侏罗纪搏击俱乐部 第14期:近亲繁殖的副作用

 　　When it comes to attacking an adversary¹, the sexes were probably different.

　　在向对手的攻击上两性之间可能不同。

　　The male refined his hunting skills to capture prey² or suitable mate.

　　雄性通过捕食猎物和追求配偶来完善自己的狩猎技巧。

　　But like modern birds and reptiles³, the mother was probably more of a defensive⁴ fighter, used to protect her offspring.

　　不过就像现代鸟类和爬行类一样，母亲可能会是更具防御性的战士，它们要保护幼崽。

　　Male Majungasaurus may have these skills for the ritual combat to fight over access to female's territory.

　　雄性玛君龙可能可以通过博斗仪式进入雌性的领地。

　　The females might have one situation where they have advantage.

　　雌性也可能有一项优势。

　　It's going to know how to defend its young and it's gonna fight pretty savagely⁵.

　　它懂得如何保护幼崽而且它会异常凶猛。

　　Now if the female was actually defending its young, then the attendant sense changes the equation，要是雌性是在保护幼崽，这种母性会改变情况，and consequently the intensity⁶ of battle might be different.

　　博斗的激烈程度会大幅度增加。

　　At that point, the intensity wouldn't be just about a meal or about territory, it would be about her heritage, her genes⁷ and her future.

　　在这种情况下，激烈程度已经不再是仅仅因为食物或是领地，而是为了它的传承、基因和未来。

　　The female is gonna want to save her life.

　　雌性当然不想丧命。

　　If she has offspring nearby, she may fight to the death.

　　要是幼崽就在附近，它会殊死搏斗。

　　If the young is not there, she's gonna leave because she needs to protect her ability to reproduce.

　　要是幼崽不在，它也许会溜之大吉，毕竟要保证自己的繁殖机会。

　　I think if you throw a young Majungasaurus, which the female is going to try to protect him to the nest,我觉得要是加上一头小玛君龙，雌性会尽力在巢穴里保护它，you kind of change things around a bit and she's maybe not going to leave before the fight is done.

　　这在一定程度上产生了变化，在战斗结束之前，它可能不会离开。

　　She's not gonna abandon the fight if she feels her offspring is going to be in danger.

　　要是它感觉幼崽有危险，它就不会放弃战斗。

　　She'll fight for that offspring.

　　它是为它们的孩子而战。

　　Life on Madagascar was a struggle for an adult Majungasaurus.

　　对于成年玛君龙来说在马达加斯加岛上的生活并不容易。

　　But survival for a juvenile⁸ was nearly impossible without protection from an adult.

　　要是没有成年玛君龙的保护，幼崽几乎不可能生存下来。

　　Being confined on the island of Madagascar in the late Cretaceous was pretty tough.

　　在白垩纪的末期，被限制在马达加斯加岛上很艰难。

　　Because what it did is it took all of dinosaurs⁹ and forced them into a very small area.

　　因为有那么多的恐龙被迫生活在一个狭小的空间。

　　So unlike the animals on the mainland where the female could leave the juvenile unattended while she hunted.

　　所以跟在大陆上的动物不同，那里的雌性可以在狩猎时离开幼崽。

　　On Madagascar, because all these animals were confined in such a small place.

　　而在马达加斯加岛，因为在这个小地方里有那么多动物。

　　It was much more likely that somebody would happen across these babies.

　　这些幼崽更可能被其它动物遇到。

　　And when you are an unprotected baby, there's a tremendous amount of danger.

　　对于没有保护的幼崽这可是天大的危险。

　　In the dark dense¹⁰ forests of Madagascar, danger came in many forms, but one in particular.

　　在马达加斯加岛阴暗浓密的森林里危险有多种形式，不过有一种尤为严重。

　　Isolationism had them effect that could have turned this paradise into a prison, even a death sentence.

　　与世隔绝产生的效果能够将这里的天堂变成监狱，甚至带来死亡。

　　On an island where you are separated from others, it means the chances of meeting mate from the opposite sex are reduced.

　　在一个岛上，跟大陆的同类被分开，这意味着遇到异性进行交配的几率大幅度降低。

　　And more importantly, it means that those that you meet, you can very well be very closely related to, so the number one problem is inbreed.

　　更重要的是，这意味着遇到的有可能是近亲，所以最大的问题是近亲繁殖。

　　And with inbreeding comes a couple of very nasty side effects,近亲繁殖会有一些很糟糕的副作用，

　　like, you have less of tolerance¹¹ of disease, your bone structure could be weaker, you are a lot more susceptible¹² to early death.

　　比如说对疾病的抵抗力降低，骨质结构变弱，早夭的可能大幅度增加。

　　But the number one problem with inbreeding is that a possibility of creating mutations exist.

　　不过近亲繁殖的最大问题是由此带来的突变的可能。

　　Majungasaurus may have had that ugly face because it was the end result of inbreeding.

　　玛君龙的那张丑脸就有可能是近亲繁殖的结果。

 

1 adversary   

adj.敌手，对手

参考例句：

• He saw her as his main adversary within the company.他将她视为公司中主要的对手。
• They will do anything to undermine their adversary's reputation.他们会不择手段地去损害对手的名誉。

2 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

3 reptiles   

n.爬行动物，爬虫( reptile的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snakes and crocodiles are both reptiles. 蛇和鳄鱼都是爬行动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Birds, reptiles and insects come from eggs. 鸟类、爬虫及昆虫是卵生的。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

5 savagely   

adv. 野蛮地，残酷地

参考例句：

• The roses had been pruned back savagely. 玫瑰被狠狠地修剪了一番。
• He snarled savagely at her. 他向她狂吼起来。

6 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

7 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

8 juvenile   

n.青少年，少年读物；adj.青少年的，幼稚的

参考例句：

• For a grown man he acted in a very juvenile manner.身为成年人，他的行为举止显得十分幼稚。
• Juvenile crime is increasing at a terrifying rate.青少年犯罪正在以惊人的速度增长。

9 dinosaurs   

n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 )；守旧落伍的人，过时落后的东西

参考例句：

• The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

11 tolerance   

n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差

参考例句：

• Tolerance is one of his strengths.宽容是他的一个优点。
• Human beings have limited tolerance of noise.人类对噪音的忍耐力有限。

12 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。