How life came to land - Tierney Thys

生命如何登上陸地 - 蒂爾尼泰思 (Tierney Thys)

Transcriber: tom carter Reviewer: Bedirhan Cinar

譯者: Allen Li 審譯者: Tien-Hsin Yang

(Stories from the Sea: How Life Came to Land)

(海洋的故事：生命如何登上陸地)

Life for my kind wasn't always this way.

我的生活並不一直是這樣

There was a time when no animals lived on land.

過去陸地曾經沒有任何動物生活

All life was in the ocean.

所有生命都活在海洋中

The ocean's where all of us animals got our start,

海洋是我們所有動物的起點

more than half a billion years ago,

在五億多年前

This is where all animal body types -- or phyla, as scientists call them -- first evolved.

所有動物的身體型態— 科學家稱之為「門」—開始演化

You know, there are more than 30 animal phyla,

動物分為三十多門

but only a handful of major ones had what it took to do something completely daring:

只有少數幾個主要類別 敢踏出最大膽的一步：

step out of the ocean, and on to dry land.

走出海洋，走上乾燥的陸地

So, which of these land-dwelling phyla first invaded the land?

第一批攻上陸地的 陸棲動物是哪一門？

Was it me and my mollusc friends, with our amazing mantles and single foot?

是有驚人的外套膜和單腳的我 以及我的軟體動物朋友嗎？

Perhaps the chordate crowd, with their notochords, segmented muscles and big bony skeletons.

或有脊索、分段肌肉、大骨架的 脊索動物？

Or maybe those lowly annelid worms, with their powerful ringed bodies.

難道是有強大環狀身體的 低等環節動物？

Or did the Arthropods first make landfall, with their little flexible suits of armor -- their exoskeleton?

還是有小小彈性盔甲外骨骼 的節肢動物，最先登陸？

Ah, yes. The arthropods.

噢，答對了，節肢動物

From crustaceans to millipedes, spiders to insects,

從甲殼動物、到馬陸、蜘蛛、昆蟲

the arthropods outnumber all animals on land.

節肢動物的數量超過所有陸生動物

So what's their secret?

牠們的秘密是什麼呢？

Their exoskeleton is key, but here's the real kicker: jointed appendages.

外骨骼是關鍵，但牠們真正的秘密武器 是有關節的附肢

They're like little living Swiss army knives:

好像小小活生生的瑞士刀

antennae, multiple mouth parts, an obscene number of legs, if you ask me.

有天線、多重口器、多到噁心的腳… 如果你問我意見的話

There's one group of arthropods -- the insects --

有一群節肢動物—昆蟲

that really rule the land.

真正統治陸地

Three body parts, six legs, and an annoying tendency to take over.

三部分的身體、六條腿、 還有惱人的征服陸地的傾向

Sure, they have to molt to grow, but that doesn't seem to pose a problem.

要蛻皮才能長大，但這似乎不成問題

The insects even invented the first wings, and conquered the skies.

昆蟲甚至發明了翅膀，征服天空

Ah, well. So what if arthropods were the first to reach land

節肢動物首先登陸、

and invent flight, a hundred million years before the rest of us?

發明飛行，比其他人早幾億年

So what if they pollinate crops around the world,

牠們在世界各地為農作物授粉

and make up 75% of all land animal species?

佔所有陸生動物種類的 75%

And that for every single human, there's 200 million of them?

相對每個人就有 200 萬隻節肢動物 這些很了不起嗎？

Sure, those leggy arthropods may still be in the lead when it comes to conquering land,

談到稱霸陸地 多腳的節肢動物可能還是領先

but we still rule in the sea.

但我們依然統治海洋

There are more species of molluscs in the ocean than any other animal phylum.

海洋中的軟體動物種類 比其他任何動物門都多

We're just getting started up here on land.

我們才剛開始踏上陸地

Besides, the seas are rising. Just give us some time.

而且海平面正在上升 只要給我們一點時間

Who knows who'll end up ruling this ocean planet?

就知道最後誰會統治 這個海洋星球了