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Hi, everyone! Jessi here. I hope you've all been — Hi, Squeaks! What's going on?
嗨，大家好！我是杰茜，希望大家……哦，嘿，吱吱，咋啦？
Whoa, no way you saw what? That's amazing!
哇，不可能，你说你看到了啥？太不可思议了！
Squeaks was just saying that he saw a really strange insect today.
吱吱刚刚说他今天看到了一只很奇怪的昆虫。
He said that it was a black beetle that was pushing a big ball of dirt.
他说那是一只在推着一个大泥球的黑甲虫。
Oh, do I know what it is? Well, I think I do… and you're never going to believe it.
哦，我知道它吗？嗯，我想我知道……你们不会信的。
That insect you saw was called a dung beetle. Dung beetles are… well, they're a kind of beetle!
你看到的那只昆虫叫屎壳郎，屎壳郎就是……嗯，就是一种甲虫。
Like other insects, beetles have six legs and two pairs of wings.
和其他昆虫一样，甲虫有六条腿和两对翅膀。
But their wings are kind of strange. One pair is hard and sturdy, and it covers the back part of their bodies like a shield.
但它们的翅膀有点奇怪，其中一对翅膀很坚硬，就像盾牌一样覆盖在它们的身体后部。
Then, underneath them is a second pair of wings that the beetles flap to fly around.
然后，另一对翅膀在它们身下，甲虫会拍打着翅膀四处飞行。
Beetles are one of the biggest groups of animals. There are more than 350,000 kinds of beetle around the world!
甲虫是最大的动物群体之一，全世界有超过35万种甲虫。
You're right, Squeaks — that's a huge number!
没错，吱吱，这个数字很大！
Now beetles in general are cool, but dung beetles are especially cool.
总的来说，甲虫很酷，而屎壳郎呢，尤其酷。
They're a specific kind of beetle, and they live all over the world — on every continent except Antarctica.
它们是一种特殊的甲虫，它们生活在世界各地——除了南极洲。
And most of them are pretty small — not more than a few centimeters long.
它们中大多都非常小，身长不超过几厘米。
Dung beetles come in all kinds of colors, from black to shiny green.
屎壳郎有各种各样的颜色，有黑色、亮绿色等。
And they have body parts that you can use to tell them apart from some other beetles!
你从它们的身体部位就能把它们和其他甲虫区分开来。
Like, they have horns on the front of their heads!
比如，它们的头前面有角，
Dung beetles use these horns to fight each other for things like food or to fight over a mate — that's someone they want to have babies with.
屎壳郎用这些角互相争斗以获取食物或争夺它们想要与之生育后代的配偶。
Dung beetles also have strong wings, which they use to fly around looking for — well, again, for food!
屎壳郎也有强壮的翅膀，它们用翅膀飞来飞去寻找~依旧是食物！
And finally, dung beetles have really strong legs. In fact, they're some of the strongest animals in the world for their size!
最后，屎壳郎的腿非常强壮。其实，就体型而言，它们是世界上最强壮的动物之一！
I know, Squeaks! I haven't forgotten about that ball you saw your dung beetle pushing around.
我知道 吱吱 我没有忘记你说的那只屎壳郎推来推去的球。
Do you have any ideas about what that was? I'll give you a hint: It wasn't dirt.
你知道那是什么吗？给你个提示：不是泥
Hm, mud is a pretty good guess. But mud is just wet dirt and soil.
嗯 泥巴是个很不错的猜测 但泥巴只是潮湿的泥和土
I'll give you one more hint: Think about why dung beetles might be called dung beetles.
再给你个提示：想想为什么屎壳郎会被称为屎壳郎。
Exactly! That ball you saw the beetle pushing was made of dung. And dung is just another word for poop!
没错！你看到甲虫推的那个球就是粪便 “dung”其实是便便的另一种说法
When a dung beetle is flying around looking for food, it usually isn't looking for seeds or fruit — foods lots of other animals eat.
当一只屎壳郎飞来飞去寻找食物时 它通常不是在寻找种子或水果——这些都是其他动物吃的食物。
Instead, it's looking for poop from bigger animals, like cows!
相反，它在寻找更大的动物的粪便，比如奶牛的粪便
When a dung beetle is exploring, it might come across a big pile of poop from a cow.
当一只屎壳郎在探索的时候，它可能会遇到一大堆奶牛的粪便。
And when it finds one, it will take some of that poop, form it into a nice, round ball, and then roll it away!
当它找到粪便时，它会把粪便弄成一个漂亮的圆球，然后把它滚走！
Oh, great question, Squeaks. Because you're right: Touching poop isn't something we should do because it has all sorts of germs that could get us sick.
哦 问得好 吱吱 因为你是对的：触摸便便不是我们应该做的事情，因为它含有各种可能让我们生病的细菌。
So what are dung beetles doing with cow poop? Well, lots of things!
那么屎壳郎用牛粪做什么呢？嗯，很多事情！
Once they have a dung ball, they'll roll it over to the tunnels where they live.
一旦它们有了粪球，它们就会把粪球滚到它们住的隧道里。
And once they're there, they might bury the ball to save it for later,
到了隧道之后，它们可能会把粪球埋起来以备以后使用，
or a female dung beetle might lay her eggs in the ball — kind of like how birds lay their eggs in nests made of sticks and grass.
或者雌性屎壳郎会在粪球里产卵——有点像鸟类在树枝和草做的巢里产卵。
But the biggest thing dung beetles do is eat that poop!
但是粪便对屎壳郎最大的用处就是：当饭吃！
They suck the liquids out of the dung ball, and that's their biggest source of food.
它们会从粪球中吸取液体，这是它们最大的食物来源。
I see your point! Eating poop isn't something we should do. It's not good for humans — or robot rats!
我明白你的意思！我们不应该吃便便，吃便便对身体不好——不管是对人类来说还是对机器鼠来说。
But dung beetles have been doing this for millions of years, so they don't get sick from it.
但是吃便便在屎壳郎家族里已经传了数百万年了，所以它们不会因为吃便便而生病。
In fact, they get all sorts of good nutrients from the poop!
相反，它们能从粪便中摄取各种营养！
Nutrients are things like vitamins and minerals that help living things grow.
像维生素、矿物质这样的营养物都能帮助生物生长。
If you've ever heard about Vitamin C in oranges or calcium in milk, those are nutrients.
如果你听说过橙子中的维生素C或牛奶中的钙，这些都是营养物质。
Your body uses those things to help build bones and muscles and to keep your whole body healthy.
你的身体会使用这些东西来帮助建立骨骼和肌肉并维持整个身体的健康。
And animals like cows and dung beetles need nutrients, too.
像牛和屎壳郎这样的动物也需要营养。
Animals like cows get their nutrients from eating plants, like grass.
像牛这样的动物会从植物中获取营养，比如草。
But sometimes, their bodies aren't able to get all the nutrients out of their meals.
但有时，它们的身体无法从食物中获得所有的营养。
So some of those good vitamins and minerals travel straight through their bodies and end up in their poop instead!
所以一些好的维生素和矿物质会直接穿过它们的身体，最终进入到它们的粪便里！
And that's when dung beetles show up! By eating poop, they get all the nutrients the bigger animals missed out on.
这时屎壳郎就出现了！通过吃便便，它们获得了大型动物错过的所有的营养。
And that keeps them healthy! They actually depend on the cows to poop so they can get their food!
这能让他们保持健康！他们其实就是靠牛拉的屎来获得食物的！
This is also why female dung beetles lay their eggs in poop!
这也是雌性屎壳郎在粪便中产卵的原因！
When the eggs hatch, little larvae crawl out of them.
当卵孵化时，小屎壳郎会从里面爬出来。
They crawl right onto the poop, so they have a meal waiting for them as soon as they're born!
它们会爬上粪球，所以它们一出生就有一顿饭等着它们吃！
Wow… thanks for asking, Squeaks! I'm so glad we got to talk about dung beetles today!
哇哦……谢谢你的提问，吱吱！很开心今天我们今天能讨论屎壳郎！
If you want to keep having fun and learning new things with Squeaks and me, you can hit the subscribe button. And we'll see you next time here at The Fort!
如果大家想继续和我和吱吱一起享受乐趣，学习新事物，可以点击订阅按钮。咱们下期再见！
