Licking bees and pulping trees: The reign of a wasp queen - Kenny Coogan

翻译人员: QIQI PU 校对人员: Jiasi Hao

As the April sun rises on a pile of firewood,

四月，太阳从一堆木柴上方升起,

something royal stirs inside.

皇室的气息开始在其中蔓延。

This wasp queen is one of thousands who mated in late autumn

这只黄蜂蜂后 是上千只在去年秋天交配过的

and hibernated through the winter.

且冬眠熬过寒冬的蜂后中的一员。

Now she emerges into the spring air to begin her reign.

现在，它在春风中苏醒， 开始它的王朝。

Most of her sisters weren’t so lucky.

然而，它大多数的姐妹并没有这么幸运。

While hibernating in compost piles and underground burrows,

在堆肥和地洞中冬眠时，

many sleeping queens were eaten by spiders.

许多沉睡中的蜂后都被蜘蛛吃掉了。

Warm winters caused by climate change led other queens to emerge early,

气候变化导致的暖冬 使得许多蜂后们早早苏醒

only to find there was no available food.

却发现无法找到食物。

And some queens that survived the winter fell victim to the threats of spring,

一些熬过冬天的蜂后则未能逃过春日危机，

such as carnivorous plants, birds, and manmade pesticides.

例如食虫植物、鸟类和人造杀虫剂。

Our queen is the lone survivor of her old hive, and now,

我们的蜂后是它旧蜂巢中的 唯一幸存者，而现在，

she must become the foundress of a new one.

它必须成为一个新蜂巢的创建者。

But first, breakfast.

但首要问题，是早餐。

The queen heads for a citrus grove full of honeybee hives.

这位蜂后朝一片蜂巢遍布的柑橘林飞去。

The bees can be dangerous if provoked,

这里的蜜蜂如果被激怒了将会非常危险，

but right now they’re paralyzed by the morning cold.

但现在它们在清晨的寒冷中动弹不得。

Their hairy bodies are dripping with sugar water from an earlier feeding,

它们毛茸茸的身体 滴落着之前进食获得的糖水

and the resourceful queen licks them for a morning snack.

而机智的蜂后 舔食这些糖水当作清晨小食。

Newly energized, our queen searches for a safe nesting area.

补充完能量， 蜂后开始寻找安全的筑巢地。

This tree hollow, safe from rain, wind, and predators, is ideal.

这棵中空的树很理想， 防风雨又可抵御天敌。

She chews the surrounding wood and plant fibers

它咀嚼周围木头和植物的纤维，

to make a paper-like pulp.

来制造一种纸浆一样的浆状物。

Then she builds around 50 brood cells that comprise the beginning of her nest.

然后建造 50 个蜂室作为巢穴的基底。

Using sperm stored from last fall,

借助去年秋天储存的精子，

the queen lays a fertilized egg into each cell,

这只蜂后在每个蜂室中 产下一枚受精卵，

producing as many as 12 in 20 minutes.

每 20 分钟产量高达 12 枚。

Within a week, these will hatch into female larva.

一周内，这些受精卵会孵化为雌性幼虫。

But until then, the queen must hunt down smaller insects to feed her brood,

在那之前，蜂后必须捕食小昆虫 来喂养幼卵，

all while expanding the hive, laying eggs, and defending against intruders.

与此同时还要扩建巢穴、 产卵、并抵御入侵者。

Fortunately, our queen is well prepared.

还好，我们的蜂后做好了充足的准备。

Unlike bees, wasps can sting as many times as they need to.

和蜜蜂不同，黄蜂的叮蛰没有次数限制。

With such a busy schedule, the queen barely has time to feed herself.

在如此繁忙的行程下， 蜂后基本没空进食。

幸运的是，它也不一定需要。

Luckily, she doesn’t have to.

When she feeds an insect to her grubs,

当它给幼虫喂食昆虫时，

they digest the bug into a sugary substance that sustains their mother.

幼虫会将虫子消化为含糖物质 来供养母亲。

By the end of July, these first larva have matured into adult workers,

等到七月末，最初的幼虫 成长为成年工蜂，

ready to take on foraging, building, and defense.

开始接手觅食、建造和防御的工作。

The queen can now lay eggs full-time,

蜂后一心一意地开始产卵，

sustaining herself on her worker’s spoils and their unfertilized eggs.

依靠工蜂的供养和它们未受精的卵 维持生存。

Although each worker only lives for roughly 3 weeks,

尽管每只工蜂仅能存活 大约三周的时间，

the queen’s continuous egg-laying swells their ranks.

但蜂后不停地产卵 使得它们的队伍持续增长。

In just one summer, the nest reaches the size of a basketball,

仅仅一个夏天， 巢穴就变得像篮球一样大，

supporting thousands of workers.

可供上千工蜂栖息。

Such a large population needs to eat,

数量如此庞大的蜂群需要食物来维持，

and the nearby garden provides a veritable buffet.

而旁边花园里名副其实的“自助餐” 可以满足它们的需求。

As the swarm descends, alarmed humans try to swat them.

随着蜂群逼近， 警惕的人类尝试拍打它们。

They even fight back with pesticides that purposefully poison wasps,

他们甚至使用 专灭黄蜂的杀虫剂来回击，

and inadvertently impact a wide-range of local wildlife.

不经意间影响到了当地 很多的野生动物。

But the wasps are actually vital to this ecosystem.

事实上，黄蜂对于生态系统非常关键。

坐拥无脊椎动物食物链顶端，

Sitting at the top of the local invertebrate food chain,

these insects keep spiders, mites, and centipedes, in check.

这些昆虫控制着 蜘蛛、螨虫和蜈蚣的数量。

Wasps consume crop-eating insects,

黄蜂会消耗吃农作物的昆虫，

以此帮助农田和花园。

making them particularly helpful for farms and gardens.

They even pollinate fruits and vegetables,

它们甚至帮助水果和蔬菜授粉，

and help winemakers by biting into their grapes

并且通过叮咬葡萄， 使其快速启动发酵的方法

and jump-starting fermentation.

来帮助酿酒人。

This feast continues until autumn, when the foundress changes course.

秋天，这场盛会 随着蜂后目标的改变而落幕。

She begins grooming some eggs into a new generation of queens,

它开始将一些卵 养育为新一代的蜂后，

while also laying unfertilized eggs

同时也继续产下未受精的

that will mature into reproductive males called drones.

可成长为工蜂的雄性生殖蜂。

This new crop of queens and males requires more food.

新出生的雌蜂和雄蜂需要更多的食物，

But with summer over, the usual sources run dry,

但随着夏季的结束， 食物来源消耗殆尽。

and the foraging wasps start taking more aggressive risks.

觅食的黄蜂开始面对更多凶险。

By September, the hive’s organization deteriorates.

九月，蜂巢的组织体系逐渐恶化。

Hungry workers no longer clean the nest and various scavengers move in.

饥饿的工蜂不再清理巢穴， 于是许多清道夫侵入。

当巢穴无法再继续维持时，

Just when it seems the hive can no longer sustain itself,

the fertile queens and their drones depart in a massive swarm.

具有繁殖能力的蜂后和它的守护者们 浩浩荡荡地离开了。

As the days grow colder, the workers starve,

随着天气逐渐寒冷，工蜂们会被饿死。

and our queen reaches the end of her lifespan.

我们的蜂后已走到了人生最后阶段。

But above, a swarm of reproductive wasps has successfully mated.

好在一群生殖黄蜂已成功交配。

The males die off shortly after,

雄蜂不久之后就会死去，

but the newly fertilized queens are ready to find shelter for their long sleep.

新受孕的蜂后也已经准备好 去寻找冬眠的庇护所了。

And this woodpile looks like the perfect place to spend the winter.

这堆木柴看起来像是过冬的完美之地。