動物界不為人知的10對"親戚"(2)
do Dragons And Allosaurus
7.科摩多龍和異特龍Nothing matches the cool factor when it comes to the largest lizard currently scaring the planet. The Komodo dragon looks intimidating, has toxic venom, and hunts prey bigger than itself. Now, raise this 3-meter (10 ft) reptile on its hind legs, give it horns, make it dinosaur-sized, and say hello to its cousin, the allosaurus.
説到目前世界上最大的蜥蜴，沒有什麼比科摩多龍更酷的了，它每時每刻都在“恐嚇着”地球上的其他生物。科摩多龍看起來很嚇人，它會分泌毒液，捕食的動物比自身還大。現在，讓這個3米高（10英寸）的爬行動物站起來，給它兩個角，再放大到恐龍的大小，然後給科摩多龍的近親——異特龍打聲招呼吧。
One shared family trait is rather startling: These two super-predators have surprisingly weak jaws for their size. The Komodo's chomping power falls in the range of the domestic house cat, and the ferocious allosaurus most likely had to hack and strip meat out of its living victims, rather than deliver crushing bites. However, dainty jaws weren't a disadvantage during hunting, since evolution endowed them with specialized skulls, strong neck muscles, and cutthroat teeth. In short, they became lethal slashers.
它們有一個令人驚奇的共同點：相比於身型，這兩種巨型食肉動物的下頜都很羸弱。科摩多龍的咀嚼力幾乎和家貓一樣，而兇猛的異特龍不得不把肉從活着的獵物身上撕扯下來，而不是直接一口咬碎獵物。然而，嬌弱的下頜在捕獵過程中並非劣勢，因為自然進化賦予了它們與眾不同的頭骨、強壯的頸部肌肉和鋒利的牙齒。簡言之，它們就是致命的斷木機。
Causing prey to die from large wounds and blood loss is called inertia eating, and the Komodo also uses this tactic, along with poisoning its prey during bites. The Komodo, whom researchers recently discovered originated in Australia as opposed to the Indonesian island of Komodo, even has a mouth with snake-like flexibility, allowing it to cause traumatic damage to a bigger area. Unfortunately for the extreme pet owner, neither is up for regular adoption. The dangers of keeping a Komodo ensure that dogs won't be replaced anytime soon, and cousin Al left the scene around 150 million years ago.
慣性捕食是指讓獵物因傷口較大、失血過多而死亡。科摩多龍用的就是這種戰術，同時還會向獵物的傷口注射毒液。近年來研究人員發現，科摩多龍起源於澳大利亞，而不是印度尼西亞的科摩多島（Komodo）。科摩多龍的嘴甚至能像蛇一樣靈活，這使得它給獵物造成的創傷範圍更大。不幸的是，這對於那些極端的寵物主人來説，將無法正常飼養科摩多龍。養科摩多龍的危險性確保了狗還不會那麼快被取代，而科摩多龍的近親早在1.5億年前就滅絕了。kats And Civet Cats
6.麝香貓和貓鼬
They may have similar names and superb, feline-like agility, but neither meerkats nor civet cats are remotely related to cats. These African carnivores are related to mongooses and weasels, noted for their long, elastic bodies.
雖然麝香貓及貓鼬和貓有相似的名字，也有同樣機靈、敏捷的身形，但其實麝貓和貓鼬都不是貓科動物。這些非洲食肉動物分別屬於靈貓科和獴科動物，以它們長而靈活的小身軀著稱。Meerkat and civet mothers both give birth in underground dens, but their commonalities end there. Meerkats believe that it takes a village to raise a pup, but civets are single mothers who only group together with others during mating season. Civet babies are born rough and ready for the world, fully furred and able to move around. Meerkats are born naked and without their senses.
麝香貓和貓鼬媽媽都喜歡在地下洞穴生寶寶，但它們的共同點也僅此而已。貓鼬認為它需要其他貓鼬跟它一起養育寶寶，但麝香貓是隻在交配季節才和其他同類生活在一起的單身母親。麝香貓寶寶天生比較粗野，適應性好，一身茸毛，還喜歡四處打滾。貓鼬寶寶出生時卻是光禿禿的沒有毛髮，而且沒有感官。Meerkats, who are noted for scanning their environment while standing on their hind feet, as well as a degree of immunity to scorpion venom, are smaller and dull-colored. The nocturnal civet grows more than three times a meerkat's length at about 1.4 meters (4.6 ft) and is a beautifully patterned animal with a bandit face mask and a jaguar-like pelt, which unfortunately makes it a regular hunting target. Meerkats can live up to 13 years, and Civets can live up to 20.
貓鼬因其後腳站立時會掃視周圍的環境，並且對蠍子毒有一定程度的免疫力而聞名，相比麝香貓，它的身形更小，顏色更深。夜間出沒的麝香貓身長是貓鼬的三倍多，約 1.4 米 (4.6 英尺)，長得很漂亮，有一張英氣的臉和一副美洲虎般的毛皮，很不幸這使它成為狩獵目標。貓鼬可以活到13歲，而麝香貓能活到20歲。And Bees
5.螞蟻和蜜蜂
If bees were to attend some kind of taxonomic family reunion, they wouldn't be hanging out with wasps but rather ants. The family line was rearranged when scientists sequenced the insects' genetic material to answer an old question about how they evolved as a group. This group, called the aculeate (stinging) Hymenoptera clade, holds bees, ants, and stinging wasps. The results refuted the belief that ants were more closely related to certain wasps and only a far-off cousin to bees; the reverse turned out to be true, with the exception of digger wasps and mud daubers.
如果蜜蜂參加某種分類學意義的家庭團聚，它們應該和螞蟻，而不是和黃蜂一起。當科學家測出這些昆蟲的遺傳基因，並回答了一個關於它們如何演變成同類這種古老的問題時，它們的家族線已被重新排列。這一類，稱為膜翅目，包含了蜜蜂、 螞蟻和刺人黃蜂。該結果推翻了原先的理論——螞蟻和某類黃蜂有親屬關係，與蜜蜂僅是遠方親戚；事實上，螞蟻和蜜蜂更親近（除了喜歡“挖洞”和“建房”以外）。This new family tree now allows insect-loving scientists to study with more accuracy how reproduction, feeding, and social behavior have evolved within this stinging group, as well as their differences as separate species. The discovery also clarified a fossil that had been hard to place and, as it turned out, was wrongly classified. The Cretaceous Cariridris bipetiolata was thought to be the world's most ancient fossilized ant, but with a new and better understanding of these insects' family placement, it was reassigned as a type of ancestral wasp.
這個新族譜讓喜愛昆蟲的科學家們開始研究它們的繁殖、飼養、社會行為是如何進化成刺人昆蟲的，以及它們作為獨立物種之間的分歧。這一發現也闡明瞭那塊不知如何歸類的化石原來被錯誤地分了類。白堊系（Cariridris Bipetiolata）被認為是世界上最古老的螞蟻化石，但隨着對這些昆蟲家族關係有了更新更好的理解後，它被重新定義為古黃蜂的一種。ns And Woodlice
4.對蝦和鼠婦
Woodlice are small, armadillo-like bugs sometimes kept as pets. Only, they're not bugs at all. They are the land-bound cousins of prawns and crabs. Around 3,500 different types of woodlice scuttle around the planet, making them almost literally a fish out of water—a successful crustacean on land. All they have in common with insects is a tough exoskeleton and that their 14 limbs are jointed.
鼠婦身形嬌小，貌似犰狳，有時也會被當作寵物來養。但有一點，它們根本不是蟲子。鼠婦是對蝦和螃蟹的陸系表親。大概有3500種不同的鼠婦“急速奔跑”在神州大地上，它們如生活在陸地上的魚一般來去自如，是甲殼綱在陸地上的佼佼者。它們與昆蟲唯一的相同之處便是都身披堅硬的“盔甲”，同時又有7對足相連。These “penny pigs” still need constant moisture to survive, perhaps because of their aquatic origins. That's why they are so often found in rotting plant matter. Most species are herbivores, but sometimes one might snack on its own shed skin and excrement, or that of other shedding woodlice. Like most crustaceans, woodlice are edible and have been consumed alive by people who believe that they help with liver diseases. They also contain quite a large amount of calcium carbonate, which makes them a gross sort of antacid if the pharmacy's closed and you really need some.
可能是因為祖先原是水生動物，這種“袖珍蟲”只能生活在潮濕的環境下。這也是為什麼我們常會在朽木下發現它們的身影。大部分種類的鼠婦屬食草動物，但是有些品種則會吃掉自己的褪殼、糞便，或者吃掉其他鼠婦的褪殼。跟其他甲殼綱動物一樣，鼠婦也可食用，並且很多人因為相信鼠婦對治療肝病有療效而生吃鼠婦。不僅如此，它們富含碳酸鈣，可以讓你在出現緊急情況又無藥可買時，用來做抗酸藥。審校：哎呀 校對：落花生 編輯：Freya然
