關(guān)于動物的14個誤解 個個讓你驚掉下巴

MYTH: Sharks can smell a drop of blood from miles away.
誤解八：鯊魚在幾英里外可以聞到一滴血的氣味。

This one is a big exaggeration. Jaws is not coming for you from across the ocean if you bleed in the water.
這個就太夸張了。如果你在海里流血，鯊魚不會從海的那一頭游過來吃你。

Shark have a highly enlarged brain region for smelling odours, allowing some of the fish to detect as little as 1 part blood per 10 billion parts water – roughly a drop in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
鯊魚大腦中有一塊特別大的區(qū)域和聞氣味有關(guān)，這讓一些鯊魚能夠覺察到100億份水中的一份血——大約相當(dāng)于奧運(yùn)會游泳池中的一滴血。

But the ocean is much, much, much bigger and it takes a while for odor molecules to drift. On a very good day when the currents are favourable, a shark can smell its prey from a few football fields away – not miles.
但是海洋比游泳池要大的多得多，而且氣味分子要傳過去也需要一段時間。如果天氣好，洋流方向又有利的話，鯊魚可以聞到幾個足球場面積以外的獵物——但不是幾英里。

MYTH: Giraffes sleep for only 30 minutes a day.
誤解九：長頸鹿每天只睡30分鐘。

Giraffes have fairly normal sleeping patterns, as far as diurnal animals go.
在白天活動的動物當(dāng)中，長頸鹿的睡眠模式很正常。

To debunk this one, researchers closely monitored a herd of five adult and three young giraffes for 152 days, counting all of their naps and deep sleeps. The animals typically slept overnight and napped in the afternoon (sound familiar?).
為了破除這個誤解，研究人員在152天的時間里密切監(jiān)視了五頭成年長頸鹿和三頭幼年長頸鹿，計算了它們打盹和深度睡眠的時間。長頸鹿通常在晚上睡覺，在下午小睡。（聽上去是不是很熟悉？）

In total, each giraffe slept about 4.6 hours every day.
總體而言，每頭長頸鹿每天大約睡4.6個小時。

MYTH: There are bugs in your strawberry Frappuccino.
誤解十：你的草莓星冰樂里有小蟲子。

This one used to be true – but not anymore.
以前是這樣的，但現(xiàn)在不是了。

Before April 2012, Starbucks' strawberry Frappuccino contained a dye made from the ground-up bodies of thousands of tiny insects, called cochineal bugs or Dactylopius coccus.
在2012年4月之前，星巴克的草莓星冰樂里含有一種用數(shù)千條小蟲子身體碾碎做成的染料，這種蟲子叫胭脂蟲。

Farmers in South and Central America make a living harvesting (and pulverising) the bugs that go into the dye. Their crushed bodies produce a deep red ink that is used as a natural food colouring, which was called "cochineal red" but is now called "carmine colour."
美洲南部和中部的農(nóng)民以抓捕和碾碎胭脂蟲做染料為生。胭脂蟲磨碎的身體會產(chǎn)生一種深紅色的染料，用來做天然的食品著色劑，這種紅色過去叫“胭脂蟲紅”，不過現(xiàn)在叫洋紅色。

Starbucks stopped using carmine colour in their strawberry Frappuccinos in 2012. But the dye is still used in thousands of other food products – from Nerds candies to grapefruit juice. Not to mention cosmetics, like lovely shades of red lipstick.
2012年星巴克停止在草莓星冰樂里放胭脂蟲染色劑。但是這種染料仍然用在數(shù)千種其他食品中——從Nerds糖果到葡萄汁。更別提化妝品了，比如各種美麗色調(diào)的口紅。

MYTH: Sharks don't get cancer.
誤解十一：鯊魚不會得癌癥。

Back in 2013, researchers reported a huge tumour growing out of the mouth of a great white shark, and another on the head of a bronze whaler shark.
2013年，研究人員曾報告稱在一頭大白鯊的口中發(fā)現(xiàn)一顆巨大的腫瘤，并在另一頭短尾真鯊的頭上也發(fā)現(xiàn)了一顆腫瘤。

And those aren't the only cases of shark cancers: Other scientists have reported tumours in dozens of different shark species.
而且，這并不是鯊魚得癌癥的特例：其他科學(xué)家也報告過幾十種不同鯊魚出現(xiàn)的腫瘤。

The myth that sharks don't get cancer was reportedly created by William Lane to sell shark cartilage as a cancer treatment.
認(rèn)為鯊魚不會得癌癥的誤解據(jù)說是威廉?萊恩制造的，他試圖將鯊魚軟骨作為抗癌食物售賣。