爱登堡的极乐鸟世界（2015）

For 500 years,these birds have been
500年来,这些鸟
surrounded by myth and glamour.
笼罩着神话和光环
And I've got to confess that I've been fascinated by them
我必须承认,我被迷住了
for most of my life.
差不多一辈子
This is just one member of a hugely varied family
鸟类只是动物的一个分支
that,to my mind,includes the most spectacular
在我看来,有许多不可思议
and beautiful birds on Earth.
漂亮的鸟
The birds of paradise.
天堂鸟
And what's more,
更重要的是
they throw light on some of the great mysteries of evolution.
它们揭示了动物进化的奥秘
Why have the birds of paradise become the most diverse,bizarre
天堂鸟怎么会有这么多样奇异的形态
and beautiful of all bird families?
鸟类家族最美丽的羽毛？
Why have they developed the most extravagant plumes
奢侈的羽毛是如何进化形成的
and adornments of any group of living things on Earth,
地球上任何其他生物都没有的装饰
so that sometimes,they almost cease to look like birds at all?
有时候,它们看起来根本不像鸟
And why is it that this extraordinary family
为什么这些漂亮的异类
is largely restricted
几乎全部
to one jungle-covered island in the Pacific?
生活在太平洋这个丛林覆盖的小岛上？
Explorers and scientists
500年来 探险家和科学家
have been puzzling over these questions for 500 years.
一直困惑不解
Even today,by using the latest filming techniques,
今天,通过先进的拍摄技术
we are making new discoveries about their behaviour.
我们对这些鸟类行为有了新发现
This surely is one of the most spectacular sights anyone could see in the natural world.
这是大自然最壮观的一幕之一
The mystery of the birds of paradise began back in the 16th century.
天堂鸟之谜始于16世纪
In 1522,a ship returning to Europe from exploring the mysterious islands of the Far East
1522年,一艘船从神秘的远东岛屿回到欧洲
brought with it,amongst other marvels,three extraordinary skins.
在带回的奇珍异宝中有三个奇异的动物标本
They were very like this one.
他们非常喜欢这个
You can see it's a bird -there's its beak,and its head.
可以看出来,这是只鸟,有喙,有头
And here are these long,feathery plumes.
还有长长的羽毛
But it has no wings...
但没有翅膀......
and no feet.
没有脚
The explorers had been told that that was because these birds lived in paradise.
探险者听当地人说,这是因为这只鸟生活在天堂
The ship concerned was one of five that had set out in 1519
1519年,在葡萄牙探险家费迪南.麦哲伦的指挥下
to sail around the world for the very first time,
五艘船出发,
under the command of the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan.
完成人类第一次环球航行,只有一艘回到欧洲
They endured catastrophic tropical storms and shipwrecks.
经历了灾难的热带风暴和沉船
Magellan himself was killed in a tribal war in the Philippines.
麦哲伦本人也在菲律宾部落战争中死去
But after three gruelling years,
但历经三年艰苦的岁月
the Victoria,the sole surviving ship,arrived back in Spain.
唯一幸存的船——维多利亚号♥,回到了西班牙.
It was loaded with wonders and treasures,
船装满了奇珍异宝
including those first specimens of birds of paradise.
其中就有天堂鸟的标本
Magellan had been presented with these skins by a king
这是麦哲伦从香料群岛-摩鹿加岛上
in the Spice Islands -the Moluccas,as we call them today -
一位部落首领那里得到的礼物
in eastern Indonesia.
在现在的印尼东部
When Magellan's men asked why they had no wings or no feet,
当麦哲伦手下人问为啥没有翅膀,也没有腿
the people had a problem,
当地人被问住了
because they themselves had never seen the birds alive.
因为他们没有见过活的天堂鸟
They had been traded to the islands from islands even farther to the east.
这些标本是东部更远的岛上贩卖♥♥过来的
So they made up an answer.
因此他们捏造了一个答案
They said,"Well,it's because the birds float high in the sky,
他们说："嗯,这是因为天堂鸟飞在高空,"
"among the clouds,feeding on dew,
"在云上,以露水为食,"
"and human beings only see them when they die and fall to the earth."
"而人只有在天堂鸟死后,落在地上,才能看到"
So the first descriptions of these "birds of the gods" were far from first-hand.
因此,这就成了"众神之鸟"的第一个说法的来源
Yet they were accepted as fact by Europeans.
当时欧洲人都接受了这个解释
This was one of the very first paintings of a bird of paradise,
这是一幅关于天堂鸟的最早的画作
and it appears in the margin of a book of prayers
出现在一本祈祷书的插图里面
written in 1540,
书写于1540年,
to show the devout the sort of creatures they might expect to see when they got to paradise.
呈现了虔诚的信徒希望在天堂看到的奇异的动物
But it wasn't only the pious who were interested in the discovery.
但不仅虔诚的信徒非常想知道答案
So were naturalists.
博物学家也想探个究竟
But their understanding of the birds was similarly clouded by mythology.
他们对这只鸟的认识,也同样充满神话色彩
This is the first volume in a great encyclopaedia of natural history
这是一个自然历史大百科全书第一卷
published in 1599 by an Italian called Aldrovandus.
由意大利人阿德望都斯于1599年出版
And it's full of remarkably accurate pictures and descriptions.
其中充满了精确的画像和说明
There's a toucan,for example.
比如,这只巨嘴鸟
And here is a hornbill.
这是只犀鸟.
But turn another couple of pages...
再翻几页
..and a bird of paradise,without legs,
一只天堂鸟,没有腿
floating in the skies. No wings.
漂浮在天空,没有翅膀.
And here it is drinking dew from the clouds.
它吸吮云层中的露水
Aldrovandus was so respected that this view of the habits
阿德望都斯保持了17世纪以来
of birds of paradise persisted well into the 17th century.
人们对天堂鸟的理解
It's hardly surprising that these pictures are wildly inaccurate,
图片如此不准确,在当时并不奇怪
bearing in mind that they were drawn from those flattened skins.
因为当时画,是根据扁平的鸟标本绘制而成的
After all,no-one in Europe had ever seen wings or legs
毕竟,当时欧洲人没有见过长着翅膀和腿的
attached to these astonishing plumes.
活的天堂鸟
So it was not unreasonable for Europeans,
而且,当时欧洲人
who still believed in dragons and mermaids,
还相信有龙和美人鱼
to accept that these birds lived in paradise.
相信有鸟生活在天堂,也不足为怪
But still no-one knew where the skins actually came from.
当时没人知道这标本是哪儿来的
In fact,the birds come from New Guinea.
事实上,鸟来自新几内亚
It's 1,000 miles long and lies just north of Australia.
离澳大利亚北部一千英里
And there,of course,the people knew perfectly well
在那里,当地人自然非常熟悉天堂鸟
the truth about the birds.
关于鸟的真♥相♥
They hunted them for the sake of their plumes,
他们捕猎天堂鸟,获取羽毛
which they used as currency and in many of their important ceremonials.
羽毛会当成货币,出现在重要的仪式中
My first opportunity to see these wonderful birds
我第一次有幸见到了天堂鸟
came when I went to New Guinea back in 1957.
那是1957年,我第一次去了新几内亚
We saw a wide,fertile valley ringed with mountains.
一片群山环绕的广袤而肥沃的土地
This was our destination -the valley of the Wahgi River.
这就是我们的目的地 -瓦吉河谷
Within a few minutes of landing,I saw coming towards me
着陆几分钟后,越过高草地
through the tall grass a party of tribesmen
当地部落用欢迎仪式来迎接我们
wearing magnificent feather headdresses.
他们带着华美的羽毛
We filmed a celebration called a Sing-sing,
我们拍摄的这段欢迎仪式叫作"星星"
during which tribal people,
在部落人群里面
wearing spectacular headdresses of birds-of-paradise plumes,
许多穿着天堂鸟羽毛做的漂亮头饰
gather together to dance and chant.
聚集在一起跳舞、唱歌♥
And I took these photographs.
我拍下了这些照片.
They displayed them during their dances,
他们在舞蹈中
showing how wealthy each of the men were
展示他们的富有
by having these enormous headdresses.
富裕程度取决于头饰的大小
That's Princess Stephanie's black tail feathers.
公主斯蒂芬妮的黑色尾羽
These are King of Saxony's feathers from the top of the head.
这些萨克逊王的王冠上的羽毛
These are the red plumes of Count Raggi's bird of paradise,
这些是莱基伯爵的天堂鸟羽毛
and these the yellow ones of the Lesser.
这些黄色小一些的
When they came to have marriages,
是他们结婚时候用过的
a party going to collect a bride would have to take a gift
新郎要向新娘父母送
to the bride's parents of birds-of-paradise plumes.
天堂鸟羽毛做成的礼物
And they arrange them on these great banners.
羽毛排列成一面旗帜
There's a front view of that with nearly two dozen sets
从前面看去,有24片羽毛
of bird-of-paradise plumes all around the side of the banner.
并列贴成一面旗帜
And down the middle there,gold-lipped pearl shells.
在中间,有金唇珍珠贝壳
For thousands of years,the plumes have been traded
上千年来,这些羽毛用来贸易
from this part of New Guinea right across Indonesia,
从新几内亚到印度尼西亚的岛屿
up into South-East Asia and beyond.
甚至到东南亚更远的地方
In Europe 400 years ago,many aristocratic families
400年前,在欧洲很多贵族家庭
possessed cabinets of curiosities in which they displayed their collections of natural wonders,
都有自家的奇珍异宝收藏室
and specimens of birds of paradise were amongst the most precious.
天堂鸟羽毛是其中的珍品
Their splendour even caught the eye of British royalty.
英国皇室也非常青睐
The young Scottish prince who was going to become Charles I of England
这位年轻的苏格兰王子即将成为查尔斯一世
had his portrait painted with his furry hat on the table beside him,
像画桌上的帽子装饰了漂亮的羽毛
and in it,his most treasured possession -
在其中,最珍贵的
the plumes of birds of paradise.
就是天堂鸟的羽毛
Naturalists,seeking to curry favour with the aristocracy and get financial backing for their expeditions,
自然学家为获得资金支持讨好贵族
promised to name any new species they discovered after their patrons,
答应用赞助人的名字来命名发现的新物种
and indeed they did so.
他们确实这样做了
This is Queen Carola's bird of paradise,
这是卡罗拉女王天堂鸟
with plumes on the top of his head.
头上长着长长的羽毛.
This one was named after an Italian count,Count Raggi's bird of paradise.
这只使用意大利伯爵命名,莱基伯爵天堂鸟
This one was named after Queen Victoria.
这只叫维多利亚女王天堂鸟