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科学美国人60秒 幼鲸能被海鸥啄死

时间:2022-05-27 02:53:57

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(单词翻译)

Gulls2. You may have noticed that gulls can be pretty aggressive when it comes to grabbing food. But that behavior is more intense than you may know. Some kelp gulls snack on baby whales. Live baby whales.

海鸥!你可能已经注意到,海鸥在吃食物时,会变得非常的凶悍。但是它们那种凶悍度远远超过我们的想象。黑背海鸥竟然吃鲸鱼宝宝!是活生生的鲸鱼宝宝啊!

In the early 1970s, only a handful of southern right whales were fed upon by kelp gulls off the coast of Argentina’s Peninsula Valdez. Back then just two percent of calves3 every year had to suffer at the beaks4 of the gulls, along with some of their mothers.

在20世纪80年代初期,在阿根廷瓦尔迪兹半岛只有少数的南露脊鲸会被黑背鸥吃掉。每只有2%的鲸鱼宝宝和他们的妈妈会遭到黑背鸥的啄食。

But now, 99% of the calves have to contend with hungry gulls driving their hooked beaks deep into their backs, ripping out chunks5 of skin and flesh and blubber, and gobbling it up. The finding is in the journal PLOS ONE.

但是,现在99%的鲸鱼宝宝要与饥饿的海鸥作战,因为这些海鸥会将弯弯的喙深入鲸鱼宝宝的背中,扯下它们的皮、血肉以及鲸脂,然后将这些狼吞虎咽地吃掉。该研究结果发表在《公共科学图书馆》杂志上。

“Each gull1 has its own whale and it protects it.” University of Utah Biologist Victoria Rowntree. “Or maybe two gulls will have its own whale, and they’ll chase off any gulls that come in. And they just sit in the water waiting for the whale to surface again…They’re relentless6.”

“每只海鸥都会有自己要袭击的目标鲸鱼,并会保护自己的猎物。”犹他大学的生物学家朗特里说到。“或者是每两只海鸥会有自己的目标鲸鱼猎物,它们会驱赶其他入侵的海鸥。而这两只海鸥只是停留在水面上目,等待鲸鱼再次浮出水面...海鸥是残酷的。”

Adult whales have learned to arch their backs when they surface to breathe, keeping most of their body away from the hungry gulls. But the newborns can’t do that.

成年鲸鱼在赋税水面呼吸时,已经学会拱背。因为这样可以让大部分身体避开饥饿的海鸥。但是鲸鱼宝宝还不能那样做。

“You can see the mothers getting so annoyed…when finally she’s been able to sleep, and she hasn’t arched her back, and she is isn’t horizontal to the surface, and her calf7 is sleeping next to her and then a gull comes along and BAMMO…I think the study I did in 1998 showed it took 30 minutes for them to return to normal behavior and not do this avoidance behavior.”

“可以看到,鲸鱼妈妈变得非常地生气...因为她们终于能够睡觉了,现在没有在水面上,不需要拱起背了,同时宝宝睡在自己身边,一切是那么的美好,可是正在这时时候,突然,海鸥来了...”我在1998年进行的这项研究表明,鲸鱼们需要30分钟来恢复常态。

More than 600 calves died between 2003 and 2014. Some years at least a fifth of all newborns perished. Researchers wonder if the gulls might be, if not responsible, then at least contributing to the pattern. Rowntree looked at whether the dead calves had more gull-inflicted lesions than those that survived, but she found that all of the youngsters get harassed8.

从2003年到2014年有600多只鲸鱼宝宝死掉了。这些年,至少有1/5的鲸鱼宝宝香消玉损了。研究人员认为,即使海鸥不是凶手,但是也是这种局势的罪魁祸首。朗特里想知道,与存活的鲸鱼宝宝相比,死亡的鲸鱼宝宝身上时候有更多的海鸥骚扰的伤痕,但是朗特里发现所有的幼年宝宝身上都有被骚扰的痕迹。

It’s not that the gulls are evil, of course. They eat to survive. The challenge for these researchers is to come up with ways of protecting the whales, without simply wiping out the gulls.

当然啦,海鸥并不邪恶。它们谋食是为了生存。研究员所面临的难题是在不伤害海鸥的前提下,想出保护鲸鱼的办法。


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1 gull meKzM     
n.鸥;受骗的人;v.欺诈
参考例句:
  • The ivory gull often follows polar bears to feed on the remains of seal kills.象牙海鸥经常跟在北极熊的后面吃剩下的海豹尸体。
  • You are not supposed to gull your friends.你不应该欺骗你的朋友。
2 gulls 6fb3fed3efaafee48092b1fa6f548167     
n.鸥( gull的名词复数 )v.欺骗某人( gull的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • A flock of sea gulls are hovering over the deck. 一群海鸥在甲板上空飞翔。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The gulls which haunted the outlying rocks in a prodigious number. 数不清的海鸥在遥远的岩石上栖息。 来自辞典例句
3 calves bb808da8ca944ebdbd9f1d2688237b0b     
n.(calf的复数)笨拙的男子,腓;腿肚子( calf的名词复数 );牛犊;腓;小腿肚v.生小牛( calve的第三人称单数 );(冰川)崩解;生(小牛等),产(犊);使(冰川)崩解
参考例句:
  • a cow suckling her calves 给小牛吃奶的母牛
  • The calves are grazed intensively during their first season. 小牛在生长的第一季里集中喂养。 来自《简明英汉词典》
4 beaks 66bf69cd5b0e1dfb0c97c1245fc4fbab     
n.鸟嘴( beak的名词复数 );鹰钩嘴;尖鼻子;掌权者
参考例句:
  • Baby cockatoos will have black eyes and soft, almost flexible beaks. 雏鸟凤头鹦鹉黑色的眼睛是柔和的,嘴几乎是灵活的。 来自互联网
  • Squid beaks are often found in the stomachs of sperm whales. 经常能在抹香鲸的胃里发现鱿鱼的嘴。 来自互联网
5 chunks a0e6aa3f5109dc15b489f628b2f01028     
厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 ); (某物)相当大的数量或部分
参考例句:
  • a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
  • Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大,还能再切小一点吗?
6 relentless VBjzv     
adj.残酷的,不留情的,无怜悯心的
参考例句:
  • The traffic noise is relentless.交通车辆的噪音一刻也不停止。
  • Their training has to be relentless.他们的训练必须是无情的。
7 calf ecLye     
n.小牛,犊,幼仔,小牛皮
参考例句:
  • The cow slinked its calf.那头母牛早产了一头小牛犊。
  • The calf blared for its mother.牛犊哞哞地高声叫喊找妈妈。
8 harassed 50b529f688471b862d0991a96b6a1e55     
adj. 疲倦的,厌烦的 动词harass的过去式和过去分词
参考例句:
  • He has complained of being harassed by the police. 他投诉受到警方侵扰。
  • harassed mothers with their children 带着孩子的疲惫不堪的母亲们

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