美洲大陆（2025）

欢迎收看美洲大地
This is The Americas
这段非凡的旅程 横跨地球上这片超级大♥陆♥
an extraordinary journey across Earth's great supercontinent.
地球上物种最丰富的地区
The widest variety of life on the planet.
揭露我们家园未曾述说的故事
The untold story of our home.
今晚跟着美洲大地
Tonight on The Americas...
探索狂野西部
The Wild West.
这里上演过无数传奇故事
The stage for a thousand legendary stories...
山脉形塑出所有生灵的命运
where mountains shape the lives of all who live here...
构筑出地球上最标志性的景观
in some of the planet's most iconic landscapes.
黄石国家公园
Yellowstone.
索诺拉沙漠
The Sonoran Desert.
以及壮丽的北美大平原
And the spectacular Great Plains.
这里绝非弱者的立足之地
This isn't a place for the fainthearted.
要在此栖身 需要智慧
To call this home takes ingenuity...
韧性
resilience...
乃至无畏胆识
even true grit.
狂野西部构成了北美广袤的核心地带
The Wild West forms the vast heart of North America
既有富饶草原
home to fertile prairies
亦有炙热荒漠
and sun-scorched deserts.
这些全由一条山脊所塑造
All of this is shaped by a spine of mountains...
落基山脉
The Rockies.
海拔高达14000呎
Towering over 14,000ft
是北美最高的山脉之一
some of the highest mountains in North America.
怀俄明州群峰深处
Hidden in the peaks of Wyoming
藏着一片令人心驰神往的仙境
lies a place of spellbinding beauty.
黄石国家公园
Yellowstone.
冬季时 气温可骤降至华氏零下60度
In winter temperatures can plummet to 60 below.
宽达上百呎的河流封冻
Rivers a hundred feet wide freeze
只余涓涓细流
leaving just a trickle...
厚达4呎的积雪覆盖大地
and a blanket of snow lies 4ft deep.
在这个魔幻领域中生存绝非易事
Survival in this magical world is tough.
即便是最狡猾的动物
Even for the most wily of animals
郊狼也不例外
a coyote.
在这片冰天雪地的荒野里
In this snowbound world
牠仍能嗅出生机
he can still pick up a scent.
其嗅觉相较人类灵敏数倍
His nose is many times more sensitive than ours.
经过一小时搜寻
After an hour of searching...
寻得一根冰冻野牛骨
a frozen bison bone.
聊胜于无
Better than nothing.
郊狼总是寻寻觅觅着机会
Coyotes are always on the lookout for an opportunity.
牠的宿敌 一只赤狐 难道有所发现
Now is his archrival, a red fox, onto something?
田鼠会躲在积雪下的地道中
Voles hide in a network of tunnels beneath the snow.
来碰碰运气吧
Time to try this out.
好吧
Okay.
赤狐做起来轻而易举
That fox made it look easy.
真爱现
What a show-off.
不过还有其他地方值得探索
There are other places worth a look.
并非各处都白雪无垠
Not everywhere is covered in snow.
黄石国家公园坐落于一座超级火山上
Yellowstone sits above a supervolcano...
造就出举世闻名的温泉奇观
creating its world-famous hot springs.
其规模在地球上名列前茅
This is one of the largest on Earth
名为大棱镜温泉
known as Grand Prismatic.
克罗族称此地为
The Crow Tribe called this place
"燃烧之地"
"the land of the burning ground."
此地蒸腾的间歇泉
Where steaming geysers
可喷涌至150呎高空
erupt 150ft into the air.
这股热能恰好能融化河流
All this heat is just enough to thaw the river.
为割喉鳟提供一片无冰的庇护所
An ice-free haven for cutthroat trout.
问题是该如何抓到
But how to catch one?
也许抢食会更容易些
Maybe stealing dinner would be easier.
前提是能够靠近
If he can get close enough.
但水獭是以家族为单位行动
But river otters work as a family.
体重合计破百磅的愤怒水獭可不好惹
Combined, that's more than a hundred pounds of angry otters.
至少试过了
It was worth a go.
可如今牠踏上了薄冰
Now he's on thin ice.
或许该展现狂野西部上 那份永不言败的精神了
Perhaps it's time to show that Wild West never-say-die spirit
并尝试自食其力捕鱼
and try fishing for himself.
不错
Not bad.
可圈可点
Not bad at all.
这里总有地方能取暖
Here, there's always somewhere to warm up
但山区的每一天都充满艰辛
but every day is tough in these mountains.
辛苦的不只有郊狼
And not just for a coyote.
在科罗拉多的群峰间
In the peaks of Colorado
严冬持续长达八个月
winter weather lasts eight long months.
春季直到五月才终于降临
It's May before spring finally arrives.
而许多西部故事中的反派角色
And the villain from many a Western...
准备亮相
makes its entrance.
科罗拉多这座崎岖山巅上
On this rocky peak in Colorado
海拔8000呎处
8,000ft up...
春季迅速降临
spring comes fast.
或许很难料到这种动物会在此复苏
And an animal you might not expect to find up here is stirring.
一条草原响尾蛇
A prairie rattlesnake.
这条雌蛇在地底渡过了冬季
This female has spent the winter deep underground
躲避了天寒地冻
sheltering from the cold.
还不单单只有牠
And she's not alone.
随着阳光替牠们暖身
As the sun warms their bodies
数百只蛇开始苏醒
hundreds are coming back to life.
牠们可能有八个月都未进食
They may not have eaten for eight months
于是立刻出发前往平原觅食
so they immediately head down to the plains to feed.
尽管山顶几乎没有食物或水源
But even though there's almost no food or water up here...
这只雌蛇还是留了下来
this female stays behind
因为牠怀孕了
because she's pregnant.
随着肚子逐渐增大
With a growing belly
牠变得迟缓且容易受到天敌威胁
she's becoming slow and vulnerable to predators.
因此牠待在这里
So she remains up here
方便随时逃进岩缝中
where she can easily escape into the rocks.
然而脱水且饥饿的牠
Already dehydrated and starving
这种作法恐会致命
it's a strategy that could kill her.
牠会几乎静止不动两个月
For two months, she'll barely move
尽可能保存能量
conserving all her energy.
可为了让肚里的小蛇继续成长
But for her babies to continue to grow inside her
牠仍然需要水分
she does need water.
雨滴附着在牠鳞片上的微小沟槽中
Droplets cling to microscopic grooves in her scales.
牠便能从自己3呎长的体表吸取水分
So she can suck moisture from the surface of her 3-ft-long body.
这就足以让雌蛇和小蛇存活下来
It's just enough to keep Mom and babies alive.
怀孕三个月
Three months into her pregnancy
且距上次进食已超过一年
and a year since her last meal
分娩的日子终于来临
her due date is finally here.
牠开始宫缩
Her contractions begin.
牠并非产卵
She doesn't lay eggs.
而是生下活体幼蛇
She gives birth to live young.
每只都是小型的完美响尾蛇
Each is a perfect rattlesnake in miniature
包裹在薄膜中
coiled inside a thin membrane.
迎来了第一口呼吸
The first breath.
虽然细小毒牙已经充满毒液
Although its tiny fangs are already loaded with venom
但幼蛇的响环太小 发不出招牌声响
a baby's rattle is too small to make its trademark sound.
一夜之间
By the end of the night
雌蛇又生下六只小蛇
Mom delivers six more babies.
牠们会在洞穴里过冬
They'll all spend the winter in the den.
到了明年春天
By next spring
雌蛇将会受饥长达20个月
Mom will have starved herself for 20 months.
无疑是活生生的西部巾帼英雄
She's a real-life Western heroine.
地势较低的山坡上
On lower mountain slopes
岁月已把尖峭的山脉
time has softened the jagged peaks
磨成了绵延起伏的丘陵
into gently rolling hills.
在加州的内华达山脉
In the Sierra Nevadas of California
古老橡树散布在大地
ancient oak trees are scattered across the landscape.
每当秋天到来
And come the fall
树上则挂满了珍宝
they're laden with treasure.
橡果
Acorns.