Name: 世界上最有趣的寶藏水果恐將滅絕！ (The most interesting fruit in the world could go extinct)
Uploaded: 2026-03-12T16:39:01.000Z
Duration: 9 min 20 s

基礎被動語態

This banana is known as the Gros Michel, AKA Big Mike, and it nearly went extinct.

這款香蕉叫做 Gros Michel，又稱 Big Mike，差點就滅絕了。

轉承詞

Hard to imagine because the myth that bananas are ubiquitous is so ingrained in our minds.

實在很難想像，因為香蕉隨處可見的神話深植人心。

I'm Chiquita Banana and I've come to say bananas in pajamas.

我是 Chiquita Banana，來跟大家說說香蕉睡衣。

Mauricio, Catalan's comedian, is composed of a single banana.

Mauricio，一位加泰隆尼亞的喜劇演員，是由一根香蕉組成的。

It is the number one grown fruit in the world.

The most consumed fruit, the most important fruit crop.

最常被食用的水果，最重要的水果作物。

It's the, I think, the weirdness of bananas that makes them so interesting.

我認為，香蕉的奇特之處讓它們如此有趣。

When Big Mike disappeared from the market, it was replaced with something very similar, the Cavendish banana.

當 Big Mike 從市場消失後，取而代之的是非常相似的 Cavendish banana。

And you probably recognize it as the banana since it's pretty much the only banana we see in the US.

你大概認得它，因為它幾乎是我們在美國唯一看得到的香蕉。

By the 1950s, Cavendish became the most commercially successful banana.

到了 1950 年代，Cavendish 成為商業上最成功的香蕉。

Bananas are so good for you and so easy to digest.

香蕉對我們身體很好，而且非常容易消化。

But a variant of the same disease that virtually wiped out Big Mike and is coming for the Cavendish.

但一種和當初差點讓 Big Mike 消失的疾病變種，現在正朝 Cavendish 襲來。

So what needs to happen to save our beloved banana?

所以，我們該怎麼做才能拯救我們心愛的香蕉呢？

They're part of the genus Musa and are full of potassium and an energy dense food, making them a staple crop in much of Africa, Asia and Latin America.

它們屬於 Musa 屬，富含鉀，是能量密集型的食物，這讓它們成為非洲、亞洲和拉丁美洲許多地區的主要作物。

They originally came from Asia, likely somewhere in Southeast Asia.

它們最初來自亞洲，很可能是在東南亞的某個地方。

So a wild bananas are going to be about the length of your thumb here.

所以野生的香蕉大概只有你拇指這麼長。

And these banana seeds are rock hard, tooth shattering.

而且這些香蕉籽硬得像石頭，一咬就會碎牙。

To get to the seedless bananas we have today, humans basically had to find sterile fruits.

為了得到我們今天吃的無籽香蕉，人類基本上得找到不結果的品種。

It was probably a mutation that did this.

這很可能是個基因突變造成的。

Some of these early farmers found a banana that was seedless and watched it propagate and said, hey, you know, we can cut this, this sucker off this daughter plant and take it somewhere else and the daughter plant gives birth to another plant and this can go on for thousands of years.

有些早期農夫發現了一根無籽香蕉，看著它繁殖，然後說，嘿，你知道嗎，我們可以把這根吸芽從母株剪下來，帶到別的地方，母株會生出另一株，這樣就可以延續好幾千年。

This method reproducing through propagations is also known as asexual cloning.

這種透過繁殖來複製的方法，也叫做無性繁殖。

But it also creates some problems because these fruits are essentially now clones and they're all exactly the same and they carry the same weaknesses.

但這也造成了一些問題，因為這些水果基本上現在都是複製體，它們長得一模一樣，也帶著相同的弱點。

And this genetic cloning is really where the danger starts.

而這種基因複製，正是危險的開始。

Commercially farmed bananas, which are pretty much all of the bananas we consume are monocrops.

商業種植的香蕉，也就是我們消費的幾乎所有香蕉，都是單一作物。

It's an industrial agriculture term that refers to single crop species grown on the same land again and again.

這是工業農業的術語，指的是在同一塊土地上反覆種植單一作物種類。

It's driven by our demand for uniform, durable and cheap fruit.

這是因為我們追求品質統一、耐放又便宜的水果。

The variety they picked was banana called the Gros Michel.

他們挑選的品種是叫做 Gros Michel 的香蕉。

The Gros Michel is a great banana for commercial use because it's tough, it doesn't need to be packaged really that much.

Gros Michel 是商業種植的絕佳香蕉，因為它很耐操，不太需要包裝。

The result, uniform bananas for consumers like us, but

結果就是，消費者能買到品質統一的香蕉，但

extremely fragile biological conditions for the plants and the farmers.

植物和農民卻面臨極度脆弱的生物條件。

You run a risk, which is that if one of your bananas gets sick, all of them are going to get sick.

這會讓你冒險，也就是說，如果你的其中一根香蕉生病了，全部都會生病。

And that was exactly what happened with Panama disease, or Tropical Race 1.

這也正是巴拿馬病，也就是 Tropical Race 1 發生的情況。

In the early 1900s, the plantations begin to get very sick.

在 1900 年代初期，種植園開始出現嚴重的病況。

Fungus invades the soil, making it impossible to grow the bananas.

真菌入侵土壤，讓香蕉無法種植。

But instead of diversifying, industrial banana companies acquired more lands as the plantations became diseased.

但工業化香蕉公司沒有採取多樣化種植，反而隨著種植園生病，收購了更多土地。

And all goes well until they finally run out of land.

直到他們最後土地用完，一切都還算順利。

This is partially how the term banana republic came to be.

這也是「香蕉共和國」這個詞的由來之一。

It's an ugly history that involves US corporations like the United Fruit Company exploiting land and labor in Central America.

這段醜陋的歷史，包含了像 United Fruit Company 這樣的美國企業，在拉丁美洲剝削土地和勞工。

These companies took over farms and governments to grow exports like bananas cheaply and at a massive scale.

這些公司接管農場和政府，以便大規模、廉價地種植香蕉等出口作物。

But no amount of land and conquest could stop the spread of Panama disease.

但再多的土地和征服，也無法阻止巴拿馬病的蔓延。

By the 1950s, TR1 had devastated the Gros Michel globally, virtually wiping it out of production.

到了 1950 年代，Tropical Race 1 摧毀了全球的 Gros Michel，幾乎讓它停止生產。

Luckily, the Gros Michel had a close cousin that was resistant to that strain of Panama disease.

幸運的是，Gros Michel 有個近親，對那種巴拿馬病株有抵抗力。

At the brink of extinction, at the brink of disaster, the banana industry saves itself, when in fact, it is only delayed, an inevitable fate that will come back to haunt it again.

在滅絕的邊緣，在災難的邊緣，香蕉產業拯救了自己，但實際上，這只是延緩了，一個終將再次困擾它的必然命運。

Speaking of delicious bananas, this video is presented by delicious yogurt.

說到美味的香蕉，這支影片由美味的優格贊助播出。

For over 40 years, Stonyfield Organic has been a champion of truth in our food system.

四十多年來，Stonyfield Organic 一直是我們食品系統真實性的倡導者。

There is so much misinformation out there, which is why they believe in using the highest quality ingredients to ensure that what they put on the shelves is the best product for you and your family.

外面有很多不實資訊，所以他們相信使用最高品質的原料，確保上架的產品是您和家人最好的選擇。

The milk they use comes from all over the country, including Molly Brook Farms in Vermont.

他們使用的牛奶來自全國各地，包括佛蒙特的 Molly Brook Farms。

It's USDA organic certified, which means no growth hormones, no pesticides, no antibiotics.

這是 USDA 有機認證的，代表沒有生長激素、沒有農藥、沒有抗生素。

So the next time you're in your grocery run and you're thinking about bananas, make sure to also check out Stony Field Organic Yogurt.

所以下次您去超市購物，想到香蕉時，別忘了也看看 Stony Field Organic 優格。

It's also important to note that Stonyfield Organic did not dictate the content of this video, but

同樣重要的是，Stonyfield Organic 並沒有規定這支影片的內容，

their support did make this tasty reporting possible.

但他們的贊助讓這些美味的報導得以實現。

By the 1990s, the Cavendish was facing a new strain of the Panama disease, Tropical Race 4, or TR4.

到了 1990 年代，Cavendish 面臨一種新的巴拿馬病株，Tropical Race 4，或稱 TR4。

The banana companies refuse to believe it, and they just keep doing what they're doing.

香蕉公司們不願相信，他們就這樣繼續做他們在做的事。

The disease started in Taiwan in the late 80s.

這場病在 80 年代後期從臺灣開始。

From there, it spread to Africa, Australia and the Americas.

從那裡，它傳播到非洲、澳洲和美洲。

By late 2025, TR4 is reported in Ecuador, the largest banana exporter in the world.

到 2025 年底，據報導 TR4 已出現在全球最大的香蕉出口國厄瓜多。

If I am wearing a sneaker, with one bit of contaminated soil, and

如果我穿著運動鞋，沾到一點受汙染的土壤，

I walk through a banana plantation, I'm going to spread that disease.

然後走進香蕉園，我就會傳播這種病。

But unlike what happened with Gros Michel in the 1950s, there is no banana cousin to replace the Cavendish with.

但跟 1950 年代 Gros Michel 的情況不同，這次沒有其他香蕉品種可以取代 Cavendish。

So we're in the situation now where this disease is really starting to have a dramatic influence.

所以我們現在面臨的情況是，這場病真的開始產生戲劇性的影響。

And all of the major producers around the world are now recognizing at long last things have to change.

全球所有主要的生產商現在終於意識到，事情必須改變了。

Now, it's not like other bananas don't exist.

不過，並不是沒有其他香蕉了。

There are actually over 1,000 species of bananas with specialty farms and supermarkets.

事實上，香蕉有超過一千種，有專門的農場和超市。

You can even find some of these other varieties.

你甚至可以找到其中一些其他品種。

There's certainly been a move to try to move consumer preferences from Cavendish to something else consumers didn't like.

確實有人試圖改變消費者的偏好，讓他們從 Cavendish 轉向其他他們不喜歡的東西。

That preference is such an incredible driver.

那個偏好真是個強大的驅動力。

And to try to get consumers to change from a Cavendish banana to something else is going to be a big ask.

要讓消費者從 Cavendish banana 轉向其他東西，這可是個大挑戰。

My group started to genetically modify bananas.

So we know there is resistance to Panama disease, tropical race fall.

所以我們知道有對抗巴拿馬病 Tropical Race 1 的抗性。

It actually occurs in one of those wild bananas we were talking about, the ones with seeds.

這其實就發生在我們之前提到的，有種子的野生香蕉其中一種。

We pulled one gene out of that banana and transferred it to Cavendish.

我們從那根香蕉裡取出一個基因，然後轉移到 Cavendish 香蕉裡。

But as you can imagine, consumers have a lot of skepticism around genetically modified foods.

但就像你可以想像的，消費者對基因改造食品有很多疑慮。

At this time in March 2026, Professor Dale's lab grown Cavendish bananas are not yet available in stores.

在 2026 年 3 月的這個時候，Dale 教授實驗室種植的 Cavendish 香蕉還沒在市面上販售。

We've now had approval to grow, commercially grow that banana in Australia, but

我們現在已經獲得準許在澳洲種植，商業化種植那根香蕉，但

Genetically modified crops are highly regulated.

So Europe at the moment is very reticent on taking any genetically modified foods.

所以歐洲目前對於接受任何基因改造食品都非常猶豫。

And the other thing, of course, is consumer perception.

當然，還有另外一件事，就是消費者的觀感。

While his modified banana will likely never make it into the European market, Professor Dale has other solutions, like gene editing.

雖然他改良的香蕉可能永遠不會進入歐洲市場，但 Dale 教授還有其他解決方案，像是基因編輯。

In many countries, this is no longer considered genetic modification.

在很多國家，這已經不算基因改造了。

There are many, many other crops that are being gene edited, and

有很多很多其他的作物正在進行基因編輯，

So to save our beloved banana, either Western consumers will have to give up on the myth of there being only one type of banana, or regulators are going to have to accept genetically engineered Cavendish.

所以，為了拯救我們心愛的香蕉，西方消費者必須放棄只有一種香蕉的神話，或者監管機構必須接受基因工程的 Cavendish。

I think we're going to have to have an open mind about how we're going to produce our crops under what are becoming increasingly extreme conditions.

我覺得我們必須對如何在日益極端的環境下種植作物保持開放的態度。

Though truthfully, science can only do so much.

The answers for preserving our beloved banana and the future of many of our fruits lies in maintaining a diverse ecosystem.

保存我們心愛的香蕉以及許多水果的未來，答案在於維持一個多元化的生態系統。

And the answer is destroy the monoculture.

We need to get all those bananas that are so good to the United States, to Europe, to the Western world, because that's the only way to sort of protect the banana and to protect people who grow bananas.

我們需要讓所有那些賣到美國、歐洲、西方世界的美味香蕉，因為這是 sort of 保護香蕉和保護種植香蕉的人的唯一方法。