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伟大的动物迁徙

 婺江渔人 2010-11-26

1.Tens of millions of bison once rumbled across the Great Plains on a quest for grazing. By the late 1800s nearly all had been slaughtered. Today most of the half million remaining bison are in captivity, like these on the Triple U ranch in South Dakota.

1.曾几何时,数千头北美野牛轰隆隆地跨越北美中西部大平原设法寻找牧草。到1800年代后期,几乎所有野牛都被屠杀了。今天,残存的五十万头野牛大都像南达科塔Triple U 牧场的这些野牛一样被圈养。

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2.Millions of monarch butterflies travel to ancestral winter roosts in Mexico's shrinking mountain fir forests. Surfing winds from southern Canada and the northern U.S., they travel thousands of miles, taking directional cues from the sun.

2.数百万只王蝶前往祖传的冬季栖息地——正在退缩的墨西哥冷杉林。它们以太阳为方向标,从加拿大南部和美国北部随风飞越数千公里。

3.Pronghorn run fast—upwards of 60 miles an hour—but they rarely jump fences. Some ranchers plan to raise the lowest fence strands so pronghorn, like these near Medicine Hat, Alberta, can more easily slip under during their winter migration.


3.叉角羚跑的快——每小时60英里(约97公里)以上——但是它们很少跳栅栏。一些牧场主计划提高最低栅栏索,以便在冬季迁徙期间,如亚伯达梅蒂逊哈市附近的这些叉角羚能更容易从下面溜过去。

4.She's given an insect to one of her nestlings, but now this black-capped vireo mother has two more hungry mouths to feed. In spring some5,000 breeding pairs of the endangered bird leave western Mexico to build their nests in shin oak trees on the Fort Hood military base in Texas.

  

4.这只黑头绿鹃妈妈已经喂了一只昆虫给自己一只未离巢的雏鸟,现在她又多了两张嗷嗷待哺的小鸟。每年春天,约有5000对处在繁殖期的这种濒危鸟类离开墨西哥西部,前往德克萨斯州明德堡军事基地,在灰橡树中筑巢。

5.Worn like a backpack, a tiny plastic geolocator helps map bobolinks on their 12,000-mile flight from the grasslands and rice fields of Bolivia and Argentina to North America, including a stopover along the Platte River in Nebraska (above). If a male bobolink hears another male calling in his territory, he'll chase the intruder away. So researchers who want to tag males with geolocators catch them by playing a recording of a male's call, which to human ears sounds like the chirps of R2-D2, the robot of Star Wars fame.

5.一个像旧背包一样的小塑料地理定位器帮助描绘了食米鸟从玻利维亚和阿根廷的草地和稻田飞到北美,长达12,000英里(约19312公里)的飞行图,其中包括中途在内布拉斯加州普拉特河沿岸停留(上图)。如果一只雄性食米鸟听见另一只雄性在自己的地盘鸣叫,它会把入侵者赶走。因此想给雄性食米鸟上地理定位器标牌的研究人员通过播放雄鸟的叫声抓住它们,那声音听起来像《星际大战》成名机器人R2-D2的啾啾声。

6.A border wall along the lower Rio Grande in Texas divides nations as well as habitats, hindering essential daily movements of animals in the area. Bobcats would normally cross the border to find mates or catch dinner—this one caught a rat. The wall also blocks the daily rounds of ocelots, another member of the cat family.

6.沿德克萨斯格兰德河下游的边境墙分割了国家,也分割了栖息地,阻碍了这个地区动物的日常基本活动。山猫一般要跨越边境去寻找配偶或捕捉食物——这一只山猫捉住的是一只老鼠。隔离墙还妨碍了另一种猫族成员豹猫的日常活动。

7.Half a million sandhill cranes pause on the Platte River in Nebraska to fatten up on corn waste, worms, and other food in nearby fields. The break occurs on their spring flight from Mexico and the southern U.S. to breeding grounds in the far north.

7.五十万只沙丘鹤在内布拉斯加州的普拉特河上停留,寻觅附近田里剩下的玉米、蠕虫和其它食物,给自己增加脂肪。这种短暂的停留发生在春天,它们从墨西哥和美国南部飞往遥远的北方繁殖地的途中。

8.Mountain goats in Montana's Glacier National Park may travel thousands of feet a day—vertically. This one descended a sheer rock wall to lick salt and other exposed minerals. Nutrients that aren't as available during the long winter may trigger the hankering.

8.美国蒙大纳冰川国家公园的北美野山羊每天能垂直旅行数公里。这只山羊下到一处峻峭的崖壁,舔食盐和其它裸露的矿物质。在漫长的冬季,营养物不那么容易得到,就有可能引发山羊的这种渴望。

9.Red-vested rattler wranglers with the Shortgrass Rattlesnake Association show off western diamondbacks they collected for the 45th annual Mangum Rattlesnake Derby in Mangum, Oklahoma. Thousands of people flock to the April event, where they can check out the snake pits and sample rattlesnake meat. Yes, it tastes like chicken. But, says Keith Kendall (center), it also "compares to frog legs. It's got a good flavor to it."

9.矮草响尾蛇协会穿红背心的牧蛇人在炫耀他们为在俄克拉荷马曼格姆第四十五届年度曼格姆响尾蛇比赛而收集的西部菱斑响尾蛇。这个四月的活动云集了数千人。在那里,他们能探访蛇窖,品尝响尾蛇肉。是的,它的味道像鸡。但是,基思·肯德尔(中)说,它也“堪比青蛙腿,味道很好。”

10.Out of hibernation—and hungry—many species of snakes follow the same scent trails year after year, no matter the obstacles. A western cottonmouth didn't survive the trip across a levee road in Illinois.

10.冬眠醒来,不管路上有什么障碍,许多种饥饿的蛇都年复一年地走着气味相同的道路。一条西部棉口蛇在穿越伊利诺斯一条河堤路的旅途中未能幸存下来。

11.Do dams impede the migration of bull trout in northern Montana? Genetic sampling allows technicians to ascertain a fish's birth stream. Some fish are radio-tagged, moved above a dam, and tracked to find out if they return to their birthplaces to spawn. Kevin Duffy (above), a fisheries technician with Avista Utilities, monitors two fish in the Vermillion River that didn't complete the journey to their natal streams. Duffy thinks they may have been thwarted by low water levels.

11.水坝妨碍蒙大纳北部欧鳟的迁徙吗?基因取样使技术人员得以查明一种鱼的出生河流。有些在水坝上活动的鱼被安上了无线电标签,可以追踪查看它们是否返回出生地产卵。Avista Utilities的一位渔业技术员凯文·达菲(上图)在监测弗米利恩河没有完成返回它们出生溪流的两条鱼。达菲认为是低水位击败了它们。

12.In the summer bull trout forge 50 miles upstream from Lake Koocanusa to spawn in the Wigwam River drainage in British Columbia. The cool, clear waters with loose gravel beds hold some 2,000 bull trout nests, among the highest concentration in the world.

12.夏天,欧鳟从Koocanusa湖逆流而上50英里(约80.4公里),到不列颠哥伦比亚威格沃姆河产卵。凉爽清澈的河水,还有松散的碎石河床拥有2000外欧鳟巢穴,是世界上欧鳟巢穴最密集的地方。

13.Gas drilling projects, such as Jonah Field, impede pronghorn migration, and new homes restrict corridors to no more than a few hundred yards wide in places.

13.乔纳气田这样的天然气钻探项目妨碍了叉角羚的迁徙,一些地方的新住房把叉角羚走廊缩小到不足几百米宽。

14.Mexican free-tailed bats spiral out of Eckert James River Bat Cave Preserve in Texas at dusk. The bats are hungry for pests like corn earworm moths—nutrition to keep milk flowing for their pups. Every spring millions of free-tails return to this cave.

14.黄昏时刻,墨西哥的无尾蝙蝠从德克萨斯州艾克特·詹姆士河蝙蝠洞自然保护区盘旋而出。蝙蝠喜欢吃玉米棉铃虫蛾——一种使喂养小蝙蝠的乳汁不断流淌的营养品。每年春天,有数百万只无尾蝙蝠返回这个洞穴。

15.Horse Hollow wind farm near Abilene, Texas, one of the world's largest, has more than 400 turbines. The turbines' spinning blades cause a drop in air pressure, which can kill bats.

15.德克萨斯州阿比林附近的Horse Hollow风电厂是世界最大的风电厂之一,拥有四百多个涡轮机。涡轮机旋转的刀片导致风压下降,可能杀死蝙蝠。

16.These 32 bats and four songbirds represent an average yearly toll for each of the 23 turbines at a Pennsylvania wind farm. Raptors like the red-tailed hawk (top left) are rare victims.

16.这三十二只蝙蝠和四只黄莺代表了宾夕法尼亚一家风电厂每个涡轮机每年造成的平均死亡数(该电厂共有23个涡轮机)。像红尾鹰这样的猛禽是罕见的牺牲品。

17.Thousands of sandhill cranes roost on the Platte River during their annual migratory stopover at the Rowe Sanctuary near Gibbon, Nebraska. With water in the river fully appropriated for urban areas and agriculture, many wonder how long it will be until the Platte runs dry. Some 600,000 to 800,000 cranes use just a few miles of the river in central Nebraska—areas that have been mechanically cleared of the woody vegetation that the birds can't tolerate.

17.年度迁徙途中的数千只沙丘鹤在内布拉斯加州吉本附近的罗保护区停留,栖息在普拉特河上。由于河水完全供城市地区和农业使用,许多人想知道,还有多长时间普拉特会流干。约600,000至800,000只沙丘鹤只能使用位于内布拉斯加中部的几公里河流——人们已经用机械清理了这个地区的木本植被,使鸟类无法忍受。

18.Cowbirds are caught in a trap at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas. The females will be killed and the males will be kept to lure other birds. The eradication of cowbirds has been going on for a while here in an effort to study the effect of their parasitism on endangered birds such as the black-capped vireo and the golden-cheeked warbler.

18.德克萨斯基林附近明德堡,被网住的燕八哥。雌鸟将被宰杀,而雄鸟将保留下来用于诱惑其它鸟。在这里,根除燕八哥的活动已经进行了一段时间,目的是研究它们对黑头绿鹃和金颊莺之类濒危鸟类的寄生影响。

19.Caught in a mist net along Nebraska's Platte River, a female bobolink will be tagged with a geolocator and released. When the bird is recaptured months from now, data from the geolocator will give researchers its migratory path.

19.内布拉斯加州普拉特河沿岸的雾网抓住了一只雌性食米鸟,它将被装上带有地理定位器的标签,然后放飞。几个月以后,当这只鸟被重新捕捉到时,来自地理定位器的数据将为研究人员描绘出它迁徙的路径。

20.The Spring Creek Prairie Audubon Center in Denton, Nebraska, is home to red-headed woodpeckers (above), among other birds and wildlife.

20.内布拉斯加丹顿的斯普林顿草原奥杜邦中心是红头啄木鸟(上图)及其它鸟类和野生动物的家。

21.An interior least tern tends her nest at a mine along the Platte River near Fremont, Nebraska. The birds are listed as endangered in the U.S.; many mine companies halt work during the nesting seasons of rare birds. This area is slated to become a housing development in the next few years.

21.一只最小的燕鸥在内布拉斯加弗里蒙特附近普拉特河沿岸照料她建在一个矿场的窝。这种鸟被列为美国濒危物种;在珍稀鸟类筑巢季节,许多矿业公司停工。未来几年,这个地区即将成为房产开发区。

22.Monarch butterflies cover every inch of a tree in Sierra Chincua, Mexico. Millions of monarchs migrate here every year to spend the winter. The cool mountain climate slows their metabolism.

22.墨西哥Sierra Chincua,王蝶覆盖了一棵树的每寸树干。每年有数百万只王蝶来这里过冬。寒冷的山区气候能减缓它们的新陈代谢。

23.The Maxwell Game Preserve near Canton, Kansas, supports a herd of some 200 bison.

23.堪萨斯州Canton附近的马克斯韦尔禁猎区供养了一群约200头北美野牛。

24.More than 40,000 people attended the 2010 Mangum Rattlesnake Derby in Mangum, Oklahoma. Among the attractions: a snake pit with several hundred western diamondback rattlesnakes.

24.四万多人参加了2010年在俄克拉荷马曼古姆举行的曼古姆响尾蛇比赛。其中景点有:拥有几百条西部菱斑响尾蛇的蛇窖。

25.Bison have room to roam at the Triple U Buffalo Ranch near Fort Pierre, South Dakota. The ranch's 2,000 head of bison go from pasture to pasture over 50,000 acres, traveling about 18 miles total every year.

25.北美野牛在南达科塔皮埃尔堡垒附近的Triple U野牛牧场漫游。该牧场的2000头野牛每年从一个牧场走到另一个牧场,跨越50000英亩(约202平方公里),行程总共约18英里(约29公里)。

文见:[国家地理]探秘:动物迁徙之谜

 

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