marmot just saw its shadow." You could also refer to them as woodchucks, whistle-pigs or land beavers⁵, depending on where you're from. The name whistle-pig comes from the high-pitched whistle that groundhogs emit to warn the rest of a colony about danger. And contrary to what you might think, the name woodchuck has nothing to do with wood. It's derived⁶ from the Algonquian name for the animal, wuchak. A big enough groundhog could nevertheless chuck some wood.

2、如上所述，土拨鼠是一种旱獭。因此你可以准确地说，“嘿，那只旱獭看见了自已的影子。”因所在地不同，你也可以将其称为“扔木鼠”、“口哨猪”或“陆海狸”。“口哨猪”这个名字来源于土拨鼠发出的高音哨声，这一声音旨在为群体同类警示危险。可能与大家猜想的相反，“扔木鼠”这个名字与木头无关。而是来源于土拨鼠的阿尔冈琴语名字“wuchak”。足够大的土拨鼠确实可以扔木头。

3. Male and female groundhogs tend to occupy the same territories, year after year. Females generally keep to themselves, with only around a 10 percent overlap⁷ during the late spring, as they try to expand their home ranges. Males also tend to avoid other males, but they have much larger home ranges. Their territories can overlap with as many as three females' territories.

3、雄性土拨鼠和雌性土拨鼠都喜欢年复一年地占据同一块领地。雌性一般守在领地中，只有在晚春试图扩大活动范围时，它们的领地才会有约10%的重叠。雄性也倾向于避开其它雄性，但它们的活动范围要大得多。它们的领地可以与多达三只雌性的领地重叠。

4. Infant groundhogs are usually born around mid-April. And after just two or three months, they're ready to set off on their own. But around a third of juvenile⁸ females stay at home for nearly a year, right up until Mom gives birth to the next litter of babies. While Dad has his own burrow⁹ elsewhere, he visits each of his mates' burrows¹⁰ every day until the infants disperse¹¹.

4、小土拨鼠通常在4月中旬左右出生。两三个月后，它们们就准备独自出发离开了。但是大约三分之一的年轻雌性会在家里待将近一年的时间，直到土拨鼠妈妈生下另一窝宝宝。而土拨鼠爸爸在别的地方有自己的洞穴，它每天都会去拜访配偶们的洞穴，直到后代离开。

5. Groundhogs salute¹² each other with a unique greeting. Groundhog number one approaches and touches his or her nose to the mouth of groundhog number two. Scientists call this behavior "naso-oral contact."

5、土拨鼠用独特的方式打招呼。土拨鼠会靠近并用鼻子触碰同类的嘴。科学家将这种行为为“鼻口接触”。

6. The animals might be called groundhogs, but they are quite adept¹³ at climbing trees. So next time you're in groundhog territory, look up!

6、这些动物可能被称为“地猪”，但它们非常擅长爬树。所以，下次进入土拨鼠领地的时候，要向上看！

7. When it comes to accurately predicting the weather, the famous Punxsutawney Phil has been correct only around 36 percent of the time since 1969. That's according to an analysis by meteorologists from Weather Underground. You'd have a higher rate of accuracy by simply flipping¹⁵ a coin. But nobody's gonna come to Punxsutawney to watch a coin flip¹⁴.

7、说到准确预测天气，自1969年以来，著名的土拨鼠“菲尔”的预测正确率只有36%左右。这是“地下气象”网站的气象学家的分析结果。简单地扔硬币就能获得更高的准确率。但没人会去旁苏托尼看扔硬币。

"You want a prediction about the weather, you're asking the wrong, Phil."

“要是你想预测天气，那可是问错人了，菲尔。”（电影《土拨鼠日》片段）

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。