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Ever look in the mirror first thing in the morning and say, I look like crap!
曾经早上起来第一件事情就是看着镜中自己，然后大喊一声，我就像坨便便！
Well, for some spiders, looking like poop can actually be a lifesaver.
的确曾经有过这种境况，但对某些蜘蛛来说，看起来像大便也许是能救自己性命。
Because masquerading as a bird turd appears to protect certain arachnids from getting eaten by wasps.
因为伪装成鸟粪貌似可以保护某种蛛形动物免受黄蜂吞食。
That's according to a study in the journal Nature Scientific Reports.
这是根据一项最近在《自然科学报道》杂志上发表研究得出的结论。
Researchers were marveling over the plentiful bird doo they were seeing in a forest in Taiwan.
研究人们惊异的在台湾某个森林里发现许多鸟粪。
Then they realized that some of those droppings were in fact speckled spiders sitting atop silky white discs at the center of their webs.
然后他们意识到这些排泄物中有些实际上是斑点蛛在它们结的网中间的丝般白色圆盘顶面上趴着呢。
Sure, this scatological costume might fool a bunch of PhDs.
是的，这种污秽式伪装也许愚弄了一群博士。
But do the predatory wasps fall for it?
但捕猎的黄蜂是否会上这种当呢？
To find out, the researchers used a spectrometer to confirm that the spider in its web is spectrally indistinguishable from bird splat.
为了一探究竟，研究人员们使用一种光谱仪确认这些网上趴着的蛛蛛在光学角度从鸟粪中的确难以区分。
Then they changed the coloring of some webs by dusting them with carbon powder.
然后他们通过撒碳粉改变了蛛网的颜色。
And they found that spiders that rested on the artificially blackened silk were much more likely to get eaten.
于是他们发现在人工变黑过的丝网上的可怜蛛蛛们果然更容易被天敌们吃掉。
Now, these results don't prove that wasps buy the whole poop act.
现在，这些结论还不能证明黄蜂真的对这种大便保护色买账。
Maybe spiders against the white background are just harder to spot.
也许只是蛛蛛们在白色布景下更不容易被发现。
To be more confident that looking like poop is key, researchers might test the wasps to find out if they're just glad they didn't step in it.
为了更好的证明伪装成大便才是关键点，研究人员们也许会对黄蜂进行测试，观察它们是否是真的不乐意冲进粪便里捕食。
