科学美国人60秒:河马帮助揭秘炭疽病疫情-托福听力下载

　　科学美国人60秒中文翻译：

　　Hippopotamuses. 这就是河马。

　　People usually think of them as massive, lumbering hulks of plant-eating muscle. 人们通常觉得它们是动作慢吞吞，素食主义为主的大块头。

　　Reports do crop up of hippos snacking on crocs or chowing down on a drowned wildebeest. 但也有关于河马吃下鳄鱼或吞下被淹死羚羊的报道。

　　But those anecdotes are often dismissed as aberrant behaviors—opportunistic protein snacks added to a diet made mostly of salad. 这些报道经常被视为异常行为—人们只是觉得这是河马在自己的素食沙拉中偶尔增加些蛋白质而已。

　　But it turns out that hungry, hungry hippos intentionally seek out the sweet, sweet taste of animal flesh. 但试验证明，饥饿难忍的河马会特意去寻找鲜美可口的肉类。

　　We saw a bunch of wild dogs come and attack an impala, and the impala jumped into the water, tried to swim across the little lake, and the hippo killed it. 我们亲眼看到一群野狗对一头黑斑羚羊发起攻击，而黑斑羚羊跳入河里试图游过小河时河马却将其杀害。

　　Then a few minutes later, that hippo and a bunch of other hippos started eating on that impala. 几分钟后，这只河马和它的同伴们开始享受这顿盛宴。

　　University of Alaska research Joseph P. Dudley was in Zimbabwe studying elephants when he saw this scene play out more than 20 years ago. 阿拉斯加大学的研究员约瑟芬·杜德利20年前在津巴布韦研究大象时，亲眼目睹了河马狩猎的这番景象。

　　About that time, the wild dogs caught and killed another impala right next to the edge of the water hole, and three hippos came out of the water and tried to take away the carcass of the impala, the antelope, from the wild dogs. 那时野狗在湖边将另外一头羚羊杀死后，3只河马想从河里出来从野狗嘴中抢走羚羊的尸体。

　　As far as I had ever heard, hippos didn't do either of these things. 我之前听说河马是素食动物。

　　We now know that carnivory is actually common among hippos. 现在我们了解到河马中的肉食性非常普遍。

　　And meat-eating could explain what's been a hippo public health mystery: 而进食肉类可以揭开河马健康的谜团：

　　anthrax outbreaks happen naturally among African herbivores, but the pattern of anthrax transmission in hippos has always puzzled researchers. 非洲的食草动物中经常会爆发炭疽病疫情，但是河马中炭疽病疫情的传播途径一直困扰着研究人员。

　　Could their hankering for meat explain it? 河马渴望进食肉类能够揭开这个谜团吗?

　　Dudley's latest research suggests that the hippos'could owe their unique susceptibility to anthrax die-offs to their practice of eating meat that carries the infection—including the bodies of other dead hippos. 杜德利最新的研究表明，河马易感染炭疽病疫情是因为它们经常食用包括其他同类尸体在内携带病毒的肉类。

　　The study is in the journal Mammal Review. 这项研究已在《哺乳动物评估》杂志上发表。

　　And that means that humans who come into contact with hippo meat need to take care. 这表示同河马肉累接触的人员需要引起注意。

　　At least 511 Zambians became infected, and five died, 至少511名赞比亚人被感染，5人死亡。

　　because they handled or consumed hippo meat during a 2011 anthrax outbreak among the amphibious mammals. 因为2011年两栖动物中爆发炭疽病疫情时，这些人曾接触或食用河马肉。

　　That's one advantage of being a vegetarian—for both hippos and humans. 而素食主义的人类和河马则能够避免这种疫情。

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