Within the 310,000 acres of Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, one of the largest parking lots is in the village of Colter Bay. [qh]
美国怀俄明州大提顿国家公园占地31万英亩,美国最大的停车场之一就位于这里的科尔特湾村
Beyond the lot’s far edge, nestled among some trees, is a foul-smelling sewage-pumping station that Jesse Barber, a sensory ecologist at Boise State University, calls the Shiterator. [qh]
在这个停车场的远处,树木之间坐落着一个臭气熏天的污水抽水站,博伊西州立大学的感官生态学家杰西·巴伯将其称为Shiterator
On this particular night, sitting quietly within a crevice beneath the building’s metal awning and illuminated by Barber’s flashlight, is a little brown bat. [qh]
在这个特殊的夜晚,一只棕色的小蝙蝠被巴伯的手电筒照亮了,它安静地坐在这栋建筑的金属雨篷下的缝隙里
A white device the size of a rice grain is attached to the bat’s back. [qh]
一个米粒大小的白色装置附着在这只蝙蝠的背上
“That’s the radio tag,” Barber tells me. [qh]
“那是无线追踪器,”巴伯告诉我
He’d previously affixed it to the bat so that he could track its movements, and tonight he has returned to tag a few more.[qh]
他之前把无线追踪器固定在蝙蝠上,这样他就可以追踪蝙蝠的活动,今晚他又回来标记了几只蝙蝠
From inside the machine, I can hear the chirps of other roosting bats.[qh]
从机器内部,我能听到其他栖息的蝙蝠的叫声
As the sun sets, they start to emerge. [qh]
当太阳落山时,它们开始出现
A few bats become entangled in the large net Barber has strung between two trees.[qh]
几只蝙蝠被巴伯悬挂在两棵树之间的大网缠住了
He frees a bat, and Hunter Cole, one of his students, carefully examines it to check that it’s healthy and heavy enough to carry a tag. [qh]
他放了一只蝙蝠,他的学生亨特·科尔仔细检查了蝙蝠是否健康以及是否够重,可以装上追踪器
Once satisfied, Cole daubs a spot of surgical cement between its shoulder blades and attaches the tiny device. [qh]
一旦满足这个条件,科尔就会在蝙蝠的肩胛骨之间涂抹一点外科粘固粉,然后把这个小装置连接起来
“It’s a little bit of an art project, the tagging of a bat,” Barber tells me. [qh]
“这有点像一个艺术项目,给一只蝙蝠装上追踪器,”巴伯告诉我
After a few minutes, Cole places the bat on the trunk of the nearest tree.[qh]
几分钟后,科尔把这只蝙蝠放在最近一棵树的树干上
It crawls upward and takes off, carrying $175 worth of radio equipment into the woods.[qh]
蝙蝠会爬上去,然后飞走,带着价值175美元的无线电设备进了树林
I watch as the team examines another bat, which opens its mouth and exposes its surprisingly long teeth. [qh]
我看到这个小组在检查另一只蝙蝠,把蝙蝠的嘴巴张开,露出它长得惊人的牙齿
This isn’t an aggressive display; it only looks like one.[qh]
这并不是一种好斗的表现; 它只是看起来像而已
The bat is unleashing a stream of short, ultrasonic pulses from its mouth, which are too high-pitched for me to hear.[qh]
蝙蝠正从嘴巴里发出一束短促的超声波脉冲,超声波的音调太高,我听不到
Bats, however, can hear ultrasound, and by listening for the returning echoes, they can detect and locate objects around them.[qh]
然而,蝙蝠却能听到超声波,通过接收传回的回声,它们可以探测和定位周围的物体
Echolocation is the primary means through which most bats navigate and hunt. [qh]
回声定位是大多数蝙蝠找到行进方向和捕猎的主要手段
Only two animal groups are known to have perfected the ability: toothed whales (such as dolphins, orcas, and sperm whales) and bats. [qh]
目前已知只有两种动物类群将这一能力发挥到极致:齿鲸类动物(如海豚、虎鲸和抹香鲸)和蝙蝠类动物
Echolocation differs from human senses because it involves putting energy into the environment. [qh]
回声定位不同于人类的感官,因为它涉及到向环境中传输能量
Eyes scan, noses sniff, and fingers press, but these sense organs are always picking up stimuli that already exist in the wider world. [qh]
眼睛可以浏览,鼻子可以闻味,手指可以按压,但这些感觉器官总是在捕捉已经存在于广阔世界的刺激
By contrast, an echolocating bat creates the stimulus that it later detects.[qh]
相比之下,使用回声定位的蝙蝠产生了稍后会被探测到的刺激
Echolocation is a way of tricking your surroundings into revealing themselves.[qh]
回声定位是一种欺骗周围动物,让周围动物暴露自己的方法
A bat says “Marco,” and its surroundings can’t help but say “Polo.”[qh]
一只蝙蝠说“马可”,它周围的动物也会忍不住说“波罗”