探秘野性赤道（2020）

Equator's Wild Secrets S01E05

Part 4 Feb. 27, 2022, 7:12 p.m.

召唤出她的能量来开启新的一天
Summoning the energy to begin her day.
太阳复苏了帕拉莫荒原上的动植物
The sun is breathing life into the animals and plants of the paramo.
冬天结束了
Winter is over.
春天已经来了，夏天也很快就会到来
Spring is here and summer will soon follow.
四季就在一天之间
All in one day.
雌性蜂鸟回到了丘奎拉瓜花上
The female hillstar is back at the chuquiraga flowers
准备补充她清晨的第一餐糖分
for her first sugar fix of the morning.
这只雄性也在外觅食
A male is out feeding as well.
这个在高层帕拉莫生活的物种
This high paramo living species has adapted to the harshest
是所有厄瓜多尔蜂鸟中最能适应恶劣环境的
environment of all the Ecuadorian hummingbirds.
厄瓜多尔惊人的多样性是由一大批迥异的栖息地造就的
Ecuador's surprising diversity is due to a range of contrasting habitats.
这条高山赤道带与安第斯山脉东部低地的
This alpine equatorial zone couldn't be more different
亚马逊地区相比
than from what exists on the eastern lowlands of the Andes--
简直是天壤之别
the Amazon.
这里拥有世界上十分之一的已知物种
Home to one-tenth of the world's known species...
它的森林地表上
the forest floor is alive
生活着各种各样的小生物
with a stunning variety of small creatures.
最成功的生物就是蚂蚁
None are more successful than the ants.
这里至少有12000个种类
There are at least 12,000 species.
在赤道这里
Here at the equator, they make up a staggering
它们占陆地总生物量的百分之二十五
25 percent of the total land animal biomass.
在2.5英亩的土地上能多达800万只
As many as eight million individuals in two and a half acres.
它们通过占据各种生态环境的方式来发展壮大
They thrive by adapting to occupy all kinds of ecological niches.
但蚂蚁也有它的天敌
But the ants have a nemesis...
这是一种专治蚂蚁的动物
one that has evolved specifically to benefit from the ants' success.
这只子弹蚁行为怪异
This bullet ant is behaving strangely.
它离开了蚁群沿着植物根茎向上爬
It leaves behind the rest of its swarm, climbing up a plant stem
在几乎高达十英寸的地方它用口钳夹住一片叶子
and clamping its jaws around a leaf at a height of almost ten inches.
它在那里意外地死去了
And there, unexpectedly, it dies.
这只蚂蚁的大脑已经被
The ant's brain has been infiltrated
一种名为虫草的真菌孢子所寄生
by the spores of a parasitic fungus called cordyceps.
它头上破裂而出的是孢子的子实体
The eruption from its head is the fruiting body of the fungus.
它以蚂蚁的尸体为养料
It uses the ant's body as food.
它的生长需要理想的湿度和温度
It likes an ideal humidity and temperature to prosper.
一旦条件充分它就会向风中播撒自己的孢子
Once it is ready, it disperses its spores in the wind.
其实这些真菌有上百个不同的种类
There are literally hundreds of different types of these fungi...
许多只针对一个物种
many specialized to just one species.
它们维持着森林中小生物的数量平衡
They help to keep the tiny critters of the forest in balance.