Would you raise the baby that ate your siblings? - Francesca Barbero

翻译人员: Ng Kai Yuan 校对人员: Sue Lu

You might not guess it, but this Alcon blue butterfly

知道吗？爱尔康蓝蝶其实是寄生虫，

is a parasite whose offspring will live highly unusual lives.

其后代过着非同寻常的生活。

She lays pinhead-sized eggs on a wildflower and is off.

她会在野花上产下针头大的卵然后飞走。

The first tiny caterpillar hatches a few days later.

几天后，第一只小毛虫孵化了。

After two weeks living within a flower bud,

在花蕾中生活两周后，

he embarks on a high-risk operation that will require infiltrating

毛虫会展开一项高风险的行动，

a densely guarded fortress undercover.

就是潜入一座守卫严密的秘密堡垒。

He secretes a thread of silk and descends to the ground.

他吊着分泌的一缕丝线降落在地面。

Here, he's more vulnerable than ever, but he holds still and waits.

此刻，虽然生命岌岌可危，他仍静待着。

His descent perfectly coincides with the peak foraging hours

他的垂落时间点完美对应

of the nearby red ant colony.

附近红蚁群的觅食高峰时段。

Soon enough, a worker ant encounters the caterpillar.

很快，一只工蚁遇到了毛虫。

She inspects his cuticle with her sensitive antennae

她使用敏锐的触角检测他的角质层，

and picks up on key chemical cues that she uses to recognize her kin.

找出了用以识别亲属的关键化学线索。

This is all part of the caterpillar's disguise.

但这全都是毛虫的伪装。

The worker picks him up and reverses course.

工蚁把他抱起来往回走。

Indeed, the caterpillar doesn't battle his way into the fortress.

的确，毛虫不会用武力进入堡垒，

No— he wouldn't stand a chance.

否则——他连大门都碰不着。

He's shepherded in because the ant

之所以能被带进堡垒，

is treating him like one of her colony's own larvae.

是因为蚂蚁把他当成自家幼虫。

They pass legions of ants poised to attack invaders

他们穿过严阵以待的蚂蚁军团，

and enter the intricately architected, subterranean nest,

进入架构错综复杂的地下巢穴，

which is sheltered, moist, and stockpiled with resources.

那里环境安全且潮湿，资源储备充足。

If the caterpillar's mimicry didn't work,

如果毛虫的模仿伪装不起作用，

he might have been left for dead or taken as food himself.

他可能就会被丢弃至死或被吃掉。

Instead, the ant places the caterpillar in the nursery,

现在，蚂蚁把毛虫放在了育儿室中，

among the colony's own cherished brood.

这是蚁群珍爱的巢穴。

Here, he produces sugary secretions that the worker ants feed from.

他在这里分泌含糖分泌物， 工蚁以此为食。

The nurse ants dote upon him,

护士蚁溺爱他，

regurgitating food into his mouth frequently.

频繁将食物反刍到他嘴里。

But he has a voracious appetite.

但是他的食量惊人，

He arches his body in a begging posture to obtain more food,

他会乞讨般拱起身以讨取更多食物，

and, every now and then, eats one of his own nestmates.

并不时吃掉自己的巢友。

The caterpillar also does things that the ant larvae can't:

毛虫还能做蚂蚁幼虫做不到的事情：

he makes noises that sound a lot like those emitted by the ant queens.

他能发出很像蚂蚁女王的叫声，

In effect, he signals that he's royalty and should be prioritized

表示自己是皇室成员，

over the actual ant larvae.

应该被优先照顾。

And that's exactly what happens.

事实也正是如此。

The nurse ants feed him extra.

护士蚁会帮他加饭，

And when a wild boar causes part of the nest to collapse,

当有野猪弄塌部分巢穴时，

the ants rescue the caterpillar first.

蚂蚁会先救出毛虫。

While members of the ant colony suffer reduced survival rates

虽然因为麻烦的毛虫，

because of the burdensome caterpillar,

害得蚂蚁群的存活率降低，

he passes the harsh winter living like royalty.

他却像皇室成员一样轻松度过严冬。

Come June, he's stored up plenty of nutrients

到了六月，他已储存了大量养分，

to make a dramatic transformation.

用以实施其巨大的蜕变。

He forms his chrysalis, and for three weeks,

他形成自己的蝶蛹，在三周时间里，

he uses a tooth-and-comb organ to create more queen-like acoustic vibrations,

用牙梳器官产生更多女王般的声学振动，

attracting workers to clean him.

吸引工蚁清洁他的躯体。

Then, at dawn one day, he emerges an adult butterfly.

然后，在一个黎明， 他突然蜕变为成熟的蝴蝶。

Wings still wet, his body easily fits through the gallery opening,

翅膀依然湿润， 他的身轻松穿越坑道口。

and finally, 11 months after being taken in,

终于，被收留在蚁穴 11 个月后，

he basks in the sun and begins searching for a mate.

他重沐阳光之下，开始寻找伴侣。

When he dies about a week later,

当他一周后死亡时，

he'll have spent the vast majority of his life in the realm of the ants.

他一生的绝大部分都在蚂蚁王国度过。

The Alcon blue is one of as many as 200 parasitic butterfly species,

爱尔康蓝是多达 200 种 寄生蝴蝶中的一种，

all of which target ants.

而所有寄生蝴蝶都以蚂蚁为寄生目标。

Sometimes, multiple caterpillars inhabit the same ant colony at once.

有时，多种毛虫 同时居住在一个蚁穴中。

Some stay for almost two years.

有些会住上近两年。

But researchers are still parsing these complex relationships.

但研究人员仍在解析这些复杂的关系。

For instance, certain ants guard Japanese oakblue caterpillars from predators

例如，某些蚂蚁会保护 日本紫灰蝶毛虫免受捕食者侵害，

and consume the sugary secretions the caterpillars produce in return.

毛虫为他们产生含糖分泌物作为回报。

But it turns out that this sweet concoction

到头来发现，这种甜蜜的配合

isn't a simple form of mutual assistance.

并非简单形式的互助。

Instead, chemicals in the secretions actually manipulate the ants' behavior,

分泌物含有操纵蚂蚁行为的化学成分，

inhibiting their movement

抑制蚂蚁的行动，

and making them more protective and aggressive caterpillar guards.

使其在毛虫卫护上更具保护性和侵略性。

Despite these masterful manipulations,

尽管有这些巧妙的操纵，

parasitic butterflies are vulnerable themselves.

但寄生蝴蝶本身仍很脆弱。

They're also the targets of parasitism.

他们也是别虫寄生的目标。

Even within their adopted, high-security hideaways,

即使在高度安全、被收养的藏身处，

parasitoid wasps sometimes track the caterpillars down

寄生蜂有时也会追踪毛虫，

and lay eggs on their bodies.

并在他们身上产卵。

When the wasp larvae hatch, they consume the caterpillars alive.

当黄蜂幼虫孵化时， 他们会活活地吞噬毛虫。

And because their life cycles consist of such a complex choreography

而且，由于其生命周期编排复杂，

involving specific plants and ants,

当中涉及特定植物和蚂蚁，

small environmental changes can affect their populations.

因此环境微小变化也会影响他们的生存。

One parasitic butterfly species actually went extinct in the UK in 1979,

1979 年，一种寄生蝴蝶在英国灭绝，

before being reintroduced a few years later.

几年后才重新被引入。

They've since rebounded alongside efforts to restore the meadow habitats

他们开始繁衍生息， 伴随着恢复草地栖息地的努力，

their host ants require to thrive—

他们的寄主蚂蚁由此复苏，

helping preserve these riveting relationships

从而确保其不可或缺的关系，

and the astonishing adaptations they inspire.

和由此引发的无以伦比的适应力。