Life is pretty tough for those little guys.

這些小傢伙過得很辛苦。

Hey dudes, Trace here with the lowdown on your sperms' struggles for DNews.

大家好，我是 DNews 的 Trace，今天我要揭露精子鬥爭的真相。

Sperm are the male gamete, the counterpart to the female's egg.

精子是雄性配子，雌性卵子的對應物。

When a sperm reaches the inside of an egg, a zygote is created, which is the first step on the path to a fetus.

精子抵達卵子內部後，形成受精卵，這是形成胚胎的第一步。

But to reach that goal, sperm have to overcome a lot of different problems, one being there are millions of other sperm in there.

但要達到這個目標，精子必須克服許多難關，其一就是與其他數百隻精子競爭。

And they're like, "Watch out, Dude!"

他們似乎都在說：「小子，罩子放亮點！」

"I'm tryin' to get to the egg!"

「我正在努力地游向卵子！」

For instance, we've evolved what science calls 'sperm allocation'.

舉例來說，科學上所謂的精子分配經演化產生。

As the point of sex is to get your sperm to the egg first and thus spread your genes, sperm allocation theory was one of nature's ways of getting the most bang for your buck.

如同性交的目的是讓你的精子率先抵達卵子，以傳播你的基因，精子分配理論是讓精子獲得最大的效益的自然法則。

If a male believes his female sexual partner has committed infidelity, or if he's simply spent a long while away from the partner, his sperm count will increase when they finally pair up!

若雄性伴侶認為其雌性伴侶不忠，或者他離開了她很長一段時間，進行性交時，他的精子計數就會增加。

The authors of a study published in "Current Directions in Psychological Science" believe this is why males get lustful feelings after being away from their partner for a while.

在《心理科學發展趨勢》上發表的一項研究的作者認為，這是男性離開伴侶一段時間後會產生性慾的原因。

They want to make sure that they get back there and get some sperm in there as soon as possible to compete.

他們希望能盡快重返戰場，讓精子繼續參賽。

Once inside the woman, sperm continue their struggles.

一旦進入女性體內，精子的鬥爭就會持續。

This has to do with their creation. Sperm are formed based on how the species fertilize and how much sexual competition is present.

這和它們的製造方式有關。精子的形成取決於物種受精的方式和其擁有的性競爭。

It was assumed that the bigger the sperm, the faster they would be.

有些人認為精子越大，速度就越快。

Bigger and stronger is better, right? Not so much.

越大越強越好，對吧？並非如此。

A study published in the journal "Evolution" uses Bonobos as an example.

在《Evolution》期刊上發表的一項研究以倭黑猩猩為例。

These apes share almost 99 percent of their DNA with humans and have a lot of sex with lots of different partners.

這些類人猿與人類的基因相似度高達 99%，而且牠們有非常多性伴侶。

The competition has evolved sperm with bigger heads and smaller tails.

這樣的競爭演化使其精子的頭部較大，尾巴較小。

The larger sperm were actually slower.

事實顯示，較大的精子速度較慢。

The researchers found only animals who fertilize outside of their bodies have large-sperm advantages.

研究人員發現，較大的精子只對體外受精的動物有益。

The shorter head and longer tail of fish and squid sperm were super fast and thus got to the egg first.

魚和烏賊的精子頭部較短，尾巴較長，它們的速度極快，因此最先抵達卵子。

Yeah, bro!

幹得好，兄弟！

Then there's the theory that there are two kinds of sperm: the goal scorers, and the ones who play defense.

還有一種理論認為精子有兩種：得分者和防守者。

In humans, of the 250 million sperm cells released into the female reproductive system, 27 percent are defective, right off the bat.

人類釋放到女性生殖系統中的 2.5 隻精子中，有 27% 是天生具有缺陷的。

The normally oval-shaped head is spherical or quite pointy in parts, the tails are malformed or whatever.

可能是原本應為橢圓形的頭部變成球型或某處太尖、尾巴畸形等原因。

This theory of so-called "kamikaze sperm" also comes back to competition between mates.

這個所謂的「殺手精子」理論也與交配競爭相關。

The idea that these malformed sperm hang back to block other competing mates' sperm, thus ensuring the first male's domination of fertilization!

根據這個理論，畸形的精子會留下來以阻止競爭對手的精子，從而確保第一位雄性在受精過程中的支配地位。

Since the hypothesis was proposed in the 80s, scientists have tried and failed to reproduce their findings. So, while we're pretty sure this isn't real, it is still being tested.

科學家自假設在 80 年代被提出後，就一直試圖證實其真實性，但都以失敗告終。即使我們很確定這不是真的，但它仍在測試中。

Most scientists now believe the 27 percent defect rate occurs because of poor quality control in sperm creation, which is a little embarrassing.

現在大多數科學家認為，27% 的先天缺陷率是精子製造過程中質量控管不佳造成的，這令人有點難為情。

Dudes, this is our big moment. We're half-assing out there!

兄弟，這可是關鍵時刻。我們千萬不能敷衍了事。

110-percent, c'mon!

使出 110% 的力氣，加油！

Of the millions of sperms released, remember you were the fastest.

在被釋放的數百萬隻精子中，你肯定是最快的！

So, tell us your strategies down in the big empty white box below and subscribe!

請在下方留言區跟我們分享你的策略，然後記得訂閱我們的頻道。

Also, double check that you're still following us on Twitter @ATDNews. We made some changes.

另外，請再次確認你是否已訂閱 Twitter @ATDNews。我們做了一些調整。

You'll get behind-the-scenes pictures and some other cool stuff that sometimes doesn't make it into an episode. Thanks a lot for watching, see you next time!

你會看到幕後花絮的照片，還有其他沒有剪進影片的畫面。感謝收看，我們下次見！