圖文閱讀:冬日•野趣

Badge of maturity,12-tined antlers crown a lordly bull elk in Yellowstone; they serve also as formidable weapons. Breaking through snow to find food, this bull elk has added a white mask to his face and frosting to his antlers.

黃石國家公園裏的公糜鹿，頂着它成熟的標誌——富有貴族氣質的12叉鹿角；這些鹿角還是它們的令人望而生畏的武器。由於要鑽入雪中尋找食物，這隻公糜鹿臉上戴上了“白色面具”，鹿角上也結起了霜凍。

Looking every bit the baritonea male bearded seal lolls in the sun. As his whiskers dry, they will curl toward his reddish face, stained from iron in the mud where he feeds. Males are known for their melodic trills, which travel many miles underwater. We suspect that these songs, as well as exuberant bubble displays, could be used to attract mates or to defend underwater territories.”

我們仔細看看這“男中音” ——這隻長着鬍鬚的雄海豹懶洋洋地躺在太陽底下。當它的鬍鬚乾的時候，會捲曲在紅臉周圍。因爲深入土中覓食，它的臉有着像鐵鏽般的顏色。雄性海豹能發出的有旋律的顫音，在水下能傳播數裏。我們推測這些歌聲和大量的泡沫，能夠用來吸引異性或者防衛水下領土。

A bear shakes off after a swim. Sea ice melts in summer. Without ice for a platform they cannot hunt seals, their main prey—and so they fast, eating almost nothing until ice forms in autumn.

一隻熊游泳過後在甩幹水珠。夏季，海上冰雪消融，沒有冰面作爲平臺，它們就無法捕食它們最主要的食物來源－海豹，所以，它們幾乎不吃什麼東西，禁食直到秋季冰塊再次成型。

These Siberian tigers are part of the Siberian Tiger Project, which developed a habitat-protection plan that classifies areas according to their ability to sustain tigers in the wild.

這些西伯利亞虎是西伯利亞虎計劃的一部分。這個計劃推出了一個環保計劃，即根據習性，對西伯利亞虎，分區域進行野生飼養。

A trumpeter swan glides across the surface of the Yellowstone River. Trumpeter swans once faced extinction; today their numbers are rebounding.

一隻號聲天鵝滑過黃石河河面。號聲天鵝一度瀕臨滅絕，不過現在，它們的數量正有所上升。

A Utah prairie dog emerges to forage in spring snow. Though not completely dormant during the winter, prairie dogs return to activity and aboveground life in earnest in spring.

一隻猶他土撥鼠出現在春雪過後的草料堆上。儘管它們在冬天不是完全冬眠，但土撥鼠要到春天才真正開始它們的陸上活動。

Reclining but alert, a gray wolf lies in new-fallen snow in the InterNational Wolf Center’s live enclosure. The institution promotes knowledge about wolves’ ecology and their relationship with humans and the land.

臥着休息卻始終保持警惕，“國際狼中心”生態區的一隻大灰狼臥在剛下過雪的地上。這個機構對狼的生態學以及它與人類和土地的關係進行研究。


A lone red fox picks through the snow in Yellowstone National Park. Unlike the pack-forming gray wolves in the park, red foxes are solitary and occupy home ranges that may be shared with only one or two members of the opposite *.

一隻紅狐在黃石國家公園的雪地裏覓食。不像公園裏羣居的狼羣，紅狐們獨來獨往，而且只和一到兩個異性伴侶分享自己所佔據的領地。

Bison dot a Yellowstone snowscape，some sweeping the drifts aside with their heads to uncover vegetation.A thick mantle of hair over their forequarters and heads and a heavy coat over their hindquarters allow bison to keep warm in harsh winter temperatures.

黃石公園雪景上點綴着一些野牛。有些正埋頭刨出被蓋住的植物。覆蓋了頭部和前半身的濃密的毛髮，和腿部以及臀部野的厚重的皮毛，讓它們在氣候惡劣的冬季得以生存。

“Lapland knows no fixed boundaries; it extends across arctic Sweden, Norway, and Finland into Russia. … The mountain Lapps depend on their reindeer for a livelihood, much as their forebears did more than a thousand years ago, and cling to many age-old customs in their seasonal pursuit of pasturelands.”

拉普蘭地區以無確定的邊界聞名；它涵蓋了瑞典、挪威、芬蘭以及俄國的北極圈地區。拉普蘭山裏人和他們一千多年前的祖先一樣，靠他們的馴鹿謀生，堅持着古老的遊牧生活的習俗。