我们的世界并非一成不变 Our world is not always the same.
我们的眼前就隐藏着另一个世界 Hidden from our view lies a different world.
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那里的生物与我们截然不同 Creatures utterly unlike us,
时间轴&特效：
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仿若来自外星 almost alien,
它们是世上数量最庞大的生物群体 yet they are more numerous than any other group on the planet.
压制&封装：
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欢迎来到美妙的节肢动物世界 Welcome to the fascinating world of the arthropods.
蜘蛛、蝎子和昆虫 Spiders, scorpions and insects.
如今我们有了先进的摄像技术 Today we have new camera techniques
这使得我们可以比以往更为细致地 that will allow us to review in greater details
研究它们的生活 than ever before of their lives.
它们争斗、进食 The way they fight and feed
和繁殖的方式 and reproduce.
本系列运用专门开发的3D摄像技术 This series uses specially-developed 3D camera technology
分别从野外和人造环境 to study the micro world
对这个微型世界 in extraordinary detail,
进行极其详尽的研究 both on location and in specially-constructed environments.
我们研究它们的诞生 We'll witness their birth,
它们所面临的挑战 the challenges they face,
以及它们命悬一线的时刻 and the moment when their lives hang in the balance.
这或许有助于我们理解 And that may help us understand how it is
为什么如今全世界80%的动物 that today over 80% of all animal species on this planet
都是节肢动物 are arthropods.
我们在本系列中将会了解到它们是 In the series, we will see the way they have evolved
如何从比较简单的马陆发展成 from the comparative simplicity of the millipede
包含数百甚至数百万个体的群体 to vast colonies that contain hundreds, even millions of individuals.
我们将目睹动物王国最非凡的变化 We'll witness the most extraordinary transmissions in the animal kingdom.
我们会看到蚂蚁耕作 We will meet ants that farm,
蜘蛛抛网捕猎 spiders that can cast their webs
虫子利用猎物遗体伪装自己 and the bug that wears the bodies of his victims as a disguise.
欢迎来到这个奇异而危险的世界！ Welcome to a strange and dangerous world!
大卫·爱登堡
微型怪物
群 体
在节肢动物的所有适应行为当中 Of all the arthropod's adaptations,
最具革命性的 the most revolutionary
就是形成庞大群体一起生活的能力 has been the ability to live in immense colonies.
这让它们能够集体猎食 That enables them to hunt in mass,
能建造巨型建筑当居所 to build huge constructions for home
并且控制周边的环境 and to dominate their surroundings.
有些群体比较小 Some colonies are quite small.
另一些群体的成员数相当于 Others contain as many individuals
我们最大型城市的人口 as our largest cities.
如果众多个体在一起工作 If great numbers of individuals are to work together,
它们必须能够交流 they'll need to be able to communicate,
能够传递信息和指令 to pass on information and instructions.
而这项本领 And doing that
让有些物种能够耕作农场 enable some to maintain farms,
能够像侵略军一样扫荡森林地面 to plunder the forest floor like an invading army,
并能建出巨大的城堡 and to build immense castles.
蜜蜂工蜂能够互相传递复杂信息 Honey bee workers are able to send complex massages to one another.
野生蜂有时会在开阔处建巢 In the wild they sometimes nest out in the open,
但是人类将蜜蜂驯化 but mankind has persuaded them to live
使之将蜂蜜仓储在蜂房里 and store their honey in hives.
蜂群的核心是蜂后 The colony's heart is its queen.
它只比自己的臣民大一点儿 She is just a little bigger than her subjects
是所有蜜蜂的母亲 and mother of them all.
在春天食物储备较少时 In spring, when food stocks are low,
工蜂们忙着收集花蜜 the workers get busy collecting nectar.
它们有互相传递 They have a remarkable method of telling one another
最充足鲜花产地的特殊方法 where to find the most productive flowers.
这叫摇摆舞 It's called the waggle dance.
这只返家的蜜蜂 This returning bee
刚刚发现了新的蜜源 has just found a new source of nectar
正在告诉巢里的其它同伴 and is going to tell others in the hive about it.
首先 它要召集听众 First, she gathers an audience.
它会爬到姐妹们的背上 To do that, she climbs on her sisters' backs
摆动自己的腹部 and vibrates her abdomen.
现在它引起了大家的注意 Now that she's got their attention,
它开始翩翩起舞 she begins her dance
使用动作密码 using a code of movements
告诉其它工蜂它发现的蜜源位置 that tell her fellow workers where her discovery lies.
它摇摆的持续时间 The duration of her waggle
表示蜂巢到蜜源的距离 indicates the distance to the nectar source.
摆动得越久 表示离花源越远 The longer the waggle, the further the flower.
它跳舞时旋转的角度 And the angle on which she dances across the cone
告知同伴花朵所在的方向 tells them the direction to the flower
与太阳所成的角度 in relation to the sun.
它的指示相当精确 Her instructions are remarkably accurate
能够准确定位到六公里外的 and can pinpoint the location of a nectar source
蜜源位置 over 6 kilometers away.
一些工友立刻出发去寻找蜜源 Some of her fellow workers set off immediately to find it.
在短短一季内 In one short season,
工蜂能采集多达5亿朵鲜花 the colony's workers will visit up to 500 million flowers
酿造出大约90公斤蜂蜜 and will make around 90 kilograms of honey.
这些足够 That is sufficient
让整个蜂群度过即将到来的寒冬 to sustain the whole colony through the coming winter
那时可就没法采蜜了 when there is no nectar to be had.
但舞蹈只能实现少数个体间的交流 But dancing can only communicate with a small number of individuals.
在非洲森林里 In the forest of Africa,
有比这些蜂群庞大千倍的种群 there are communities a thousand times larger than that.
它们大部分时间 For much of the time,
都分散在林中 they are dispersed
分成数十个队伍 ranging through the forest in dozens of columns
搜寻猎物 searching for prey.
一个行军蚁群 A driver ant colony
能有五千万只蚂蚁 may contain 50 million individuals
它们基本是全瞎的 and they are virtually all blind.
这个群体没有固定的居所 Their community has no permanent home,
只有一些临时的营地 just a series of temporary bivouacs.
蚁群由蚁后来进行统筹 The horde is coordinated by the queen.
与蜜蜂的蜂后不同 Unlike her honey bee equivalent,
它要比工蚁大出许多倍 she is many times larger than her workers.
庞大的体型让它每天 Her size enables her to produce
至少能产十万枚卵 at least 100,000 eggs a day.
工蚁会在宿营时来照料它 She's attended by the workers when they are in the bivouac
而在行动时则会把它搬走 and carried by them when the times come to move on.
兵蚁有巨大的颚 Soldiers with huge jaws
保卫着移动中的工蚁 guard the traveling workers
并且攻击工蚁找到的猎物 and attack prey when they find it.
五千万只蚂蚁组成的蚁群 A colony of 50 million
需要大量食物 needs a lot of food.
蚂蚁们通过 The ants communicate
释放和嗅探化学信息素进行交流 by releasing and smelling chemicals called pheromones.
今天早些时候 Earlier in the day,
一只侦查蚁找到了一处好的狩猎场 a scout found a good hunting site
并且用信息素在地面上沿途 and marked out the path to it
标记出了通往狩猎场的路径 by laying a trail of pheromones on the ground.
猎手们用触角嗅探着 The hunters follow the trail
沿路前进 sensing it with their antennae.
兵蚁警戒于疾行队伍的两翼 Soldiers guard the flanks of rushing column
而较小的工蚁 while the smaller workers
走在中间，它们负责屠杀 who will butcher and transport their victims
和搬运猎物 run down the middle.
队列中的前锋会攻击一切 Those of the head of the column will tackle anything
来不及逃离的活物 that is too slow to escape.
它们找到了一只蛞蝓 They have found a slug
并释放出另一种信息素 and released a different pheromone,
这回是洒向空中 this time, into the air,
表明它们需要帮助 signaling that they need help.
附近所有的工蚁和兵蚁 Workers and soldiers from all over the area
都赶来大开杀戒 rush in for the kill.
兵蚁有力的颚切入蛞蝓身体 The soldiers powerful jaws slice into the slug.
蛞蝓碎片被送到在营帐等待的 Fragments of it are sent back to the queen and workers
蚁后和工蚁那里 waiting in the bivouac.
几分钟内 And within minutes,
蛞蝓尸骨无存 Nothing is left of the slug.
蚁群通过信息素交流 By communicating with pheromones,
扫荡着森林 the colony scouring the forest
每天能猎杀数千猎物 can collect hundreds of thousands of victims in a day.
这足以使蚁后 That is enough to keep the queen
和它数百万的臣民饱食 and her millions of subjects well-fed.
这样它就能继续完成特定任务 So she can continue on her own particular task
繁殖出足够多的后代 of producing enough offspring
以维持蚁群的规模 to maintain the size of the community.
一个有着数百万成员的有序团体 An organized community of millions
只有在其中个体能够相互交流时 can only work if individuals within it
才能运作存在 can communicate with one other.
在东非大裂谷阳光炙烤的地面上 Out on the sun-baked floor of the Rift Valley in East Africa,
日间温度能达到40度甚至更高 daytime temperatures can rise to 40 degrees or more
这里几乎没有阴凉处 and there's little or no shade.
所以住在这里的白蚁 So the termites that live there
需要自力更生 make it for themselves.
它们构建带有空调的城堡 They build air-conditioned castles.
白蚁后住在地表向下 The queen lives in a special chamber
约一米深的专用庭室内 about a meter below the surface of the ground.
在它身旁 By her side,
是唯一有生育力的雄性 the single fertile male,
它的国王 her king,
白蚁群之父 the father of the colony.
白蚁后腹部又白又肥 Her pale fleshy abdomen
因为卵而膨大 is distended with eggs.
小小的头部与巨大的身躯相形见绌 Her tiny head dwarfed by her huge body.
兵蚁保护皇室宫殿 Soldiers guard the royal chamber,
它们张开螯 their pincers raised,
随时准备攻击入侵者 ready to tackle intruders.
白蚁后非常大 She's so huge,
它无法自己行动 she can't move by herself
必须由专门的工蚁来照顾 and has to be tended by specialist workers
它们不停地取悦它 who continually groove her.
白蚁后几乎不停地在产卵 She produces eggs almost continuously.
照顾它的工白蚁迅速地 Attendant workers take them away
把卵搬走 as soon as they arrive.
它一天能产数千枚卵 She can lay thousands a day,
50多岁的一生就是一亿六千五百万 165 million over a 50-year-life.
当然想要产下如此多的卵 Well, to produce this prodigious number,
它需要完美的条件： she needs perfect conditions -
稳定的温度 a steady temperature
和富氧空气的持续供应 and a constant supply of well oxygenated air.
如果得不到这些 If she doesn't get that,
白蚁后会死去 she will die,
它的蚁群也会随之消亡 and, with her, the colony.
因为它自己不能移动 Since she herself can't move,
工蚁就必须为它创造合适的条件 the workers have to create the conditions that suit her.
它们的办法就是 And they've done so
建造空气调节系统 by building an air-conditioning system,
在王宫上方矗立着 a maze of chimneys and towers
迷宫般的烟囱和塔楼 that stand above her chamber.
它能达到九米高 It can be 9 meters tall.
不过尽管白蚁丘很庞大 But despite the mound's huge size,
却没有一只白蚁常住其中 not a single termite lives in it permanently.
它们住在地下 They stay underground.
城堡的侧面布满了孔洞 The sides of the castle are studded with holes,
通过动画可以看到 Animations show how gusts of wind
阵阵吹过大草原的风 move across the savanna.
热空气吹进这些空洞 Hot air blows into these empty holes.
里面迂回曲折的通风管道 The ventilation passages within have many twists and turns
降低了空气流速 that slow down the air
而随着气流减缓 and as it slows,
在阳光照射不到的地方 beyond the reach of the sun's rays,
它变凉了 it cools.
新鲜的空气从蚁丘各处流入 The fresh air dispersing through the mound
替换里面陈旧的空气 displaces the old stale air.
外面的气温高达40摄氏度 Outside it's over 40 degrees centigrade,
但是在白蚁后的地下寝宫里面 but in the queens underground chamber,
则是舒适的27度 at comfortable 27.
这些小昆虫 Working together,
齐心协力建造了空调制冷的家园： these tiny insects have created a cool air-conditioned home -
这些是作为单个个体的它们 something they could never have done
绝对完成不了的工作 working as separated individuals.
在中美洲和南美洲的雨林里 In Central and South America, in the rainforests,
另一种巨大的昆虫群体 other immense insect communities
达到了更加让人叹为观止的成就 have achieved something perhaps even more remarkable.
这些是切叶蚁 These are leaf cutter ants
它们的地下巢穴非常庞大 and their under ground nest are gigantic.
直径可达30米 They can be 30 meters across
能容纳八百万只蚂蚁 and contain 8 million individuals.
它们成功的原因在于 And they owe their success to something
它们远在人类之前就发明了 they devised long, long before we did -
农业 agriculture.
切叶蚁发现了一种能够 Leaf-cutters have found a way of harvesting
收割林木所长出的 the vast proliferation of leaves
大量叶片的方法 produced by the forest trees.
它们把树叶一片片切下 They remove them piece by piece.
但它们并不以树叶为食 But they don't eat them.
事实上 它们完全无法消化树叶 In fact, they can't even digest them.
这些叶子是 The leaves are fodder
地下农场的养料 for their underground farms.
和所有的复杂群体一样 Like all complex colonies,
切叶蚁也有一个核心组织者 the leaf-cutters have a central organizing individual.
它们的蚁后比工蚁大许多倍 Their queen is many times larger than the workers.
当它建立蚁群时 When she founded the colony,
它带来了一小块真菌 she brought with her a tiny piece of fungus
如今在巢穴的各处菜园中生长着 that now grows in gardens throughout the nest.
真菌生长时 As it grows,
会产生小小的瘤状结构 the fungus produces little white knob-like structures
里面富含蚂蚁可以 which are full of nutrients
消化的养分 which the ants can digest.
在森林里 Out in the forest,
觅食蚁将叶子切成碎片 foragers cut the leaves into segments
并把它们搬回蚁穴 and carry them back to the nest.
它们有锋利强健的颚 They have sharp powerful jaws
能够割穿最坚韧的叶子 which slice through the toughest leaves.
它们切下来的叶片 The pieces they cut
能达到它们自身体重的50倍 can be as much as 50 times their own bodyweight.
这些叶片非常重 They can be so heavy
有时只有最大的大型蚁才能搬动 that sometimes only the larger major class of the ant can lift them.
蚁穴可能会在120米之外 Their nest may be up to 120 meters away,
这是很长的距离 a very long distance
这些搬运者本身也只有一厘米长 for a porter that is only a centimeter long.
在蚁群中最小的一级工蚁 Here the smallest class of ants in the community,
迷你蚁 the minims,
在地下的菜园里辛勤劳作 are hard at work in the underground gardens.
它们从觅食蚁那里接到叶子 They receive the leaves from the foragers,
把叶子嚼碎用来培育真菌 chew them up and feed them to the fungus.
它们非常谨慎 They are very fastidious
不停地检查 为了确保 and constantly check to make sure
菜园干净清洁并且水分合适 that the gardens are kept clean and properly watered.
它们还控制着工蚁们 They also control the quality of the leaves
送来的叶片质量 sent to them by the workers.
如果合适 If it suits them,
它们会释放一种信息素 they release a pheromone
鼓励这些工蚁去切取更多 which encourages the workers to cut more.
如果它们对拿到的叶片不满意 If they dislike what they are getting,
就释放一种不同的信息素 they release a different pheromone
停止对这类叶片的采集 that stops the collection of that kind of leaf.
一个蚁群里就有大约八百万只蚂蚁 A single colony of some 8 million individuals
能够收割在附近森林里 can harvest a fifth of the new leaves
每年五分之一的新生叶片 grown each year by the trees in the surrounding forest.
数百万紧密关联的个体 Millions of closely related individuals
已经变成了一个完整的超级生物 have become a single integrated super organism.
节肢动物 The arthropods
是地球上最成功的动物 are the most successful animals on the planet.
我们已经知道了一百多万不同品种 We already know of over a million different species
而且每天还有更多新发现 and we are discovering more everyday.
原因很简单 The reason is quite simple.
它们有四亿多年的时间 They've had over 400 million years
用于进化出新的进食、打斗 in which to evolve new ways of feeding
和合作的方式 and fighting and collaborating.
其结果就是如今我们在地球上 The result is the dazzling range of species
看到的繁多种类 that we see on earth today.
简而言之 Quite simply,
节肢动物是地球上最成功的动物 the arthropods are the most successful kind of animal on this planet.
在这个系列里 In this series,
新的科技让我们能够 new technology has enabled us
以一种不同的方式观察节肢动物 to look at arthropods in a different way
并且揭示了它们 and reveal how they have adapted
在这数亿年里 over hundreds of millions of years
如何从生活方式简单的独行马陆 from the simple solitary life style of the millipede
发展成包含数百万个体的群体 to the vast colonies containing millions of individuals.
我们探查到了它们为了生存 We have traced the fascinating technics they have evolved
进化出的奇妙本领 in order to survive
从可怕的猎物遗体伪装术 from the gruesome disguise of the assassin bug
到投弹甲超热的防卫武器 to the bombardier beetle's super-heated defenses.
我们见识了黄蜂是如何制服蟑螂 We've seen how a wasp can subdue a cockroach
把它变成自己孩子活的食物来源 and turn it into a helpless living food source for her young,
观赏了蝎子交配时非凡的舞姿 watched the extraordinary mating dance of the scorpion,
还有螳螂 and the praying mantis
为了繁殖甘愿献出生命 that sacrifices his life in order to reproduce.
这一切的产生全是因为驱动着 All are the product of the same simple drives
所有生命的简单需求 that underpin all life -
对食物 the need to eat,
生存 to survive,
和繁殖的需求 and to reproduce.
有些会照顾后代 Some care for their young.
其它的会为了寻找配偶 Others transform themselves
改变自身 in order to find a mate.
有些建立了居民数可以媲美 And some create gigantic communities
我们最大城市的巨型社群 that numerically rival our greatest cities.
感谢如今杰出的科技 And thank to today's extraordinary technology,
我们开始更加了解它们 we are beginning to understand them better.
我们愿意相信 We like to think
我们与节肢动物共享着地球 that we share the planet with the arthropods,
不过或许可以说 but you could argue
这个星球更多是它们的 that this planet is more theirs
而非我们的 than ours.