Name: 德州深處的頂級掠食者 (The Top Predator Deep Under Texas)
Uploaded: 2021-01-04T19:02:11.000Z
Duration: 6 min 10 s

dug a well plunging 188 feet into the earth

And when they did, water rushed to the surface

當他們這樣做的時候，水湧到了水面。

flushing out dozens of undiscovered creatures

湧現出數十種未被發現的生物。

These animals had never seen the surface.

Perhaps the strangest-looking animal in this catch

也許是這次抓到的動物中最奇怪的一個了

是一個被稱為Eurycea rathbuni的物種。

Upon discovery, herpetologist Leonhard Stejneger

發現後，動物學家Leonhard Stejneger

Narrator: These unusual  conditions are contained

旁白：這些不尋常的情況都包含在

this species of salamander has ever been recorded.

So, how did these caves create the "profound differences"

那麼，這些洞穴是如何產生 "深刻的差異"

In other words, how did they end up looking so weird?

換句話說，他們的長相怎麼會如此怪異？

Tom Devitt: Take the dates with a grain of salt,

湯姆-德維特：對棗子持懷疑態度。

from its most recent common ancestor probably around

從其最近的共同祖先可能大約為

somewhere between 10 and 15 million years ago.

在1000萬到1500萬年前的某個地方。

Narrator: And geologists  estimate that the aquifer

had been hundreds of millions of years in the making.

During the Jurassic period, some 200 million years ago,

the area was occasionally  covered in shallow oceans,

but when the area was  dry and exposed to air,

但當該地區乾燥並暴露在空氣中時。

the rocks were eroded by  weather to make porous caverns.

岩石被天氣侵蝕，形成多孔洞。

Eventually, a shallow basin of water and sediment

最終，一個由水和泥沙組成的淺水盆地。

But rainfall continued  to eat away at the earth

to create the deep fissures and caverns inside the aquifer.

以在含水層內形成深層裂縫和溶洞。

some salamanders crawled beneath the surface,

seeking refuge in the cool and stable environment

And over the course  of millions of years,

these salamanders adapted to  the aquatic subterranean caves

like blood-red gills  outside of their body,

如同它們身體外面的血紅色的鰓。

而失去了其他的，比如他們的眼睛。

與同樣是盲人的獵物並肩作戰。

the salamanders simply didn't need to see,

and energy used for sight would only be wasted.

而用於視覺的能量只會被浪費掉。

Today, only two small black dots just under the skin

今天，只有兩個小黑點在皮膚下。

Those dots likely only detect if it's light or dark out.

那些點很可能只檢測到外面是亮還是暗。

這種不成功便成仁的演化方式。

also applies to their silvery white skin.

Skin pigmentation  usually protects animals

並起到偽裝作用，不被捕食者發現。

but both of those are nonissues for the blind salamanders,

但對於盲螈來說，這兩點都不是問題。

who don't have to worry  about the sun or predators.

are at the top of the food chain in this ecosystem,

處於這個生態系統中食物鏈的頂端。

feeding on various  crustaceans, like shrimp.

以各種甲殼類動物為食，如蝦。

And even though they can  go months without eating,

several features help  them capture their prey.

similar to the lateral line found in fish,

to changes in water  movement and pressure,

Another helpful feature is their large head,

另一個有用的特點是它們的頭大。

更多的牙齒意味著更致命的咬合。

Danté Fenolio: All of those things are characteristics

Danté Fenolio。所有這些東西都是特點

in a very, very  challenging environment,

在一個非常非常具有挑戰性的環境中。

so that's why they look the way that they do.

所以，這就是為什麼他們看起來的方式，他們做的。

Narrator: Fenolio is one of the lucky few

旁白：費諾里奧是少數幸運兒之一

who've seen these elusive salamanders up close.

誰已經看到了這些難以捉摸的蠑螈近距離。

Last year, his team at the San Antonio Zoo

去年，他的團隊在聖安東尼奧動物園。

bred Texas blind salamanders for the first time in a lab,

首次在實驗室中培育出德州盲螈。

and they've repeated their success four more times.

They're aiming to protect  the species from extinction,

他們的目標是保護這個物種不被滅絕。

since the salamanders have  been endangered since 1967.

因為自1967年以來，蠑螈已經瀕臨滅絕。

Two main things threaten the Texas salamander's survival.

有兩件主要的事情威脅著德州蠑螈的生存。

The first is contamination from wastewater runoff.

字幕列表影片播放

德州深處的頂級掠食者 (The Top Predator Deep Under Texas)

crucial

profound

typically

climate