生命的进化
如果你花时间在树上攀爬 If you spend your life clambering about in trees,
你需要拥有两样最有用的东西 two of the most useful things to have
一双用来抓住树枝的手 are a pair of hands, with which to grip the branches,
和一双朝向前方并能聚焦在同一样东西上的眼睛 and a pair of eyes, which face forward and both can focus on the same thing
那么你就能准确地判断与下一根树枝的距离 so that you can accurately judge the distance of, say, the next branch
那根你想跳或荡到下一根树枝上 on which you want to jump or swing.
世界上大约200种动物有这两种特征 About 200 different kinds of animals in the world have those two characteristics.
我们把它们归成一类叫做灵长类动物 We group them together and call them primates,
其中包括猴子 猿 人 and they include monkeys, apes, man
以及我在马达加斯加岛的这棵树上看到的那些动物 and those creatures over there that I'm watching in this tree in Madagascar.
树上的生命
第一眼看上去这只动物并不很像猴子 At first sight, this animal doesn't look much like a monkey.
那浓密的带环纹的尾巴更像猫的尾巴 That bushy, ringed tail is more like a cat's.
长嘴巴 鼻孔周围是湿润的 裸露的皮肤 And the long snout, with moist, bare skin around the nostrils,
使它看起来更像一条狗 gives it a rather dog-like look.
但是它的手暴露了它的真实身份 But its hands give away its true character.
狗和猫不能这样抓握东西 No dog or cat has a grasp like this.
这是一种真正的灵长动物 而且是其中最原始的一种 狐猴 This creature is a true primate and one of the most primitive ones. It's a lemur.
狐猴源自一种类似鼩鼱的哺乳动物 Lemurs are descended from shrew-like mammals
恐龙时代末期在陆地上奔跑 that scampered along the ground at the end of the age of the dinosaurs.
这种狐猴有环纹尾巴 在陆地上行走就像在树上一样自由自在 And this lemur, the ring-tail, is as much at home on the ground as it is in the trees.
它们还保留着更适合于在地面上居住的旧习惯 例如臭迹 They still retain old habits more suited for ground-dwelling, like scent-marking.
雄狐猴被腺体包围着的腕上有角质刺 The males have horny spurs on their wrists surrounded by glands.
它们拍打小树 并把麝香注射进去 And they click these against saplings, so impregnating the scratch with musk.
而雌狐猴从尾巴下面的腺体涂抹麝香 The female smears musk from a gland beneath her tail.
雄狐猴被这种气味吸引过去了 Males find this especially attractive.
检查一番之后 它自己也在同样的地方做标记 Having checked, he marks over the same spots himself.
经常这么做能使一个群体留下活动范围的臭味标记 Frequent marking enables a troop to leave a scent record of its movements,
而这样就建立了森林地面上的过路权 and so establish rights of way on the forest floor.
一只愤怒的雄狐猴会把腕腺和胸腺的臭味涂抹到尾巴上 An angry male spreads scent onto his tail by drawing it over his wrist and chest glands,
因为气味同样被用在争夺头领的战斗中 for perfume is also used in the battle for dominance.
它会把臭味散布到空气中 而使臭味飘到对手那里 He will then thrash it in the air so the scent is wafted towards his opponent
来威胁对手 to intimidate him.
低处的雄狐猴会袭击它的尾巴 The lower male recharges his tail.
爪形手对成年狐猴抓紧树枝是有用的 Grasping hands, so valuable to adults for holding on to branches,
对幼狐猴也有用 are also useful to the young.
松鼠宝宝和树鼩宝宝有径直向前的爪子 Baby squirrels and tree shrews, with straightforward paws,
必须被安置在某一类型的巢里 have to be deposited in nests of some kind
在父母寻找食物的时候经常被留在巢里 and are often abandoned while the parents gather food.
狐猴有另一种技能 Lemurs have a different technique.
小狐猴可以紧紧抓住它们父母的皮毛 The little ones can close their fists on their parents' fur
而无论它们到哪里都一直陪伴着 and so accompany them wherever they go.
狐猴的全盛期大约在四 五千万年前 Lemurs were in their heyday about 40 to 50 million years ago.
它们的化石不只在非洲而且在欧洲被发现 Their fossils have been found in not only Africa, but Europe.
而大概那个时候 马达加斯加岛开始从非洲东岸分离出来 And about that time, Madagascar became separated from the east coast of Africa.
那里也有狐猴 但由于它们当时住在一个岛上 There were lemurs, too, but because they were now living on an island,
它们避免了与更聪明的更有效率的动物竞争 they were protected from competition with more intelligent, more efficient creatures
这些动物在世界其他地方进化 that were to develop elsewhere in the world later.
因此马达加斯加岛变成了今天的样子 狐猴的天堂 And so Madagascar became what it is now, a paradise for lemurs.
除了环尾狐猴还有超过二十种不同的狐猴 As well as the ring-tail, there are over 20 different kinds of lemurs,
每一种都适应不同的树上生活 each one adapted to a particular kind of life in the trees.
从这里走下去到岛的南边 在那特别的针叶林里 Down here in the south of the island, in this extraordinary spiny forest,
有一种专门跳跃的狐猴 there is one that specialises in jumping.
它叫做马达加斯加狐猴 It's called a sifaka.
几乎没有其他动物拥有这两种珍贵灵长动物的技能 There's hardly a better demonstrator of those two invaluable primate talents,
能够判断跳跃的距离以及着陆时抓牢 the ability to judge the distance of a jump and to grasp a hold when you land.
那双不成比例的长后腿使它们能够在树间跳跃 The disproportionately long hind legs, that enable them to jump between trees,
几乎不可能用四肢行走 make walking on all fours impossible.
另一种跳跃娴熟的狐猴住在马达加斯加岛的东北面 Another accomplished leaper lives in the forests of north-east Madagascar,
但大多是听说而不是亲眼所见 but there it's more often heard than seen.
马达加斯加大狐猴是狐猴中最大的 The indri, the largest of the lemurs.
而且它们有发育得很好的嗓子 And it's no accident that it has a well-developed voice.
(哀号) (WAILING)
生活在浓密森林中的马达加斯加大狐猴成了歌手 The thick canopy, in which the indri lives, has turned it into a chorister.
在这里 臭味可能太容易飘散开来了 但很难看得远 Perhaps scent is too easily dispersed up here. It's certainly difficult to see far.
在不怕掠食动物攻击的前提下用声音更容易和有效 Safe from attack by predators, it's much easier and more effective to use sound
在森林里传递信息 宣占领地 to carry messages through the forest, to claim a territory
和邻居共同标记领地 and register your whereabouts with your neighbours.
很少有动物做这种事比马达加斯加大狐猴的群体做得更喧闹 And few creatures do so more deafeningly than a family of indris.
(嚎叫) (HOWLING)
其他的狐猴也用声音与它们的群体保持联系 Other lemurs also use their voices to keep in touch with their troop.
这些是褐狐猴 These are brown lemurs.
(鼻音) (NASAL CALL)
它们经常和环尾狐猴走在一起来弥补它们臭味信号系统的不足 They often travel with the ring-tails, supplementing their system of scent signals
环尾狐猴有着一个呼叫指令系统 特别是在群体行进的时候 with a repertoire of calls, especially when the troop is on the move.
(狐猴在叫) (LEMURS CALLING)
在野外环尾狐猴有更大的风险 Out in the open they're more at risk,
所以环尾狐猴聚在一起 并把尾巴像旗帜一样竖起来 so the ring-tails keep together and raise their vividly-marked tails like flags
使群体里的成员彼此保持着视觉的接触 so that the members of the troop can also maintain visual contact with one another.
这个群体正走向河边饮水 This troop is going down to the river to drink.
夜幕降临 森林里回荡着狐猴群的叫声 As darkness approaches, the forest rings to the sound of the lemur groups,
当它们安定在树上睡觉的时候 spacing themselves out as they settle down in the trees to sleep.
(狐猴在叫) (LEMURS CALLING)
许多狐猴在夜晚活动 Many lemurs are nocturnal,
当夜幕降临它们以全新的角色出现 and when darkness falls a completely new cast of them appears.
这是最小的狐猴 比老鼠稍大一点叫做鼠狐猴 This is the smallest of all, little bigger than a mouse and called a mouse lemur.
它吃昆虫 种子和果实 It eats insects as well as seeds and fruit
狂热地在自己拥有的树上做标记 通过往自己手上撒尿 and enthusiastically marks its own section of a tree by urinating on its hands
以及在树枝上标记带有气味的手印 and planting smelly hand-prints all along the branches.
最稀有的狐猴 指猴 The rarest lemur, the aye-aye.
它可能濒临灭绝 少部分还生存着 但没有人知道有多少 It may be on the verge of extinction. A few still survive, but no one knows how many.
它是其中最古怪的 咬进木头里使甲虫的幼虫暴露出来 It's the oddest of the lot, gnawing into wood to expose beetle grubs.
它也吃蛋 It also has a taste for egg yolk,
它用长长的多骨的像探针一样的中指沾取蛋液 which it gets by using its extraordinary long, bony middle finger as a probe.
总的来说 仍有20种狐猴生活在马达加斯加岛上 In all, there are some 20 different species of lemur still surviving in Madagascar.
然而 在世界上的其他地方狐猴已经灭绝 Elsewhere in the world, however, the lemurs died out.
似乎它们不能面对来自更高级的灵长类动物竞争 It seems they couldn't face the competition from more advanced primates
那就是后来出现的猴子 that were to develop later: the monkeys.
竞争只在白天进行 That competition only came during the day,
因为猴子晚上睡觉 because with one exception all monkeys sleep at night.
而狐猴因为夜间活动而生存下来 And so the lemurs were able to survive by being nocturnal.
非洲有一种丛猴 它们很像鼠狐猴 In Africa there are the bushbabies, which are very similar to the mouse lemurs.
还有一种树熊猴 There's also the potto.
远东的马来西亚的这片森林里有一种懒猴 Here in the forests of the Far East, in Malaysia, there's the loris.
它有灵长类的特点 Once again, it has those primate hallmarks,
朝向前方的眼睛及爪形手 the forward-facing eyes and the grasping hands.
这是一只小懒猴 生来有一双能抓牢的手 This is a young one. It had a firm grip right from birth,
它像所有的小狐猴一样紧紧抓着母亲的皮毛 and it uses it, as nearly all lemur babies do, to cling to its mother's fur.
懒猴同样用臭味来标记自己的领地 The loris still uses scent to mark its territory,
它有着狐猴一样典型的 湿润的 用于闻树上的标记的鼻子 and it has the typical moist nose of a lemur, with which to read the marks in the trees.
只有一种原始的灵长类动物没有这样的鼻子 Only one primitive primate has no such nose,
而它同样住在东方的森林里 眼镜猴 and it, too, lives in these oriental forests. The tarsier.
因为它主要的感觉不是嗅觉而是视觉 For it the dominant sense is not smell, but sight.
它有很大的眼睛和短而扁的鼻子 鼻子周围没有湿润的皮肤 Its huge eyes and snub nose, without a surround of moist skin,
靠视力看东西 are signs of things to come,
这些是更高级的灵长类动物的特征 for these are the characteristics of the more advanced primates
猴子这种更高级的灵长类取代了狐猴及其亲缘动物 that displaced the lemurs and their relations from most of the world: the monkeys.
最原始的真正的猴子还生活在南美洲的丛林里 The most primitive of the true monkeys still surviving live in the jungles of South America.
狨猴不是在晚上活动 而是在白天 Marmosets move about not at night, but during the day.
第一眼看过去 它们不像猴子 At first glance, they don't look like monkeys,
在树梢上跑来跑去更像松鼠 but scurry around the treetops more like squirrels.
它们使用大量的视觉信号 They use visual signals a great deal.
每一种猴子都带着可识别的记号 Each species carries its own badges of identification:
胡须 头饰和绒毛 moustaches, bonnets and plumes,
或者像这些普通狨猴的长长的白色耳绒毛 or, like these common marmosets, long white ear tufts.
虽然它们吃果实和昆虫 但它们大部分的食物是树胶 Although they eat fruit and insects, most of their food consists of gum,
它们啃开树皮使它流出来 which they tap by gnawing notches in bark.
胶树是它们领地中很重要的东西 一定要好好保护 Their gum trees are important features of their territories and must be protected.
狨猴用有臭味的尿来标记 The marmosets do this by marking them with scented urine.
每块领地由一只成年雄性和一只成年雌性以及它们的幼崽占据 Each territory is occupied by an adult male and female and their young,
它们中的一些可能已经长大了 some of which may be nearly full-grown.
它们一起走动保卫它们的边界不受邻近群体的进犯 They all travel together and defend the boundaries against neighbouring families.
有时候尖声喊叫会吓跑进犯者 Sometimes shrieking will scare off trespassers.
(尖叫) (SHRIEKING)
如果这样行不通 它们会背对进犯者并露出它们的生殖器 If that fails, they back up their threat with a spectacular genital display.
对狨猴来说这是最终的示威 To marmosets, this is the ultimate threat,
而进犯的群体通常会撒退 and the trespassing family nearly always withdraws.
经过信号的演变 So through the evolution of a language of signals,
伤害程度更大的斗争反而更频繁了 damaging fights are more often than not avoided.
小狨猴像狐猴宝宝一样已经长出了结实的爪形手 Like lemur babies, young marmosets have got a firm and determined grasp,
它们从出生开始依附于它们的父母 and they cling to their parents right from birth.
经常是雄狨猴带着它们 Often it's the male who carries them,
但是像狐猴一样 再一次 but again, like the lemurs,
小狨猴喜欢从一只成年狨猴身上爬到另一个成年狨猴身上 the youngsters tend to move around from one adult to another,
甚至爬到了哥哥和姐姐的背上 and even onto the backs of older brothers and sisters.
负责看管小狨猴的狨猴将担负重担 A particularly patient and long-suffering one will accumulate a heavy load.
爪形手很擅长抓住皮毛和树枝 The grasping hands, so good at clinging to fur and branches,
也是很优秀的梳子 are also excellent combs.
灵敏的手指用于抓寄生虫和梳理别人的皮毛 The nimble fingers are used for picking parasites and loose skin from others' fur.
狨猴是猴子中最小的一种 Marmosets are the smallest of the monkeys.
它们在很多方面表现出狐猴与其他猴子的联系 In many ways they represent a link between lemurs and other monkeys like these.
同样在南美洲 松鼠猴 The squirrel monkey, also a South American,
是猴家族中的一个典型 is a typical member of the monkey family.
在白天活动 更多依赖眼睛和耳朵 很少依赖鼻子 Active during the day, relying more on its eyes and ears than its nose
来找路以及与同伴交流 for finding its way about and for communicating with its fellows.
完全把家安在树上 Lively, gymnastic and totally at home in the trees.
单单在南美洲就有70多种猴子 There are about 70 different species of monkey in South America alone.
它们当中没有谁比这些吼猴更适合在树上生活了 None of them is better adapted to life in the trees than these howlers.
它们自信地睡在树梢上 不必担心太高会掉下去 They sleep in the treetops with a confident disregard for height and the risk of falling,
通常它们等到太阳升得很高才懒洋洋地起来 and they usually wait for the sun to get well up before they bother to stir.
然后它们显示了它们名字的由来 Then they begin to demonstrate why they get their name.
(嚎叫) (HOWLING)
吼猴和很喜欢树的马达加斯加大狐猴已经发现 The howlers and that most tree-loving of lemurs, the indri, have discovered
向一大片树梢宣示主权最有效方法是唱歌 that the most efficient way to lay claim to a large area of the treetops is to sing.
吼猴釆用了特殊的技能 The howlers have taken the technique to extremes.
它们的合唱被认为是哺乳动物中声音最大的 Their chorus is said to be the loudest noise made by any mammal.
顺风时可以在五公里外听见它们的声音 With a favourable wind you can hear them five kilometres away.
这是南美洲最大最重的猴子 These are the biggest and heaviest monkeys in South America,
是狨猴的20倍重 twenty times the weight of a marmoset.
这似乎是灵长类动物的趋势 There seems to be a tendency among primates,
大部分哺乳动物也变得越来越大 as in most mammals, to become larger and larger.
这可能是由于雄性争夺雌性时 This may be because when males dispute over females,
具有强大力量的最大的个体才可能会赢 并且生出较大的幼崽 the biggest, from sheer strength, is likely to win and so will father bigger babies.
但是住在树上体形变大有一个缺点 But an increase in size, when you live in trees, has one drawback.
很难到别的枝条上 It becomes increasingly difficult to reach the outer branches
收集果实和树叶或者从一裸树到另外一裸树也同样困难 to gather fruit and leaves or to move from one tree to another.
吼猴有一个解决办法 The howlers have a way of reducing the problem,
一个特别高效的攀爬帮手 an additional climbing aid of marvellous effectiveness,
它就是能抓住东西的尾巴 a grasping tail.
它们要很灵活 因为它们完全是素食动物 They need to be very agile, for they are total vegetarians,
而通常最好的果实和树叶都在树枝的最远端 and the best fruit and leaves are always at the farthest end of the branches.
像所有的猴子一样 它们的嗅觉相对迟钝 Like all monkeys, their sense of smell is relatively dull.
所以 要判断果实是否熟了 So, to tell whether a fruit is ripe or not,
它们必须把它靠近鼻子仔细闻 they have to hold it very close to the nose and give it a good sniff.
然而一些猴子不那么挑剔 Some, though, are less fussy than others.
吼猴不仅通过气味还可以像狐猴一样通过颜色来选择果实 A howler selects fruit not only by smell, like a lemur, but by its colour.
这是狐猴无法做到的 它们中大多实际上是色盲 That is something that no lemur can do. Most of them are virtually colour-blind.
但是所有在阳光下奔跑蹦跳的猴子都有很好的视力 But all the monkeys scampering about in the sunshine have very good colour vision.
这允许它们在肢体语言里使用颜色 That has allowed them to use colour in their body language.
事实上猴子是哺乳动物中颜色最鲜艳的 In fact, monkeys are the most vividly colourful of all the mammals.
猴子对颜色的开发具有全球范围的特征 The monkeys' exploitation of colour is a worldwide characteristic.
从另外的角度看 有很大的不同 From other points of view there are considerable differences
生活在南美洲的猴子 between those species that live in South America
和生活在世界其他地方的猴子 and those that live in the rest of the world.
在非洲这里的猴子也发展成很多不同的种类 Here in Africa the monkeys also developed into a multitude of different kinds.
但是因为一些我们不知道的原因 But for some reason that we don't really understand,
很多种类从树上走下来 many species came down from the trees
在陆地上生活得像树上一样快乐 and were almost as happy on the ground as in the branches.
比如绿猴 Like, for example, these vervets.
离开树林可能和现实有关 This readiness to leave the trees may be something to do with the fact
没有非洲的猴子进化出南美洲的猴子所具有的 that no African monkeys have managed to develop that South American innovation,
可以抓东西的尾巴 the grasping tail.
它们从来没有非常适应在树上生活 They never became so extremely adapted to a tree-living life,
从不彻底在树上安家 or so thoroughly at home there.
单凭有猴子在草地上觅食这一事实 The mere fact that there are monkeys foraging over this grassland
足以告诉你这是非洲的景象 is enough to tell you that this is an African scene.
南美洲有很多草地 There are lots of grasslands in South America,
但是没有猴子像这些猴子一样在上面漫步 but there are no monkeys wandering over them, like these.
甚至有一种非洲猴子 There's even one kind of African monkey
当危险逼近时不是在树上避难 that instead of always seeking safety in trees when danger threatens,
而是恰恰相反 on occasion does just the reverse.
这些是狒狒 These are baboons.
它们的祖先生活在树林中的本领 The physical talents their ancestors developed in the trees
在地上也有用 are still very useful on the ground.
小狒狒依附在母亲的皮毛上 The young baboon still clings to its mother's fur,
当长大一些 它像职业骑师那样骑在母亲的背上 and as it gets older, rides on her back like a jockey.
爪形手可以拾起 拔起和挖出很多东西 Their grasping hands can pick up, pull up and dig up most things.
狒狒进化出可以品尝出很多种食物的味觉 Baboons have developed a taste for a wide variety of food.
它们的食谱不仅包括普通猴子吃的果实和叶子 还有根 昆虫 Not only the standard and typical monkey diet of fruit and leaves, but roots and insects,
瘦肉 蜥蜴 小型啮齿动物 and red meat, in the form of lizards and small rodents,
甚至是别的能抓到的猴子 and even other monkeys, if they can catch them.
雄狒狒长得很大 有力量来保卫自己和部落 Male baboons have grown big and powerful in order to defend themselves and their troop.
但是在地上同样有危险 But down on the ground there is also danger.
大的雄狒狒用视觉信号保持秩序 The big males keep order with visual signals.
动一下眉毛就有足够的威慑作用 An eyebrow flash is usually quite sufficient as a threat.
有时它必须展示更明显的力量 Every now and then, it has to be backed up with a more obvious show of strength.
几种别的种类的猴子 Several other species of monkey
在地面上生活得很好 have become very efficient at living on the ground.
有一种甚至离开非洲并移居到欧洲 One has even left Africa and emigrated to Europe.
2000年以来直布罗陀岩山是狝猴的家园 The Rock of Gibraltar has been the home of troops of macaque monkeys for 2,000 years.
最近 由于狝猴数量在变少 英国陆军 In recent times, the British army
从北非引进狝猴 has imported stock from North Africa when numbers got low,
似乎第一批是由非洲引进的种群 and it seems likely the first ones were brought over from Africa
是做为罗马士兵的宠物 as pets by Roman soldiers.
听说引进这些猴子大部分成功生存了下来 It says a lot for these monkeys that they've managed to survive.
的确 狝猴是猴子中最足智多谋和最容易适应的 Indeed, the macaque is one of the most resourceful and adaptable of all monkeys.
它以一种或者另一种形式生活在整个亚洲 In one form or another it lives all over Asia,
从阿富汗和印度到锡兰和爪哇 from Afghanistan and India to Ceylon and Java,
甚至最北到日本 and even as far north as Japan.
在这里 在高山上冬天确实很严寒 Up here, in the Japanese Alps, winters can be very severe indeed,
日本猕猴进化出了很厚很暖的皮毛 and the Japanese macaque has developed a particularly dense and warm fur.
它们不冬眠 所以它们必须每天采集食物 None of them hibernate, so they need to gather food every day.
在这样的季节里它们没有别的选择 At times like this, they have no alternative
只有在雪里挖地洞来寻找食物 but to burrow through the snow in search of it.
然而一个种群发现了一个更好的方法 One population, however, has discovered a most remarkable way
让自己保暖 of keeping themselves warm.
这是火山泉 These are volcanic springs.
猴子几年前第一次来到这块地方 The monkeys moved into this area for the first time only a few years ago.
其中一些很快发现这里可以 One group quickly discovered you could get some relief
躲避暴风雪和最寒冷的天气 from blizzards and the worst of the cold
通过整天坐在热水浴里 by sitting all day in a hot bath.
不幸的是 这里没有食物 Unfortunately, there's no food to be found here,
所以它们必须不时地出来 so they have to come out sometimes,
那样一定非常寒泠 and then it must be horribly chilly.
猕猴生活在日本的很多地方 Macaques live in many parts of Japan.
有一个种群在全世界很出名 One population has become famous all over the world
因为它的独创能力 for their inventiveness.
它们生活在一个叫鹿岛的小海岛上 These live on a tiny offshore island called Koshima.
它们是一个与世隔绝的种群 它们在行为上有许多明显的改变 They are an isolated troop, and they've made some remarkable changes in their behaviour.
人们在很长的时间里常常认为 For a long time people used to think
进食的方法主要是依靠本能 the way in which creatures like these feed is largely instinctive.
但之后科学家在1952年来到这小岛 But then in 1952 scientists came to this island,
诱使猴子到开阔的地方 and in order to entice the monkeys out into the open
那样的话 他们可以近距离的观察它们 并喂给它们 so they could observe them more closely, they started offering them...
红薯 ..sweet potatoes, like that.
大约一年以后 一个叫Imo的年轻雌猴把红薯放进水池里 After about a year, a young female called Imo began to take her roots down to a pool
在吃之前洗干净泥沙 and wash off the sand and mud before eating them.
在几个星期内 朋友 家人 其中包括它的母亲纷纷模仿它 Within a few weeks, friends and family, including her mother, were copying her.
这个习惯就传播开了 十年以后岛上几乎所有的猴子 The habit spread, and ten years later almost all the monkeys on the island
都习惯性地把红薯洗干净 habitually wash their sweet potatoes.
然后出现了新的变化 Then a new variation arose.
它们不再用淡水了 Instead of using fresh water,
而是把红薯放进海水里洗 即使红薯已经是干净的 the monkeys washed the roots in the sea, even when they were clean already.
可能它们只是喜欢红薯上的盐分 Perhaps they simply liked salt on their potatoes.
只有很老的猴子不采用这种新的习俗 Only the very old didn't adopt the new customs.
小猴子很快就学会了 The young were quick to learn.
因为小猴子在母亲的背上 Since babies travelled on their mothers' back,
能随时看清楚母亲在做什么 they saw exactly what she was doing at all times,
这是具有爪形手的额外收获 an unexpected benefit of having grasping hands.
科学家把食物改为去了壳的稻米 Then the scientists changed the diet to unhusked rice.
他们想让猴子待在一个特定的地方来观察它们 They wanted to keep the monkeys in one place to observe them
并且猜想它们会用很长时间来挑出稻米 and reckoned it would take them a long time to pick out the rice,
在没有Imo的情况下 but they'd reckoned without Imo.
它抓了一把米和沙的混合物 She grabbed handfuls of rice and sand together
然后扔进水里 and threw the whole lot into the water.
沙沉了 而米浮在上面 它很快把米撇出来 The sand sank, the rice floated, and she quickly skimmed it off.
再一次 这习惯传播开来 And once again, the habit spread.
的确 这种向同辈和长辈模仿 学习的能力和准备 This ability and, indeed, readiness to copy and learn from contemporaries and elders
导致整个群体有同样的技能 知识和做事方法 results in the community having shared skills, knowledge and ways of doing things,
事实上 有着共同的文化 having, in fact, a shared culture.
当然 这个词通常被用于人类社会 The word, of course, is normally used for human societies,
但是原则上讲 没有理由不应该用于猴子 but there's no reason, in principle, why it shouldn't be applied to monkeys.
这群猴子所做的是发扬它们简单的文化 What this troop of monkeys have done is to develop a simple culture.
用后腿走路仍然是这些动物的特殊技能 Walking on hind legs is still very much a gymnastic trick for these creatures.
猴子本来是四足动物 Monkeys are essentially four-footed animals.
有一群灵长类动物依靠两条大腿走路 There is one group of the primates that is, by and large, two-legged.
要看它们是怎么站起来的 我们要回到远古世界的热带雨林 To see how they arose, we have to go back to the tropical rainforests of the Old World.
在远东丛林的树梢上 In the treetops of the jungles of the Far East,
猴子进化得可以专门吃叶子和花 monkeys developed that specialised in eating leaves and blossoms,
就像南美洲的吼猴 just like the howlers of South America.
银叶猴就是其中一种 The silver leaf monkey is one of them.
通常它是少数灵长类中的一种 It's particularly unusual in that it's one of the few primates
小猴子与它们的父母在颜色上完全不同 whose young are totally different in colour from their parents.
这正是亚洲最大的完全在树上生活的猴子 This is just about the biggest totally tree-living monkey in Asia,
它的跳跃非常出色 and it's still a considerable gymnast.
但在这里有些灵长类动物长得更大 But some primates here have grown even bigger.
这样的体重靠尾巴的抓握并不能解决攀爬的问题 These heavyweights didn't solve their climbing problems with a grasping tail.
它们不是沿着树枝跑 Instead of running along the top of branches,
而改为用手臂在树枝下面荡 它们完全失去了尾巴 they took to swinging beneath them by their arms, and they lost their tails altogether.
这些是猿 These are the apes.
这种婆罗洲的大猿是猩猩 The big ape of Borneo is the orang-utan.
它的脚趾就像它的手指那样能强有力地抓握 Its toes have just as powerful a grip as its fingers.
事实上 说真的 你可以叫它四手动物 In fact, you might, with justice, call it four-handed.
它们个头儿太大所以不能到处跳跃 也很少同时放开两肢以上 They're too big to jump about and seldom let go with more than two limbs at a time.
它们依靠体重 They move across space by using their weight
以及晃动树枝或者藤蔓向想去的方向移动 and making a tree or vine sway in the direction they want to go.
有时候雄猩猩长得太庞大造成较细的树承受不了它们 The males sometimes grow so enormous that the thinner branches won't hold them.
所以它们必须从一棵树换到另外一棵树 They have to get from one tree to another
这样 必须蹒跚地从地面上走 by descending and shambling across the ground.
体形上的增大可能是它们开始在地面上行走的促进因素 Increase in size may have been the stimulus to start swinging their way around.
可是长臂猿发展出了一种新方法打破这一限制 Having developed it, one ape, the gibbon, exploited the new technique to its limit
就是再一次让身体变小 by becoming smaller again.
长臂猿的手臂长了很多 它的手指也是如此 The gibbon's arms are greatly lengthened and so are its fingers,
结果它的手变成了钩子 so that its hands have become hooks
可以快速抓住和放开树枝 that can be quickly latched onto a branch and off again.
长着这样手臂的长臂猿 其攀爬技能最生气勃勃 最大胆 With such limbs the gibbons have become the most exuberant and daring of acrobats
任何地方的长臂猿都如此 to be found anywhere.
然而如此大幅度的攀爬确实有风险 Such spectacular performances do, however, have risks.
未知的树枝可能会断掉 Untested branches can break,
事实上 在1/3的长臂猿的骨胳检查中发现了骨折的痕迹 and, in fact, a third of all gibbon skeletons examined show signs of fractures.
然而有一种猿几乎一生都生活在地面上 There's one ape, however, that spends nearly all its time on the ground.
它们生活在中非一万英尺高的火山山腰 It lives here, 10,000 feet up, on the flanks of the volcanoes of Central Africa
在卢旺达和扎伊尔的边界上 on the borders of Rwanda and Zaire.
它们是所有猿中最大的 最害羞的 也是最稀有的一种 It's the biggest of all the apes, the shyest, one of the rarest
直到现在都鲜为人知 and, until recently, one of the least known.
大猩猩 The gorilla.
生活在这里的大猩猩已经被科学家研究了很多年 The gorillas that live here have been studied by scientists for several years
它们早已习惯了人类 允许人类接近 and have become sufficiently accustomed to humans to allow you to approach quite close.
你的行为必须得当 你不需要把自己隐藏得很好 But you have to behave properly, and you mustn't conceal yourself too well.
但是如果你在它们近处出现并且让它们感到意外 If you appeared close to them and took them by surprise,
它们很可能攻击你 then they would almost certainly charge.
在那棵树上有一个放哨的大猩猩 它已经看见我了 There's a lookout sitting on that tree, and he's already seen me.
有更多的意义以及产生相互信任 There is more meaning and mutual understanding
与大猩猩交换眼神 in exchanging a glance with a gorilla
与任何我知道的动物相比 than any other animal I know.
我们很相像 We're so similar.
它们的视觉 听觉 嗅觉 Their sight, their hearing, their sense of smell
和我们很相近 are so similar to ours
我们看到的世界与它们看到的相同 that we see the world in the same way as they do.
它们以同一种群体为单位生活 They live in the same sort of social groups,
庞大持久的家庭关系 largely permanent family relationships.
它们像我们那样在地面上行走 然而它们 They walk around on the ground as we do, though they're...
力量比我们大很多 ..immensely more powerful than we are.
所以 如果有可能 So, if there were a possibility
避开人类的条件而生活在虚幻的 of escaping the human condition and living imaginatively...
另一种动物的世界 ..in another creature's world...
一定是和大猩猩在一起 ..it must be with the gorilla.
现在我坐在这里 被一个可信赖的大猩猩家庭包围着 And yet, as I sit here surrounded by this trusting gorilla family...
它们是温和的动物 ..they're gentle, placid creatures.
这一群体的首领是一只银背大猩猩 The boss of the group is that silverback male.
其余的是成年雌性以及它们未成年的儿女 The rest are adult females with their young sons and daughters.
这就是它们怎样打发大部分时间 This is how they spend most of their time,
在空地上懒洋洋地躺着 互相梳理皮毛 lounging on the ground, grooming one another.
这只雄性是一只非常强有力的动物 The male is an enormously powerful creature,
但是它只用它的力量 but he only uses his strength
保护自己的群体免于其他群体的雄性的掠抢 when he is actually protecting his own family from a marauding male from another group.
在群体内暴力是很少见的 And it's very, very rare that there is any violence within the group.
所以似乎是不公平的 选择大猩猩 So it seems really very unfair that man should have chosen the gorilla
来形容所有攻击性和暴力的东西 to symbolise all that is aggressive and violent
这些是大猩猩不会做反而人会做的 when that's the one thing the gorilla is not, and that we are.
这只能抓握的 控制自如的手正成为更有用的东西 That grasping, manipulative hand has now become something more,
一种探索的工具 an instrument with which to explore and investigate.
手指可以精确的旋转一件小东西 并从每个角度研究它 The fingers can delicately revolve a small object and investigate it from every angle.
它们不但感觉到它的形状 而且感觉到它的质地 They can feel not only its shape, but its texture,
它们的手指不需要平放在地上来支撑身体 for the fingers, since they're not required to be put flat on the ground to support the body,
手指末端有灵敏的指垫 have sensitive pads at the end
被皮肤上微小的褶皱覆盖 提高了触觉的灵敏性 covered with tiny ridges of skin to enhance the sense of touch.
事实上每只大猩猩都有自己独特的指纹 就像我们一样 Every gorilla, in fact, has its own unique fingerprints, just as we have.
大猩猩家庭在进食之余有足够的时间玩耍 The gorilla family spends its day gently grazing, and there's plenty of time for play.
未成年的黑背雄性定期进行摔跤比赛 Half-grown blackback males regularly have wrestling matches.
有时候它们甚至允许别人加入 Sometimes they even allow others to join in.
它们可能在玩游戏 但是你不要忘记它们是森林的统治者 They may play games, but you don't forget that these are the rulers of the forest,
而大银背是群中之王 and the great silverback is king of the whole group.
它强大得无所畏惧 He's so enormously strong that he need fear nothing
除了一个拿着矛或枪的人以外 except a man armed with a spear or a gun.
没有敌人 并且有足够的可以一伸手就拿过来的食物 No enemies and an unlimited supply of food that can be gathered by stretching out an arm,
所以大猩猩没有必要在身体上和精神上保持高度集中 the gorilla has no need to remain particularly agile in either body or mind.
在这片森林里还生活着另外一种猿 There is one other ape living in these forests.
无论大猩猩住在哪里 都可以得到很多不同的植物 Whereas a gorilla lives on, perhaps, a couple of dozen different kinds of plants,
这只猿吃的叶子超过200种 this ape eats the leaves of over 200.
它不只是吃叶子 还吃树皮 花 果实 And it not only eats leaves, it eats bark, blossoms, fruit,
除此之外 还吃白蚁 蚂蚁 蜂蜜 and, as well as that, termites and ants and honey,
鸟蛋 小鸟 甚至小型哺乳动物的肉 birds' eggs, birds, and even the flesh of small mammals.
要做到这些 需要有敏捷的思维和好奇的性情 And in order to do that, you need a very nimble mind, an inquisitive disposition,
这些正是黑猩猩所拥有的 and that is exactly what these chimpanzees have got.
黑猩猩的大部分时间在地面上度过 Chimps spend a considerable amount of time on the ground,
但是它们不如大猩猩那么适应地面生活 but they've not become so adapted to it as the gorilla.
大猩猩的脚已经失去了大部分的抓握能力 The gorilla's foot has lost much of its grasp.
黑猩猩的脚几乎仍然像手一样灵活 A chimp's is still almost as dexterous as its hand.
它们的个头儿足够小可以爬到树上釆摘果实和叶子 They're still small enough to go up into the trees to gather fruit and leaves,
它们也会在树上过夜 树上比较安全 and they also spend the night up there, where it's safer.
每天晚上它们都为自己铺床 Every evening they make a bed for themselves,
靠弄弯树梢搭成松软的平台 a springy platform constructed by bending over the ends of branches.
它们一大群体生活在一起 有时多达50只之多 They live in large groups, sometimes up to 50 strong.
它们需要认出每个个体 And they need to recognise one another as individuals.
它们通过独特的臭迹做到这一点 Lemurs do this by making distinctive scent marks.
嗅觉不灵敏的黑猩猩靠视觉来辨认 Chimps, with less sensitive noses, do it by sight.
所以 像我们一样它们有不同的表情 So, like us, they have very different and immediately recognisable faces.
群体中最持久的关系是母亲与孩子 The most abiding relationships within the group are between mother and young.
一只宝宝要呆在母亲身边至少5年 A baby will remain clinging to its mother or close by her for at least five years.
所以群体里的智慧 经验 也就是文化 So, the wisdom and experience of the community, its culture,
可以代代相传 is passed on this way from one generation to another.
比如说 做母亲的技能 The skills of motherhood, for example,
是当它作为女儿时在观察它母亲带新生宝宝的过程中学会的 are learned by a daughter watching her mother handling a new baby.
所以 如果一只雌性黑猩猩在年幼时被掠走 So, if a young female chimp is captured and deprived of that experience,
它就不知道怎样给自己的婴儿喂奶 从而需要指导 she will not know how to suckle her own babe and has to be shown.
通过在群体内梳理皮毛产生友谊并且维持着相互关系 Friendships are made and relationships sustained throughout the group by grooming.
这些都是从梳理皮毛的简单动作开始的 What started as a simple act of toilet
现在已经变成了群体内最有效的社交形式 has now become the most potent form of social bonding within the group.
每个个体似乎都很喜欢 Every individual seems to enjoy it enormously.
一个在外面飘泊一段时间后回到群体中的成年个体 An adult returning to the group after straying for some days
会被朋友梳理皮毛以显示热烈欢迎 is greeted with an ecstatic bout of grooming by friends.
梳理皮毛对黑猩猩行为的发展产生至关重要的影响 Grooming has been a crucial influence in the development of chimp behaviour.
它从母亲清洁新生儿开始 It starts when the newly-born babe is cleaned by its mother.
多年以来 母亲温暖的身体体现了安全与舒适 For several years the warm body of the mother represents comfort and security.
随着长大独立 它会跑回到母亲那里寻找安慰 As he becomes more independent, he runs back to her for comfort
当情况不利或者受到惊吓时 when things go wrong or he's frightened.
当完全长大时它仍然有同样的快乐 He still gets a similar pleasure when he's full-grown
这样梳理皮毛会持续几个小时的时间 with these long sessions of grooming, that may go on for a couple of hours at a time.
群体中地位较低的成员会提供这样的服务作为一种服从的表现 A junior group member will present himself for grooming as an act of submission.
占主导地位的成员把它当成礼物来接受 A dominant individual will accept it as a tribute.
敏捷的手指使黑猩猩能够 Their agile fingers have allowed chimps
进一步进化 to make one further and highly important development.
这只小黑猩猩正在收集它最喜欢食物 树白蚁 This youngster is collecting one of his favourite foods, tree termites,
用一根自己修剪过的树枝把它们从洞里掘出来 winkling them out of a hole with a stick he's specially cut and trimmed for the purpose.
这是一种简单的工具 It's a simple tool.
所以 黑猩猩过着丰富多彩的生活 So, chimpanzees live rich and varied lives.
它们是一个复杂的社会群体的成员 包含所有令人惊奇的东西 They're members of a complex social group with all the excitements that involves.
除了人类以外 它们在动物中拥有最丰富的声音词汇 They have the most extensive vocabulary of sounds of any animal, apart from man.
它们制造工具 具有难以控制的好奇心 They make tools, and they have an unquenchable curiosity,
试验每一件东西 观察它怎样运动 怎样弯曲 摸起来怎样 testing everything to find out how it moves, how it bends, what it feels like,
最重要的是 尝起来怎样 above all, what it tastes like.
自发地试验不同食物的这种能力 This ability, indeed willingness, to experiment with different kinds of foods
意味着黑猩猩不仅能生活在森林里 means that chimpanzees can not only live in forests like these,
还能冒险到更广阔的地方 大草原 but venture out into more open country, into savannahs.
一旦到了那里 它们能找到的不仅仅是叶子 还有肉 And once there, they can find not only leaves, but meat.
第一次迁移是在一千五百万年前 That move into open country was first made about 15 million years ago
发生在另一种很早的灵长类动物身上 by another primate, one of the very early ones.
当到达那里时 它发现 It found, when it got there, that the very talents
在树上移动的本领到了草原上是很有用的 it had developed for moving around in the trees were very useful out on the plains.
立体感的眼睛使它能看见远处的猎物 The stereoscopic eyes, which enabled it to see game in the far distance,
能控制自如的手使它不仅可以使用工具还可以使用武器 the manipulative hands, which enabled it to use not just tools, but weapons.
事实上 它变成了一名狩猎者 In fact, it became a hunter,
而那种早期的灵长类动物就是人类的祖先 and that early primate was man's ancestor.
作为人类近亲的黑猩猩在一千五百万年前与之分离 Chimps are rather conservative cousins, removed by about 15 million years.
但是我们和它们在身体上 在行为上有很多共同点 Nonetheless, we both share many characteristics in bodies and behaviour,
一种来源于共同祖先的遗传 a common inheritance from the ancient creatures
那个祖先曾经花费所有的时间生活在树上 that once spent all their lives in the trees.