The spear-wielding stork who revolutionized science - Lucy Cooke

翻译人员: Zizhuo Liang 校对人员: Helen Chang

In May of 1822, Count Christian Ludwig von Bothmer

1822年5月， 克里斯蒂安·路德维希·冯·博斯默伯爵

shot down a stork over his castle grounds in North Germany.

在德国北部的城堡上空击落了一只鹳。

However, he wasn’t the first person to hunt that specific bird.

然而，他并不是第一个 捕猎这种鸟的人。

Upon recovering the stork,

收复鹳鸟后，

von Bothmer found it impaled by a yard long wooden spear.

冯·博斯默发现它被一根 一码长的木矛刺穿了。

A local professor determined the weapon was African in origin,

当地的一位教授断定 这种武器产自非洲，

suggesting that somehow, this stork was speared in Africa

这表明不知何故， 这只鹳是在非洲被刺穿后，

and then flew over 2,500 kilometers to the count’s castle.

飞了2500多公里 到伯爵的城堡。

这次惊人的飞行不仅仅 证明了鹳的强大恢复力，

This astonishing flight wasn’t just evidence of the stork’s resilience.

It was an essential clue in a mystery that plagued scientists for centuries:

还是困扰科学家几个世纪的 神秘事件中的一条重要线索：

the seasonal disappearance of birds.

鸟类的季节性消失。

Ancient naturalists had various theories to explain the annual vanishing act

古代自然主义者有各种各样的理论 来解释鸟每年的消失的这种行为。

we now know as migration.

我们现在称之为迁徙。

Aristotle himself proposed three particularly popular ideas.

亚里士多德提出了三个 特别流行的观点。

One theory was that birds transformed into different bodies that suited the season.

一种理论认为鸟类会根据季节的不同 而转变成不同的身体。

For example, summer time garden warblers

例如，夏季花园里的柳莺

were believed to transform into black caps every winter.

被认为每年冬天 都会变成黑色的帽子。

In reality these are two distinct species— similar in shape and size,

实际上，这是两个截然不同的 物种—形状和大小相似，

but never appearing at the same time.

但从不同时出现。

Over the following centuries, birds were said to morph into humans,

在接下来的几个世纪里， 鸟类据说会变成人类，

plants, and even the timbers of ships.

植物，甚至船只的木材。

This last transmutation was especially popular with many Christian clergy.

而这最后一次蜕变理论特别受许多 基督教神职人员的欢迎。

If barnacle geese were truly made of wood,

如果黒雁鹅真的是由木头制成的，

they could be deemed vegetarian and enjoyed during meatless fasts.

它们可以被视为素食者， 在无肉斋戒期间享用。

Aristotle’s second and even more enduring hypothesis was that birds hibernate.

亚里士多德的第二个甚至更持久的 假设是鸟类冬眠。

This isn’t so far-fetched.

这并不牵强。

Some species do enter short,

有些物种确实会进入短暂的

deep sleeps which lower their heart rates and metabolisms.

深度睡眠，这会降低 它们的心率和代谢。

And there’s at least one truly hibernating bird:

至少有一种真正的冬眠鸟：

the common poorwill sleeps out winters in the deserts of North America.

三声夜鹰在北美的沙漠里过冬。

But researchers were proposing much more outlandish forms of hibernation

但是直到19世纪，研究人员还提出了

well into the 19th century.

更多更奇怪的冬眠形式。

Barn swallows were said to remove their feathers and hibernate in holes,

谷仓燕据说会 脱掉羽毛在洞里冬眠，

或者在湖底和河底过夜。

or sleep through the winter at the bottom of lakes and rivers.

Aristotle’s final theory was much more reasonable,

亚里士多德的最终理论更加合理，

and resembled something like realistic migration.

类似于现实的迁徙。

However, this idea was also taken to extremes.

然而，这一想法 也被推向了极端。

In 1666, the leading migration advocate was convinced that each winter,

1666年，主要的迁徙理论的 倡导者确信每年冬天，

birds flew to the moon.

鸟儿会飞向月球。

It might seem strange that prominent researchers considered such bizarre ideas.

杰出的研究人员的这种 匪夷所思的想法令人奇怪。

But to be fair, the true story of migration

但公平地说，迁徙背后的的真实故事

may be even harder to believe than their wildest theories.

可能比他们最疯狂的 理论更难相信。

Roughly 20% of all bird species migrate each year,

每年大约有20%的鸟类回迁徙，

following warm weather and fresh food around the planet.

跟随着地球的温暖天气和新鲜食物。

For birds who spend their summers in the northern hemisphere,

对于在北半球度过 夏天的鸟类来说，

this journey can span from 700 to over 17,000 kilometers,

这段旅程可以跨越 700到17000多公里，

with some flights lasting as long as four months.

有些飞行时间 甚至长达4个月。

Birds who migrate across oceans may soar without stopping for over 100 hours.

迁徙穿越海洋的鸟类 可以不停地翱翔100多小时。

Sleeping and eating on the fly, they navigate the endless ocean

他们在飞行中睡觉和吃饭，

by the stars, wind currents, and Earth’s magnetic field.

在星星、气流和地球磁场的帮助下 在无尽的海洋中航行。

Tracking the specifics of these epic expeditions is notoriously difficult.

众所周知，追踪这些史诗探险的 细节是非常困难的。

And while birds often take the most direct route possible,

虽然鸟类通常 会选择最直接的路线，

storms and human development can alter their paths,

风暴和人类发展 会改变它们的路径，

further complicating our attempts to chart migration.

使我们绘制 迁徙图表的尝试更加复杂。

Fortunately, Count von Bothmer’s stork offered physical proof

幸运的是，冯·博斯默伯爵的 鹳鸟提供了实物证据

not only that European storks were migrating south for the winter,

证明欧洲鹳向南迁徙过冬，

but also where they were migrating to.

和它们迁徙到的地方。

Ornithologists across the continent

整个大陆的鸟类学家

were eager to map the trajectory of this flight,

都渴望绘制这飞行的轨迹图，

including Johannes Thienemann.

包括约翰尼斯·蒂尼曼，

Owner of the world’s first permanent bird observatory,

他拥有世界上第一个 永久性鸟类观测站，

Thienemann was a major public advocate for the study of birds.

是鸟类研究的主要公众倡导者。

And to solve the field’s biggest mystery,

为了解开这个领域最大的谜团，

he wrangled an army of volunteers from across Germany.

他与德国各地的大批志愿者争论。

His team used aluminum rings to tag the legs of two thousand storks

他的团队用铝环 在2000只鹳的腿上

with unique numbers and the address of his offices.

贴上独特的编号 和他办公室的地址。

Then he advertised the initiative as widely as possible.

然后，他尽可能广泛地 宣传这一行动。

His hope was that word of the experiment would find its way to Africa,

他希望实验的消息能传到非洲，

so people finding the tags would know to mail them back with more information.

这样找到标签的人就会知道 把更多信息寄回去。

Sure enough, from 1908 to 1913,

果然，从1908年到1913年，

Thienemann received 178 rings, 48 of which had been found in Africa.

蒂尼曼收到了178枚铝环，

其中48个是在非洲发现的。

Using this data, he plotted the first migration route ever discovered,

利用这些数据，他绘制了有史以来 发现的第一条迁徙路线，

并最终以此确定 鹳实际上并没有飞往月球。

and definitively established that storks were not, in fact, flying to the moon.