世界上10種看起來像虛構卻真實存在的動物(下)
ypus
3.鴨嘴獸This semiaquatic, fur-covered, duck-billed, web-footed mammal that lays eggs seems to have been assembled from bits of other animals.
鴨嘴獸是半水棲的卵生哺乳動物，全身長毛，鴨嘴蹼足，看起來像是其它動物組裝而成的。Hailing from Australia, the platypus is about 2 feet (61 centimeters) in length and weighs just 3.5 pounds (1.5 kilograms).
鴨嘴獸主要分佈在澳大利亞，身長約2英尺（61釐米），重約3.5英磅（1.5公斤）。
In fact, the platypus is so odd that when English naturalists first obtained a carcass for study in 1799 from New South Wales Gov. John Hunter, they worried that it might be a hoax foisted upon them by a mischievous taxidermist.
1799年，新南威爾士州的官員約翰·亨特把鴨嘴獸的屍體送給英國的博物學家研究，由於鴨嘴獸的樣子太奇怪，他們一度以爲這個屍體是某個動物標本剝製師的惡作劇。
The platypus is a forager that scoops up insects, larvae, shellfish, worms and gravel with its bill from the mud on the bottom of streams.
鴨嘴獸以昆蟲、幼魚、貝類和蠕蟲爲食，它們用扁扁的嘴巴從溪流底部的河牀搜尋食物。It stores its finds within cheek pouches until it reaches the surface and then uses the gravel to mash up the food for eating – a platypus has no teeth.
把食物同砂礫一起放到腮幫子裏，然後浮出水面，由於鴨嘴獸沒有牙齒，所以它們就用砂礫把食物擠碎再吃下去。Despite its seemingly awkward design, the creature turns out to be a surprisingly adept underwater swimmer, thanks to its webbed feet and beaver-like tail.
儘管樣子看上去很奇怪，但鴨嘴獸卻是一個游泳高手，這歸功於它那條跟海狸一樣的尾巴。l Bird
2.林雕鴞In Sri Lankan folklore, a woman whose child was murdered by her husband went mad and ran off into the jungle to commit suicide.
據斯里蘭卡民間傳說，一個女人因孩子被丈夫謀殺，發瘋後跑進叢林自殺。After her death, the gods transformed her into a creature called the ulama, or devil bird, whose horrible, human-sounding wail in the distance is a portent that something terrible is about to happen.
她死後，上帝把她變成烏力馬，即惡魔鳥。它的叫聲像人的哀嚎，哪怕在遠處聽到，也一般預示着會發生可怕的事情。But was this a real animal? In the 1950s, ornithologist George Morton Henry, author of a definitive volume on the birds of Sri Lanka, decided that the devil bird actually was the spot-bellied eagle owl.
但這種動物真的存在嗎？在二十世紀五十年代，鳥類學家喬治·莫頓·亨利，《斯里蘭卡的飛鳥最終卷》一書的作者，認爲惡魔鳥就是林雕鴞。
This predatory bird, which is also known as the forest eagle owl, is found in a swath of south Asia stretching from India to Burma.
這種食肉鳥類又叫貓頭鷹 ，在亞洲南部，從印度到緬甸的大片土地都可以發現它的蹤跡。It is about 21 inches (53 centimeters) in length and has heart-shaped spots and prominent black-and-white ear tufts that give it a suitably eerie appearance.
它大約21英寸長（53釐米），有心形的斑點和突出的黑白耳毛，這讓它看起來很怪異。But people who are fearful of it shouldn't worry, because it eats only game birds (like pheasants), reptiles and fish.
但害怕它的人其實不必擔心，因爲它只吃鳥（像野雞）、爬行動物和魚。anian Devil
1.袋獾Some might think the Tasmanian devil is a fictional creature, cooked up by an imaginative animator for the Warner Bros. "Looney Tunes" shorts.
有些人可能認爲袋獾是虛構的生物，是由華納兄弟創造的想象力豐富的動畫“兔八哥”裏的角色。But it's actually a real animal, Sarcophilus harrisii, which is indigenous to Tasmania, an island to the south of the Australian mainland.
但實際上它是一種真正的有袋類動物，是靠近澳洲大陸南島的塔斯馬尼亞島上的原生物種。The size of Tasmanian devils varies considerably, depending on diet, habitat and age, but large males can grow as long as 2.5 feet (80 centimeters) and weigh as much as 26 pounds (12 kilograms).
袋獾的大小有很大差別，這取決於它們的飲食、生境和年齡，但男性可以能長到2.5英尺（80釐米），重達26磅（12公斤）。The devil is a stocky animal with brownish-black fur, white throat patches and spots on its sides and backside, pink snout and a big powerful head and jaw.
袋獾身材矮胖，棕黑色皮毛，白色的喉嚨，兩側和背面有斑點，粉色的鼻子和一個巨大的頭部和下顎。
The latter enables the scavenger to gnaw on the already dead carcasses of wombats, wallabies, sheep and rabbits, though devils also will eat insects, larvae, snakes and vegetation when the opportunity presents itself.
雖然它也會吃昆蟲、幼蟲、蛇和蔬菜，但它們通常是機會主義者，多食腐肉，以咬死的袋熊，袋鼠、羊、兔的屍體爲食。Contrary to its cartoon counterpart, the actual Tasmanian devil is a slow, lumbering creature, not a frenetic whirlwind, though it is known to get loud and rowdy when eating in groups.
雖然袋獾一起進食時聲音很大衆所周知，但與它對應的卡通形象相反，袋獾實際上是一種緩慢而低效的生物，而不是一個兇惡的生物。And despite its fearsome reputation, conservationists are worried about the devils' long-term survival, because they're threatened by a contagious facial cancer that killed off 60 percent of the population between 2000 and 2010.
儘管它們聲名狼藉，自然資源保護論者依然很擔心此物種的存活，因爲一種傳染性面部腫瘤威脅着它們的生存，這種面部腫瘤在2000到2010年間曾導致60%的袋獾喪生。
