Tequila.

龍舌蘭酒

That little golden liquid that many of us associate with a good night out.

我們中的許多人都把這種金色的小液體與美好的夜晚聯繫在一起。

Did you know that in America over 50 million liters of tequila are drunk every year?

你知道美國每年要喝掉 5000 多萬升龍舌蘭酒嗎？

There are lots of interesting facts about this little liquid, but one in particular has something to do with where I am right now.

關於這種小液體，有很多有趣的事實，但其中一個特別與我現在所在的地方有關。

Here in the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, in the largest bat collection in the world.

這裡是史密森尼國家自然歷史博物館，世界上最大的蝙蝠收藏館。

And I know just the right person to talk to.

我知道有合適的人可以和我談談。

Ah, yeah, the tequila connection.

啊，是啊，龍舌蘭酒的關係。

Uh, it involves this little bat right here, Leptonycteris nivalis, which is a species of nectar feeding bat that occurs in Mexico and migrates up into the southwestern US every year.

這隻小蝙蝠叫 Leptonycteris nivalis，是一種以花蜜為食的蝙蝠，產於墨西哥，每年遷徙到美國西南部。

Tequila liquor is made from agave plants and this little species of bat, Leptonycteris.

龍舌蘭酒是用龍舌蘭植物和這種名叫 Leptonycteris 的小蝙蝠釀造的。

Has evolved to feed on the nectar of agave flowers.

進化成以龍舌蘭花蜜為食。

And in the process of doing that, it pollinates agaves.

在這個過程中，它為龍舌蘭授粉。

Moves the pollen from one plant to the other by sticking its long muzzle and a very long tongue, which can be up to about a third the body length of the bat.

它用長長的口器和很長的舌頭把花粉從一株植物移到另一株植物上，舌頭的長度可達蝙蝠體長的三分之一。

Wow.

哇

Into that flower to the base of the flower where the nectar is, gets its meal and in the process the fur gets covered with pollen from the agave flower.

龍舌蘭花的花粉覆蓋了龍舌蘭的毛皮。

The bat moves it on to the next flower.

蝙蝠把它移到下一朵花上。

As it goes about its nightly feeding.

它在夜間覓食。

Okay.

好的

So, do bats only pollinate agave or does it get other?

那麼，蝙蝠是隻為龍舌蘭授粉，還是為其他植物授粉？

No, no.

不，不

They, they pollinate lots of species of plants.

它們為許多種類的植物授粉。

This is just one species of nectar feeding bat, but there's actually hundreds of nectar feeding bats.

這只是以花蜜為食的蝙蝠中的一種，但實際上有數百種以花蜜為食的蝙蝠。

And many of them feed on many, many different species of of flowers, uh, during the course of the year.

在這一年中，它們中的很多都以很多很多不同種類的花朵為食。

So, probably all told bats are responsible for pollinating.

所以，蝙蝠大概都是負責授粉的。

Thousands.

數千人

Of species of plants.

植物的種類。

And so we know like, you know, bees and birds might be attracted to flowers because of the way they smell.

是以我們知道，蜜蜂和鳥類可能會被花朵的氣味所吸引。

Do bats get attracted to the flowers in the same way?

蝙蝠也會被花朵吸引嗎？

Yes, they do, so the all of the flowers, all of the plants that are bat pollinated, the flowers are open at night.

是的，所以所有的花朵，所有蝙蝠授粉的植物，花朵都在晚上開放。

And.

還有

They have a whole series of morphological adaptations to attract bats.

它們有一系列的形態適應性來吸引蝙蝠。

Since they're open at night, they're usually whitish or greenish in color.

由於它們在夜間開放，所以通常呈白色或綠色。

They're not very brightly colored like plants that are trying to attract.

它們的顏色並不像那些想吸引人的植物那樣鮮豔。

Uh, birds, for instance, are frequently red.

例如，鳥類經常是紅色的。

Bat pollinated flowers usually white, they usually do have an odor, but the odor is frequently not terribly attractive to us.

蝙蝠授粉的花朵通常是白色的，它們通常會有氣味，但這種氣味對我們來說往往沒有什麼吸引力。

It's not the normal sweet smelling flowers, roses and the like that we're used to.

它不是我們常見的香甜花朵、玫瑰之類。

Rather it has a very intense, almost overripe smell to it and so it's kind of like a rotten smell.

相反，它有一種非常強烈的、幾乎是過熟的味道，所以有點像腐爛的味道。

Yeah, almost a rotten smell in many cases.

是啊，在很多情況下，幾乎是腐爛的味道。

Well, so we definitely wouldn't want those in our house then.

那麼，我們肯定不希望這些東西出現在我們家裡。

Yeah.

是啊

They don't make great house ones.

他們做的房子不怎麼樣。

Our thanks to Dr. Don Wilson, Mammal Curator Emeritus, Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, Merlin Tuttle, Wildlife Photographer, Bat Conservation International, Michael Quinn, National Park Service.

感謝史密森尼國家自然歷史博物館哺乳動物名譽館長唐-威爾遜博士、國際蝙蝠保護組織野生動物攝影師梅林-塔特爾、國家公園管理局邁克爾-奎恩。

Produced by Micaela Jemison, Smithsonian Science.

製作人：Micaela Jemison，《史密森尼科學》。