关于动物的14个误解 个个让你惊掉下巴 14 myths about animals we all need to stop getting wrong

MYTH: Sharks can smell a drop of blood from miles away.
误解八：鲨鱼在几英里外可以闻到一滴血的气味。

This one is a big exaggeration. Jaws is not coming for you from across the ocean if you bleed in the water.
这个就太夸张了。如果你在海里流血，鲨鱼不会从海的那一头游过来吃你。

Shark have a highly enlarged brain region for smelling odours, allowing some of the fish to detect as little as 1 part blood per 10 billion parts water – roughly a drop in an Olympic-size swimming pool.
鲨鱼大脑中有一块特别大的区域和闻气味有关，这让一些鲨鱼能够觉察到100亿份水中的一份血——大约相当于奥运会游泳池中的一滴血。

But the ocean is much, much, much bigger and it takes a while for odor molecules to drift. On a very good day when the currents are favourable, a shark can smell its prey from a few football fields away – not miles.
但是海洋比游泳池要大的多得多，而且气味分子要传过去也需要一段时间。如果天气好，洋流方向又有利的话，鲨鱼可以闻到几个足球场面积以外的猎物——但不是几英里。

MYTH: Giraffes sleep for only 30 minutes a day.
误解九：长颈鹿每天只睡30分钟。

Giraffes have fairly normal sleeping patterns, as far as diurnal animals go.
在白天活动的动物当中，长颈鹿的睡眠模式很正常。

To debunk this one, researchers closely monitored a herd of five adult and three young giraffes for 152 days, counting all of their naps and deep sleeps. The animals typically slept overnight and napped in the afternoon (sound familiar?).
为了破除这个误解，研究人员在152天的时间里密切监视了五头成年长颈鹿和三头幼年长颈鹿，计算了它们打盹和深度睡眠的时间。长颈鹿通常在晚上睡觉，在下午小睡。（听上去是不是很熟悉？）

In total, each giraffe slept about 4.6 hours every day.
总体而言，每头长颈鹿每天大约睡4.6个小时。

MYTH: There are bugs in your strawberry Frappuccino.
误解十：你的草莓星冰乐里有小虫子。

This one used to be true – but not anymore.
以前是这样的，但现在不是了。

Before April 2012, Starbucks' strawberry Frappuccino contained a dye made from the ground-up bodies of thousands of tiny insects, called cochineal bugs or Dactylopius coccus.
在2012年4月之前，星巴克的草莓星冰乐里含有一种用数千条小虫子身体碾碎做成的染料，这种虫子叫胭脂虫。

Farmers in South and Central America make a living harvesting (and pulverising) the bugs that go into the dye. Their crushed bodies produce a deep red ink that is used as a natural food colouring, which was called "cochineal red" but is now called "carmine colour."
美洲南部和中部的农民以抓捕和碾碎胭脂虫做染料为生。胭脂虫磨碎的身体会产生一种深红色的染料，用来做天然的食品着色剂，这种红色过去叫“胭脂虫红”，不过现在叫洋红色。

Starbucks stopped using carmine colour in their strawberry Frappuccinos in 2012. But the dye is still used in thousands of other food products – from Nerds candies to grapefruit juice. Not to mention cosmetics, like lovely shades of red lipstick.
2012年星巴克停止在草莓星冰乐里放胭脂虫染色剂。但是这种染料仍然用在数千种其他食品中——从Nerds糖果到葡萄汁。更别提化妆品了，比如各种美丽色调的口红。

MYTH: Sharks don't get cancer.
误解十一：鲨鱼不会得癌症。

Back in 2013, researchers reported a huge tumour growing out of the mouth of a great white shark, and another on the head of a bronze whaler shark.
2013年，研究人员曾报告称在一头大白鲨的口中发现一颗巨大的肿瘤，并在另一头短尾真鲨的头上也发现了一颗肿瘤。

And those aren't the only cases of shark cancers: Other scientists have reported tumours in dozens of different shark species.
而且，这并不是鲨鱼得癌症的特例：其他科学家也报告过几十种不同鲨鱼出现的肿瘤。

The myth that sharks don't get cancer was reportedly created by William Lane to sell shark cartilage as a cancer treatment.
认为鲨鱼不会得癌症的误解据说是威廉•莱恩制造的，他试图将鲨鱼软骨作为抗癌食物售卖。