I want you to put off your preconceptions, your preconceived fears and thoughts about reptiles. Because that is the only way I'm going to get my story across to you. And by the way, if I come across as a sort of rabid, hippie conservationist, it's purely a figment of your imagination. (Laughter)
我希望大家能放下成見, 放下那些對爬行動物先入為主的恐懼和想法。 因為只有這樣我才能讓你們相信我要講的內容。 另外,如果我讓大家以為我是某類 狂熱的,嬉皮環保份子, 那完全是你們想像出來的。 (觀眾笑聲)
Okay. We are actually the first species on Earth to be so prolific to actually threaten our own survival. And I know we've all seen images enough to make us numb, of the tragedies that we're perpetrating on the planet. We're kind of like greedy kids, using it all up, aren't we? And today is a time for me to talk to you about water. It's not only because we like to drink lots of it, and its marvelous derivatives, beer, wine, etc. And, of course, watch it fall from the sky and flow in our wonderful rivers, but for several other reasons as well.
好。我們事實上是地球上的第一個物種 其繁育程度確實在威脅到我們自己的生存。 我也知道我們已經看到麻木了, 那些我們正在這個星球上造成的種種悲劇的圖片。 我們就像貪婪的小孩,什麽都要用光光,是不是? 今天我想跟大家聊聊水。 這不僅因為我們喜歡喝水, 以及水的大量衍生物,啤酒,葡萄酒等等。 當然,還有看著水從天空降下 流進我們那些美麗的河流, 但除此以外還有其他一些原因。
When I was a kid, growing up in New York, I was smitten by snakes, the same way most kids are smitten by tops, marbles, cars, trains, cricket balls. And my mother, brave lady, was partly to blame, taking me to the New York Natural History Museum, buying me books on snakes, and then starting this infamous career of mine, which has culminated in of course, arriving in India 60 years ago, brought by my mother, Doris Norden, and my stepfather, Rama Chattopadhyaya.
我小時候在紐約長大, 我深深迷上了蛇這種動物,就像很多孩子 迷戀陀螺,彈子,汽車,火車,板球一樣。 而我母親,一位大膽的女士 也要為此負點責任, 她帶我去紐約自然歷史博物館, 給我買了一堆關於蛇的書, 開啟了我這個不甚光彩的事業。 也因此促成 60年前 我被我媽Doris Norden 和我的繼父Rama Chattopadhyaya帶到了印度。
It's been a roller coaster ride. Two animals, two iconic reptiles really captivated me very early on. One of them was the remarkable gharial. This crocodile, which grows to almost 20 feet long in the northern rivers, and this charismatic snake, the king cobra. What my purpose of the talk today really is, is to sort of indelibly scar your minds with these charismatic and majestic creatures. Because this is what you will take away from here, a reconnection with nature, I hope.
這簡直就像是坐雲霄飛車。 這兩種動物,這兩種典型的爬行動物 確實從一開始就把我吸引住了。 一個是不同尋常的印度鱷。 這種鱷魚可以長至20英尺長, 棲息在北部流域, 而另一種是富有魅力的是:眼鏡王蛇。 今天我的講座的目的就是 要永久性地在你們的腦子里留下 關於這些神秘而又威嚴的動物的印記。 因為這就是我希望你們將從講座中得到的, 與大自然重新建立聯繫,我希望。
The king cobra is quite remarkable for several reasons. What you're seeing here is very recently shot images in a forest nearby here, of a female king cobra making her nest. Here is a limbless animal, capable of gathering a huge mound of leaves, and then laying her eggs inside, to withstand 5 to 10 [meters of rainfall], in order that the eggs can incubate over the next 90 days, and hatch into little baby king cobras. So, she protects her eggs, and after three months, the babies finally do hatch out. A majority of them will die, of course. There is very high mortality in little baby reptiles who are just 10 to 12 inches long.
眼鏡王蛇之所以這麼不平凡有幾個原因。 你在這裡看到的是最近拍攝的影像 就在這附近的叢林里, 一條雌眼鏡王蛇正在做窩。 這種完全沒有四肢的動物,能夠聚攏起一個巨大的葉子小山, 然後把卵產在裏面, 它能承受5到10米的降雨量, 從而這些卵能夠在接下來的90天里孵化, 生出小眼鏡王蛇。 於是,她就這樣保護自己的卵, 3個月以後, 小蛇終於破殼而出。 當然,它們中的大部份都會死掉。年幼爬行動物的死亡率很高 這時它們僅有10到12英寸長。
My first experience with king cobras was in '72 at a magical place called Agumbe, in Karnataka, this state. And it is a marvelous rain forest. This first encounter was kind of like the Maasai boy who kills the lion to become a warrior. It really changed my life totally. And it brought me straight into the conservation fray. I ended up starting this research and education station in Agumbe, which you are all of course invited to visit.
我第一次接觸到眼鏡王蛇是在1972年, 在一個叫做Agumbe的神秘地方, 在Karnataka邦(印度地名)。 那裡是一個令人驚異的雨林。 第一次相遇 有些類似 馬賽族(非洲部族)的男孩要殺死一頭獅子才能成為戰士。 它的確徹底改變了我的一生。 它一下就把我帶入環境保護的衝突中。 最後我在Agumbe建立了這個 研究和教育工作站, 歡迎你們大家都來參觀。
This is basically a base wherein we are trying to gather and learn virtually everything about the biodiversity of this incredibly complex forest system, and try to hang on to what's there, make sure the water sources are protected and kept clean, and of course, having a good time too. You can almost hear the drums throbbing back in that little cottage where we stay when we're there. It was very important for us to get through to the people. And through the children is usually the way to go. They are fascinated with snakes. They haven't got that steely thing that you end up either fearing or hating or despising or loathing them in some way. They are interested. And it really works to start with them. This gives you an idea of the size of some of these snakes.
基本上這就是一個基地 在這裡我們試圖聚在一起並學習 差不多關於這個極為複雜的雨林系統的 生物多樣性的一切 並試圖維持這一切, 保證水源受到保護,保持清潔, 當然,我們自己也玩得很開心。 你幾乎能聽到鼓聲 在這個小窩棚里迴蕩。我們就待在裡頭。 讓當地人理解我們是非常重要的。 最常見的辦法是通過小孩子。 他們也對蛇很著迷。他們還沒有 那種你們現在持有的雷打不動的看法 不是害怕就是仇恨,不是鄙夷就是厭惡。 他們覺得有趣。 而且從他們開始這個方法確實有效。 這能讓你知道一些蛇有多大。
This is an average size king cobra, about 12 feet long. And it actually crawled into somebody's bathroom, and was hanging around there for two or three days. The people of this part of India worship the king cobra. And they didn't kill it. They called us to catch it. Now we've caught more than 100 king cobras over the last three years, and relocated them in nearby forests.
這是一條一般大小的眼鏡王蛇:大約12英尺長。 它真的爬進某人家的浴室, 還在那裡小住了兩三天。 印度這一地區的人們 崇拜眼鏡王蛇。 他們不會殺死它,而是打電話叫我們來抓它。 在過去的三年裡, 我們已經抓了一百多條眼鏡蛇 並把它們放生在周圍的叢林中。
But in order to find out the real secrets of these creatures [it was necessary] for us to actually insert a small radio transmitter inside [each] snake. Now we are able to follow them and find out their secrets, where the babies go after they hatch, and remarkable things like this you're about to see. This was just a few days ago in Agumbe. I had the pleasure of being close to this large king cobra who had caught a venomous pit viper. And it does it in such a way that it doesn't get bitten itself. And king cobras feed only on snakes. This [little snake] was kind of a tid-bit for it, what we'd call a "vadai" or a donut or something like that. (Laughter)
但是爲了找到這些生物的真正的秘密, 我們有必要殖入 一個微型的無線電發射器在每條蛇裡。 現在我們可以追蹤它們,並發現它們的秘密, 孵化出來的小蛇們去了哪裡, 以及很多類似的你將看到的神奇的事。 這是幾天前,在Agumbe, 我很高興能如此靠近這條大眼鏡王蛇, 它抓到一條劇毒的毒蛇。 它的捕食方式很巧妙令它不會被咬到。 而且眼鏡王蛇只吃蛇。 這條小蛇對它來說還不夠塞牙縫, 只能算一塊小點心。 (觀眾笑聲)
Usually they eat something a bit larger. In this case a rather strange and inexplicable activity happened over the last breeding season, wherein a large male king cobra actually grabbed a female king cobra, didn't mate with it, actually killed it and swallowed it. We're still trying to explain and come to terms with what is the evolutionary advantage of this.
通常它們吃的蛇更大一些。 這裡發生的是一件更為奇特和無法解釋的行為 它發生在上一個交配季節 一條很大的雄性眼鏡王蛇抓住了一條雌蛇, 它非但沒有進行交配,反而竟然殺死了它,吞了下去。 我們還在試圖解釋和理解 這樣做能帶來什麽進化上的優勢。
But they do also a lot of other remarkable things. This is again, something [we were able to see] by virtue of the fact that we had a radio transmitter in one of the snakes. This male snake, 12 feet long, met another male king cobra. And they did this incredible ritual combat dance. It's very much like the rutting of mammals, including humans, you know, sorting out our differences, but gentler, no biting allowed. It's just a wresting match, but a remarkable activity.
但是還有另外一些奇異的事。 這個,是我們真真切切看到的, 我們在其中一條蛇身上植入了發射器, 這條雄蛇,有12英尺長,遇到了另一條雄蛇。 然後它們就開始了這場令人難以置信的儀式性的戰鬥舞蹈。 這非常類似包括人類在內的哺乳動物的發情表現, 就是展示自己的獨特之處,但是更為溫和,禁止撕咬。 這就是一場角力, 卻是非比尋常的行為。
Now, what are we doing with all this information? What's the point of all this? Well, the king cobra is literally a keystone species in these rainforests. And our job is to convince the authorities that these forests have to be protected. And this is one of the ways we do it, by learning as much as we can about something so remarkable and so iconic in the rainforests there, in order to help protect trees, animals and of course the water sources.
那麼,我們收集這些信息來幹什麼呢? 這樣做有什麽意義? 眼鏡王蛇根本就是 這些雨林中的關鍵物種。 我們的工作就是讓有關當局相信 這些雨林必須受到保護。 我們採取的方法之一 就是儘量多的瞭解 雨林中最不同尋常最有代表性的事物, 從而有助於保護其他植物和動物 當然還有水資源。
You've all heard, perhaps, of Project Tiger which started back in the early '70s, which was, in fact, a very dynamic time for conservation. We were piloted, I could say, by a highly autocratic stateswoman, but who also had an incredible passion for environment. And this is the time when Project Tiger emerged. And, just like Project Tiger, our activities with the king cobra is to look at a species of animal so that we protect its habitat and everything within it. So, the tiger is the icon. And now the king cobra is a new one.
可能你們都聽說過老虎計劃 它始於70年代早期, 事實上那是自然保護事業最動盪的時期。 可以這麼說,我們被 一位相當獨裁的女政治家所掌控, 但她同時對自然環境也有著驚人的熱情。 而這就是老虎計劃出現的時機。 正如老虎計劃一樣, 我們針對眼鏡王蛇的行動 也是要針對一種動物, 從而可以保護它的棲息地以及裡頭的一切。 因此,老虎就是一個象徵。 而現在眼鏡王蛇是一個新的象徵。
All the major rivers in south India are sourced in the Western Ghats, the chain of hills running along the west coast of India. It pours out millions of gallons every hour, and supplies drinking water to at least 300 million people, and washes many, many babies, and of course feeds many, many animals, both domestic and wild, produces thousands of tons of rice.
南印度的所有主要河流 都發源於西高止山脈, 這一山脈綿延在印度西海岸。 它的流量達每小時數百萬加侖, 為至少3億人提供飲用水, 讓很多很多小寶貝在裏面洗澡, 當然也養育了很多很多動物, 既有家養的,也有野生的, 種植出數千噸的稻米。
And what do we do? How do we respond to this? Well, basically, we dam it, we pollute it, we pour in pesticides, weedicides, fungicides. You drink it in peril of your life. And the thing is, it's not just big industry. It's not misguided river engineers who are doing all this; it's us. It seems that our citizens find the best way to dispose of garbage are in water sources. Okay. Now we're going north, very far north.
而我們在做什麽?我們如何回報這一切呢? 嗯,基本上,我們築水壩,污染水源, 傾倒殺蟲劑,除草劑和殺菌劑。 喝了它你就有生命危險。 而問題在於做破壞的並不是大型企業, 也不是不明智的水利工程師, 而是我們大家都在破壞。 看起來我們這些市民發現丟垃圾的最佳方式, 就是扔進水裡。 好吧。現在我們向北走,走到很北的地方。
North central India, the Chambal River is where we have our base. This is the home of the gharial, this incredible crocodile. It is an animal which has been on the Earth for just about 100 million years. It survived even during the time that the dinosaurs died off. It has remarkable features. Even though it grows to 20 feet long, since it eats only fish it's not dangerous to human beings. It does have big teeth, however, and it's kind of hard to convince people if an animal has big teeth, that it's a harmless creature.
印度的中北部,Chambal河 就是我們的基地所在地。 這裡是印度鱷的故鄉,這是一種不可思議的鱷魚。 這種動物已經在地球上 生活了上億年。 即便恐龍都滅絕了但是它都生存了下來。 它有很多獨特之處。 即便它長到20英尺長, 它也對人無害,因為它只吃魚。 但是它的確長著一嘴大牙, 而且似乎很難讓人相信 一個長著這麼大牙齒的動物能夠對人無害。
But we, actually, back in the early '70s, did surveys, and found that gharial were extremely rare. In fact, if you see the map, the range of their original habitat was all the way from the Indus in Pakistan to the Irrawaddy in Burma. And now it's just limited to a couple of spots in Nepal and India. So, in fact at this point there are only 200 breeding gharial left in the wild. So, starting in the mid-'70s when conservation was at the fore, we were actually able to start projects which were basically government supported to collect eggs from the wild from the few remaining nests and release 5,000 baby gharial back to the wild. And pretty soon we were seeing sights like this. I mean, just incredible to see bunches of gharial basking on the river again.
但是,回到70年代早期,我們確實 做過調查, 發現印度鱷十分稀少。 事實上,如果從地圖上看, 它們最開始的棲息範圍 從巴基斯坦的印第安座(印度西北部河流) 一直到緬甸的伊洛瓦底江。 而現在,它只剩下幾個點 分佈在尼泊爾和印度。 事實上,目前 在野生環境下只剩下200條還在繁殖的印度鱷。 因此,從70年代中期開始, 當時環境保護運動正方興未艾, 我們所啟動的計劃基本上能夠 獲得政府的支持 可以從野外幾個僅存的巢穴里收集蛋, 並將5000條印度鱷寶寶放歸 回到野外。 很快我們就能看到這樣的景象。 我覺得這是令人驚訝的,能看到一群印度鱷 再次出現在河裡曬著太陽。
But complacency does have a tendency to breed contempt. And, sure enough, with all the other pressures on the river, like sand mining, for example, very, very heavy cultivation all the way down to the river's edge, not allowing the animals to breed anymore, we're looking at even more problems building up for the gharial, despite the early good intentions. Their nests hatching along the riverside producing hundreds of hatchlings. It's just an amazing sight. This was actually just taken last year. But then the monsoon arrives, and unfortunately downriver there is always a dam or there is always a barrage, and, shoop, they get washed down to their doom.
但是滿足以後難免衍生出大意。 可以肯定的是,河流還承受著很多其他壓力, 例如挖沙子, 沿河區域一路而下的密集種植業, 不能允許動物再有更多的繁衍, 我們現在看到 有更多的問題正威脅著印度鱷 儘管一開始都帶著良善的意圖。 它們沿著河岸建築巢穴 孵化出上百條小鱷魚。這真令人大開眼界。 這些都是去年拍攝的。 但是,當雨季來臨, 很不幸的是在河的下游,總是有一個水壩 或是一個河堰, 然後,它們就都被沖下去完蛋了。
Luckily there is still a lot of interest. My pals in the Crocodile Specialist Group of the IUCN, the [Madras Crocodile Bank], an NGO, the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Institute of India, State Forest Departments, and the Ministry of Environment, we all work together on stuff. But it's possibly, and definitely not enough. For example, in the winter of 2007 and 2008, there was this incredible die-off of gharial, in the Chambal River. Suddenly dozens of gharial appearing on the river, dead. Why? How could it happen?
所幸還有很多人對它們有興趣。 我的同事來自IUCN(國際自然與自然資源保護聯合會)鱷魚專家小組 馬德拉斯鱷魚銀行,一個非政府組織, 世界野生動物基金會, 印度野生動物學會,國家林業部, 以及政府的環境部,我們都在共同努力合作。 但是可能這還是遠遠不夠。 例如在2007和2008年冬天, 在Chambal河里的印度鱷相繼死亡。 幾十隻印度鱷突然出現在河上,死的。 爲什麽?這是怎麼發生的?
This is a relatively clean river. The Chambal, if you look at it, has clear water. People scoop water out of the Chambal and drink it, something you wouldn't do in most north Indian rivers. So, in order to try to find out the answer to this, we got veterinarians from all over the world working with Indian vets to try to figure out what was happening. I was there for a lot of the necropsies on the riverside. And we actually looked through all their organs and tried to figure out what was going on. And it came down to something called gout, which, as a result of kidney breakdown is actually uric acid crystals throughout the body, and worse in the joints, which made the gharial unable to swim. And it's a horribly painful death.
這是一條相對來說還算清潔的河。 如果你去過,就知道Chambal的水還很清澈。 人們從Chambal河裡取水飲用, 在大多數的印度北部河流你可不敢這麼做。 因此,爲了找到這個問題的答案, 我們從世界各地請來獸醫 和印度獸醫一起試圖搞清楚發生了什麽問題。 我在河岸上做了大量的屍體檢查。 我們仔細檢查了 所有的器官,試圖搞清楚問題所在。 最後我們發現是痛風, 它是由腎衰竭造成的, 使得尿酸結晶遍佈全身, 在關節中尤其嚴重, 從而使得印度鱷無法游泳。 最後在可怕的疼痛中死去。
Just downriver from the Chambal is the filthy Yamuna river, the sacred Yamuna river. And I hate to be so ironic and sarcastic about it but it's the truth. It's just one of the filthiest cesspools you can imagine. It flows down through Delhi, Mathura, Agra, and gets just about every bit of effluent you can imagine. So, it seemed that the toxin that was killing the gharial was something in the food chain, something in the fish they were eating. And, you know, once a toxin is in the food chain everything is affected, including us.
Chambal的下游 就是骯髒的Yamuna河,也是神聖的Yamuna河 我並不願意這麼諷刺挖苦, 但這是事實,它就是一個你能想像得出的最污穢的化糞池。 它流經德里,馬圖拉,阿格拉, 帶著你能想像到的每一滴污水。 所以看來殺死印度鱷的毒素 是食物鏈中的某種東西, 在它們吃的魚里。 要知道,一旦毒素進入到食物鏈 所有東西都會受到影響,包括我們。
Because these rivers are the lifeblood of people all along their course. In order to try to answer some of these questions, we again turn to technology, to biological technology, in this case, again, telemetry, putting radios on 10 gharial, and actually following their movements. They're being watched everyday as we speak, to try to find out what this mysterious toxin is.
因為這些河流就是沿河人們的生命線。 爲了解決這裡的一些問題, 我們再次回到技術領域, 在這裡是生物技術, 我們再次運用遙感測量,將無線電發射器放在10條鱷魚身上; 從而時時追蹤它們的活動。它們被監視著 時時刻刻,甚至在當下,從而試圖找出 這種神秘的毒素到底是什麼。
The Chambal river is an absolutely incredible place. It's a place that's famous to a lot of you who know about the bandits, the dacoits who used to work up there. And there still are quite a few around. But Poolan Devi was one [of them]. Which actually Shekhar Kapur made an incredible movie, "The Bandit Queen," which I urge you to see. You'll get to see the incredible [Chambal] landscape as well.
Chambal河絕對是一個你無法想像的地方。 它應該頗具盛名,如果你們瞭解 印度緬甸一代的強盜匪幫 他們曾經在這一帶活動。而且直至今天都還有一些在這裡。 但其中有個叫Poolan Devi的(印度女強盜后為政客),Shekhar Kapur(印度電影人)以她為題材 拍攝了一部非常棒的電影《強盜女王》,我強烈推薦大家去看。 在電影里你同時也會看到美麗的Chambal河風光。
But, again, heavy fishing pressures. This is one of the last repositories of the Ganges river dolphin, various species of turtles, thousands of migratory birds, and fishing is causing problems like this. And now [these] new elements of human intolerance for river creatures like the gharial means that if they don't drown in the net, then they simply cut their beaks off. Animals like the Ganges river dolphin which is just down to a few left, and it is also critically endangered.
但是,這裡也面臨著沉重的捕撈業壓力。 這裡棲息著最後的 恒河江豚, 很多種烏龜, 上千種候鳥, 而捕魚業帶來了類似這樣的問題。 新的問題在於來自人 對河中生物如印度鱷的排斥, 這意味著,如果鱷魚沒在網中淹死, 那麼漁民就會把它們的顎切下來。 像恒河江豚這樣的動物 目前只有很少幾只殘餘, 同樣也極度瀕危。
So, who is next? Us? Because we are all dependent on these water sources. So, we all know about the Narmada river, the tragedies of dams, the tragedies of huge projects which displace people and wreck river systems without providing livelihoods. And development just basically going berserk, for a double figure growth index, basically. So, we're not sure where this story is going to end, whether it's got a happy or sad ending. And climate change is certainly going to turn all of our theories and predictions on their heads. We're still working hard at it. We've got a lot of a good team of people working up there.
那麼接下來輪到誰?我們? 因為我們都依靠這些水源為生。 我們都知道Narmada河, 那些水壩,那些大型工程帶來的悲劇, 它們迫使人們遷移,破壞了江河系統, 卻并沒有帶來任何生機。 而發展開始變得粗暴, 為的是維持兩位數的發展指數。 所以我們也不敢肯定事情會以怎樣的結局告終, 皆大歡喜還是悲劇收場。 而氣候變化肯定正在發生, 它將推翻我們所有的理論和預測。 我們還在努力。 我們有一個很好的團隊齊心協力。
And the thing is, you know, the decision makers, the folks in power, they're up in their bungalows and so on in Delhi, in the city capitals. They are all supplied with plenty of water. It's cool. But out on the rivers there are still millions of people who are in really bad shape. And it's a bleak future for them. So, we have our Ganges and Yamuna cleanup project. We've spent hundreds of millions of dollars on it, and nothing to show for it. Incredible. So, people talk about political will. During the die-off of the gharial we did galvanize a lot of action. Government cut through all the red tape, we got foreign vets on it. It was great. So, we can do it. But if you stroll down to the Yamuna or to the Gomati in Lucknow, or to the Adyar river in Chennai, or the Mula-Mutha river in Pune, just see what we're capable of doing to a river. It's sad.
而問題在於,你知道,那些決策者們, 那些當權派, 他們都住洋房別墅,在德里, 在大城市。他們都有充足的水源供應。這很好。 但是在河流兩岸,還有數以百萬計的人們 他們的生活令人堪憂。 而且前途渺茫。 所以,我們有清潔恒河和Yamuna河的計劃, 我們已經花了數百萬美元, 然而什麽效果也沒有。真是不可思議。 於是,人們常說政治意志。 在印度鱷大量死亡的時候,我們的確激起了大量的行動。 政府給我們一路綠燈, 我們得到外國獸醫的援助。這很棒。 所以,我們是能做到的。 但是如果你去到Yamuna河, 或是勒客瑙(印度北部)的Gomati河, 欽乃的Adyar河, 普納的Mula-muta河, 去看看我們對一條河的所作所為。太讓人傷心了。
But I think the final note really is that we can do it. The corporates, the artists, the wildlife nuts, the good old everyday folks can actually bring these rivers back. And the final word is that there is a king cobra looking over our shoulders. And there is a gharial looking at us from the river. And these are powerful water totems. And they are going to disturb our dreams until we do the right thing. Namaste. (Applause)
但我認為最終的基調仍然是 我們能做到。 社團,藝術家,野生動物狂熱份子, 那些普普通通的老百姓們, 能夠拯救這些河流。 最後我想說的是 有一條眼鏡王蛇正在身後注視著我們。 有一條印度鱷正從河裡盯著我們。 這些都是強大的水圖騰。 它們將讓我們晚上不得安睡,直到我們做出正確的行動。 此致敬禮(印度的合十禮) (觀眾掌聲)
Chris Anderson: Thanks, Rom. Thanks a lot. You know, most people are terrified of snakes. And there might be quite a few people here who would be very glad to see the last king cobra bite the dust. Do you have those conversations with people? How do you really get them to care?
Chris Anderson:謝謝Rom。非常感謝。 要知道,大部份人都怕蛇。 這裡沒准就有一些人 很樂意看到最後的眼鏡王蛇乾脆滅絕。 你和這樣的人交談過嗎? 你怎麼能讓這些人真正關心這一切?
Romulus Whitaker: I take the sort of humble approach, I guess you could say. I don't say that snakes are huggable exactly. It's not like the teddy bear. But I sort of -- there is an innocence in these animals. And when the average person looks at a cobra going "Ssssss!" like that, they say, "My god, look at that angry, dangerous creature." I look at it as a creature who is totally frightened of something so dangerous as a human being. And that is the truth. And that's what I try to get out. (Applause)
Romulus Whitaker:我採取的方式 你會覺得有些謙卑。我不會說蛇蛇很可愛,要多抱抱它們。 這可不是泰迪小熊。 但是我覺得,這些動物是無辜的。 當普通人看見一條眼鏡蛇 開始像這樣發出絲絲聲時,他們會說「天啊, 這是個憤怒又危險的動物。」 而在我看來,這個動物被什麽東西嚇壞了 比如像人這樣危險的東西。 而這是事實。這就是我想說的。 (觀眾掌聲)
CA: Now, incredible footage you showed of the viper being killed. You were saying that that hasn't been filmed before.
CA:你剛才播放的精彩片段就是關於毒蛇被捕食的。 你說這樣的場景是第一次被拍攝到。
RW: Yes, this is actually the first time anyone of us knew about it, for one thing. As I said, it's just like a little snack for him, you know? Usually they eat larger snakes like rat snakes, or even cobras. But this guy who we're following right now is in the deep jungle. Whereas other king cobras very often come into the human interface, you know, the plantations, to find big rat snakes and stuff. This guy specializes in pit vipers. And the guy who is working there with them, he's from Maharashtra, he said, "I think he's after the nusha." (Laughter) Now, the nusha means the high. Whenever he eats the pit viper he gets this little venom rush. (Laughter)
RM:是的。這的確是首次我們發現這個事實。 正像我說的,對它來說就是塞塞牙縫,你知道嗎? 通常它們都會吃更大的蛇,如吃老鼠的蛇類, 甚至眼鏡蛇。 但是我們正在追蹤的這個傢伙是在叢林深處。 而其他的眼鏡王蛇 非常頻繁地進入人類的領地, 諸如種植園,去尋找大鼠蛇之類的食物。 而這個傢伙則專吃毒蛇。 而那個和它們一起工作的傢伙, 他來自馬哈拉施特拉邦(印度中部),他說,「我認為他對nusha上癮了。」 (觀眾笑聲) nusha意味著嗨了。 每次它吃下一條毒蛇都像嗑藥一樣爽一下。 (觀眾笑聲)
CA: Thanks Rom. Thank you. (Applause)
CA:謝謝ROM。謝謝你。 (觀眾掌聲)