Name: 【TED】梅林尼奧：硨磲的迷人祕密生活（硨磲的迷人祕密生活|梅林尼奧）。 (【TED】Mei Lin Neo: The fascinating secret lives of giant clams (The fascinating secret lives of giant clams | Mei Lin Neo))
Uploaded: 2021-01-14T07:30:50.000Z
Duration: 5 min 28 s

在老家，我的朋友幫我取暱稱，

I talk nonstop about giant clams all day,

Giant clams are these massive and colorful shelled marine animals,

巨蚌是這種又大又重，且色彩鮮艷的有殼海洋動物，

The biggest recorded individual was four-and-a-half-feet long

記錄中最大的巨蚌，有 4.5 英呎長，

That is almost as heavy as three baby elephants.

那幾乎是三隻幼象加起來的重量。

South Pacific legends once described giant clams as man-eaters

南太平洋傳奇中說到巨蚌會吃人，

that would lie in wait on the seabed to trap unsuspecting divers.

牠們躺在海底等待，捕捉那些沒起疑的潛水夫。

A story goes that a diver had lost his legs

有個故事說，一位潛水夫失去了雙腳，

while trying to retrieve a pearl from a giant clam.

當時他正試圖從巨蚌中取得珍珠。

I did an experiment using myself as bait.

我做了個實驗，用我自己當餌。

I carefully placed my hand into the clam's mouth and waited.

我小心地把我的手放到蚌蛤的口中，等待著。

It seems that these gentle giants would rather retreat

似乎這些溫和的巨大生物寧可退開，

事實上我們是巨蚌最大的威脅。

Considered a delicacy throughout the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans,

從西太平洋一路到印度洋，牠們慣例被當成是佳餚，

giant clams have been traditionally fished as seafood.

Fishermen are particularly interested in their adductor muscles,

漁夫特別感興趣的是牠們的閉殼肌，

which are organs that hold the two shells together like a hinge.

也就是把兩片殼 連起來的鉸鏈式器官。

giant clams were almost hunted to extinction

Clamshells are also popular in the ornamental trade

在飾品貿易上，蚌殼也很搶手，

fishermen went out of their way to collect fossilized clamshells

漁夫會特地去收集變成化石的蚌殼，

by digging through large areas of coral reefs.

These were later carved and sold as so-called "ivory handicrafts" in China.

這些是在中國被雕刻再販售的、所謂「象牙手工藝品」。

Giant clams, dead or alive, are not safe from us.

巨蚌，不論死活，都逃不過我們的手掌心。

With the spotlight on more charismatic marine animals

有魅力的海洋動物比較會得到注意力，

it is easy to forget that other marine life needs our help, too.

很容易就會忘記其他海洋生命也需要我們的協助。

My fascination with giant clams got me started on conservation research

我對巨蚌的著迷，讓我開始進行保育研究，

to fill in the knowledge gaps on their ecology and behavior.

補起關於牠們的生態與行為的知識缺口。

One of the discoveries that we made was that giant clams could walk

看看二十四小時後發生了什麼事。

We think that walking is important for getting away from predators

我們認為行走的重要性是為了遠離獵食者，

While it can hard to imagine any movement in these enormous animals,

雖然很難想像這些巨大的動物會移動，

giant clams up to 400 pounds can still walk,

重達 400 磅的巨蚌仍可以行走，

During my PhD, I discovered more secrets about the giant clams.

在我讀博士班時，我發現了更多關於巨蚌的秘密。

But there was something missing in my work.

"Why should people care about conserving giant clams?" --

「為什麼人們要在乎巨蚌的保育？」

It turns out that giant clams have a giant impact on coral reefs.

結果發現，巨蚌對於珊瑚礁的影響很巨大。

These multitasking clams are reef builders,

這些蚌蛤是多工的，牠們是珊瑚礁建造者、

giant clams play a major contributing role

巨蚌對牠們自己住的珊瑚礁扮演著重要貢獻的角色，

and just having them around keeps the reef healthy.

And because they can live up to 100 years old,

giant clams make vital indicators of coral reef health.

牠們是珊瑚礁的重要健康指標。

So when giant clams start to disappear from coral reefs,

for scientists to start paying attention,

The largest clam in the world is facing the threat of extinction,

世界上最大的蚌蛤正在面臨絕種的威脅，

with more than 50 percent of the wild population severely depleted.

野生巨蚌族群有超過 50% 在嚴重減少中。

And the ecological benefits of having giant clams on coral reefs

只有在這個族群能保持健康的情況下，

are likely to continue only if populations are healthy,

巨蚌在珊瑚礁中產生的生態益處才可能持續，

So I stand here today to give a voice to the giant clams,

所以今天我在這裡，為巨蚌發聲，

because I care a whole lot for these amazing animals,

因為我非常關心這些不可思議的動物，

It is time for the giant clams to step out of their shells,

and show the world that they, too, can be the heroes of the oceans.

讓世界知道，牠們也可以扮演海洋的英雄。

【TED】梅林尼奧：硨磲的迷人祕密生活（硨磲的迷人祕密生活|梅林尼奧）。 (【TED】Mei Lin Neo: The fascinating secret lives of giant clams (The fascinating secret lives of giant clams | Mei Lin Neo))

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【TED】梅林尼奧：硨磲的迷人祕密生活（硨磲的迷人祕密生活|梅林尼奧）。 (【TED】Mei Lin Neo: The fascinating secret lives of giant clams (The fascinating secret lives of giant clams | Mei Lin Neo))

individual

massive

deserve

enormous