Puke, poop and tiny cockroaches: How the leafcutter ant queen runs her farm - Charles Wallace

翻译人员: Yip Yan Yeung 校对人员: Jacky He

In this south Texas clearing,

在这片南德州的林中空地上，

an ancient tale that ties the members of four species together is unfurling.

一个将来自四个物种的生物 联系在一起的古老传说就此上演。

The first involved is our soon-to-be queen leafcutter ant.

第一个涉及的生物 是未来的切叶蚁后，

The second is this fungus, a piece of which she scoops into her mouth pocket.

第二个是种真菌， 被她吞入嘴中。

The third are these tiny cockroaches, which nestle under her wings.

第三个是小小的蟑螂， 躲在她的翅膀下面。

And the fourth is the one that threatens them all.

第四个威胁着以上那些生物。

But it’ll reveal itself later.

它会在之后揭露自己的身份。

In a flapping-wing frenzy, our ant takes to the sky.

蚂蚁奋力振翅飞向了天空。

This is the only chance she’ll have to mate,

由于这是她唯一的交配机会，

so she stores as much sperm as she can from the males she meets in midair.

她会从在空中遇到的雄蚁那里 储存尽可能多的精子。

After dropping to the ground, she sheds her wings and begins digging.

回到地面后， 她便折断她的翅膀，开始挖土。

She excavates a tunnel and a side chamber, then plugs the entrance,

她挖出了一条通道和一间侧室， 然后堵上入口，

sealing herself in.

把自己封在里面。

There, she regurgitates the fungus.

此时她会反刍真菌。

This pile of puke will form the bedrock of her kingdom.

吐出来的东西 会成为她的王国的基石。

Over the following weeks,

在接下来的几周内，

in between laying eggs and consuming the infertile ones,

在产卵和吃掉未受精卵的间歇，

she tends to her developing fungal garden,

她悉心呵护着日渐壮大的真菌花园，

fertilizing it with feces.

给其用排泄物施肥。

Finally, her first offspring surge forth and establish a rhythm.

终于，她的第一个后代 破茧而出，建起了分工体系。

Soldiers guard the nest while foragers set off to find tender foliage.

兵役保卫蚁穴， 工蚁出发寻找嫩叶。

The larger foragers, equipped with powerful mandibles,

体型较大的工蚁 有着更有力的上颚，

anchor themselves on leaves and chomp away in a wide arcs.

它们会牢牢抓住叶片， 咬下一大口，

Holding these pieces aloft,

把叶片叼着，

which can weigh more than eight times their body mass,

而其重量超过它们自身体重的八倍，

the workers march back to the nest.

工蚁们返回蚁穴。

Meanwhile, the colony’s smallest ants clean the leaf fragments

与此同时，蚁群中最小的蚂蚁 会清除叶片上的

of debris and pathogens.

碎片和病菌。

But the colony doesn’t eat these morsels.

但是蚁群不会吃掉 这为数不多的食物，

Instead, the ants use them to sustain their fungus,

而是将其用于滋养真菌；

which, in turn, sustains the colony.

这将反过来滋养蚁群。

More than 10 million years ago, leafcutter ants domesticated fungus.

超过一千万年以前， 切叶蚁驯化了真菌。

Like many of our crops, the fungus they farm

就和很多农作物一样， 它们培育的真菌

is genetically distinct from its wild relatives

与其野生近亲 有着基因上的差别，

and can no longer survive without their help.

如果没有它们的帮助， 真菌就无法存活。

Reciprocally, the fungus provides the ants with an essential amino acid

真菌也礼尚往来地为蚂蚁 提供着它们已经丧失的

and digestive enzymes they’ve lost.

必要的氨基酸和消化酶。

Once the workers return to the nest with their spoils,

工蚁带着战利品回来以后，

they crush up the leaves,

就会切碎叶片，

making their offerings easier for the fungus to consume.

让它们更容易被真菌吸收。

Foragers work tirelessly over the following months.

觅食工蚁几个月中将不知疲倦地工作。

They create thousands of trails, stretching hundreds of meters.

它们走出了无数条路径， 绵延上千米。

All of them are perfumed with the ants’ pheromones

这些路径都沾上了蚂蚁的信息素，

and constantly cleaned to function as efficient highways.

还会被不断地清理， 以成为高效的高速路。

Meanwhile, the queen lays thousands of eggs every day

另一边，蚁后每天都要产上千个卵，

and is tended to by members of her entourage,

并由她的亲卫队照料，

which nourish her with the large, infertile eggs they lay.

用自己产下的 大个未受精卵滋养她。

Among enclosures containing garbage and growing larvae,

周围是垃圾和逐渐长大的幼虫，

workers tend fungal gardens in various chambers throughout the colony.

工蚁照料着整个蚁群中 各个洞穴里的真菌花园。

They prune bits of the fungus to stimulate growth

它们会修剪一些真菌， 刺激它的生长，

and strategically open and close surface tunnels,

有计划地打开、关上 通向地表的通道，

controlling the humidity.

以控制湿度。

But ants aren't the only animals down here.

但蚂蚁不是地下唯一的动物。

Tiny cockroaches like those that originally crept under the queen’s wings

原本躲在蚁后翅膀下的微小蟑螂

feed opportunistically off the fungus.

也伺机摄取真菌。

Each could fit on the head of a Q-Tip.

它们只有棉签头那么大。

They hitch rides on soon-to-be queens,

它们搭上了未来蚁后的便车，

and make their way to more established colonies.

前往更庞大的蚁群部落。

Inside the leafcutter nest, they’re undercover:

在切叶蚁的巢穴里， 蟑螂们伪装自己，

closely mimicking the ants’ signature scent,

出色地模仿蚂蚁的标志性气味，

they frolic and feed in the fungal gardens,

在真菌花园里吃喝玩乐，

mostly undetected.

而不易被发现。

And here’s where this tale’s antagonist rears its virulent fruiting body:

在这里，故事中的大反派 露出它带毒性的真身：

our elusive fourth character is a parasitic micro-fungus called Escovopsis.

我们这不动声色的第四位角色 是一种寄生微真菌，名为 Escovopsis。

If left unchecked, it would destroy the fungal gardens and the ants

如果置之不理， 它会摧毁真菌花园和

and the cockroaches that depend on them.

依赖真菌生存的蚂蚁和蟑螂。

The leafcutters mount a barrage of defenses.

切叶蚁布下道道防线。

They rigorously weed Escovopsis out

它们毫不留情地 把 Escovopsis 赶了出去，

and partner up with different microorganisms like yeasts and bacteria

与酵母菌和细菌之类的各种微生物

to stunt its growth.

联手抑制 Escovopsis 的生长。

Eventually, the leafcutter colony covers several meters of underground tunnels,

最终，切叶蚁群遍布 数米长的地下通道，

comprises millions of workers, and can defoliate a tree in a single night.

多达上百万只工蚁， 能在一夜之间让一棵树叶片尽失。

The queen’s kingdom will persist as long as she does,

只要蚁后活着， 她的王国就会屹立不倒，

which may be over a decade.

可能会持续超过十年。

Every spring, some of the queen’s offspring prepare to leave.

每年春天， 有些蚁后的子嗣会准备离巢。

They grab a piece of home and crowd the surface chambers,

它们会拿走家里的一部分， 挤满靠近地表的洞穴，

preparing to fly off and mate, beginning the cycle anew.

准备起飞、交配， 开启一个新的循环。