黄石公园（2009）

But their play has a purpose.
但他们的游戏有一个目的
It fine-tunes their hunting skills
提高狩猎技能
and helps bond the all-important pack structure.
也有助于加强 非常重要的族群关系
Though there are 16 of them,
虽然他们有16个成员
they can only hunt an animal as large as an elk if they hunt as one.
他们一个团队一次也只能 猎杀像一头麋鹿这么大的猎物
The strength of the pack is what will get them through the winter.
团队的力量帮助他们度过整个冬天
Bald eagles spot carcasses from miles away.
白头鹰能够数英里外 发现动物的尸体
But there is strong competition for a kill like this.
但还要面对激烈的竞争
A coyote.
一只土狼
He has been shadowing the wolves, and moves in now they have gone.
他一直跟在狼群后面 现在狼群离开了 该轮到他了
It's December, and even the great Yellowstone River
现在是十二月 就连黄石河
is succumbing to the cold.
也不得不屈服于寒冷
It's only where the water runs fast that it still runs free.
只有流速够快的水 还能自♥由♥地流淌
It looks uncomfortably cold,
在刺骨不适的寒冷中
but then the water, at around freezing point,
但接近冰点的水
can be 50 degrees warmer than the air.
居然比周围的空气还热 50 度
Under the ice there's a rich supply of stone fly larvae
在冰层下面有大量的石蝇幼虫
waiting to hatch in the spring.
等候来年春天孵化
Dippers make the most of
河鸟在这些
these few small windows to a liquid world
通往水下的少数几个冰口完全凝结前
before they shut completely.
充分地加以利用
Where the water stands still it is now frozen solid.
水在不流动的地方 被冻成了固体
Yellowstone Lake is 136 square miles,
黄石公园湖面♥积♥有136平方英里
and now completely covered in three feet of ice.
现在整个被覆盖在三英尺厚的冰层下
A coyote travels across this frozen desert looking for something to eat.
一只土狼横穿这一冰冻的沙漠 找寻吃的东西
It's a wonder that anything can survive here at all.
存活在这里的一切都是奇迹
Hundreds of feet beneath him on the lake bed,
在他脚下数百英尺的湖床上
geysers erupt just like they do on land
喷泉仍像在地面上一样喷发
and they melt holes in the ice,
它们在冰面上融开的洞
the only sign that there is a lake here at all.
是湖泊存在的唯一迹象
As the year comes to an end,
当一年即将结束的时候
it seems hard to imagine this winter getting any tougher.
很难想像的 这冬天还会变得更严酷
But there's another twist to the volcano's story
但火山的故事还有另一个波折
that is about to make things even worse.
将要使事情变得更糟糕
Over time the continent of North America has moved,
北美洲的大♥陆♥
inch by inch, over many millions of years.
在过去数百万年内一寸一寸的移♥动♥
But deep down below the Earth's moving crust,
在移♥动♥的地壳下方深处
the source of magma that fuels Yellowstone's volcano
黄石公园火山燃料的来源 岩浆
has stayed put.
停留在原地没动
As the crust has moved over this volcanic hotspot,
当地壳移出这个火山的喷发点时
eruption after eruption has blasted a massive 500-mile-long scar
一次次的爆发 产生了一道巨大的500英里长的疤痕
right through the Rockies.
贯穿整个落矶山脉
In the winter this giant scar, called the Snake River Plain,
在冬天 来自太平洋的潮湿空气
funnels moist air from the Pacific Ocean
经由这道被称为蛇河平原巨大疤痕
right through the wall of the Rocky Mountains
穿过洛矶山脉的屏障
and up into Yellowstone's deep freeze.
进入到黄石公园
Here it finally freezes and falls as snow,
被这里的严寒冻结 变成雪落下
huge quantities of it.
降雪量极大
Whilst everywhere around gets 10 feet of snow a year,
附近的年降雪量达到10英尺
thanks to the legacy of its volcano, Yellowstone can get as much as 50.
拜火山所赐 黄石公园更达到50英尺
Otters seem to thrive in the Yellowstone winter.
在黄石公园的冬天 水獭看起来很活跃
But now that the rivers are not only frozen but covered in deep snow,
现在河不仅结了冰 还被厚雪覆盖
they are struggling to find open water to fish in.
他们正在努力寻找开放的水面狩猎
They can't fish here, the fast flowing water is too dangerous.
这里不行 流速这么快的水太危险
Somehow they need to find a way past the falls.
不管怎样他们要找一个办法越过这个瀑布
With the falls safely behind them, the otters are forced to keep moving on.
过了瀑布 水獭仍要不断前进
Open water has become a rare thing in Yellowstone.
黄石公园里开放的水面越来越稀少
Out on the frozen grasslands, the bison are struggling, too.
在冰冻草地上 野牛也正在奋力求生
This year is already the snowiest for the last decade,
今年是十年来 降雪最多一年
snowier than many of this herd have experienced
对于动物中的大多数来说
in their lives.
在他们一生中从没见过这么大的雪
Now, as the snow gets deeper than a critical four feet,
现在 当雪深超过关键的四英尺
the effort of swinging this massive head back and forth for so little reward
努力地来回摇晃巨大的脑袋 才换来这一丁点的回报
is becoming too much.
实在太不值了
Though the snow front is passing through,
虽然降雪锋线就快过去
it's followed by the wind,
紧跟着又是风
which now starts to scour the heart of Yellowstone.
开始在黄石公园的中心吹刷
A bison's coat can keep it warm down to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit.
野牛的皮毛能在零下30度 保持温暖
The wind chill is now pushing these bison to that limit.
寒风现在将这些野牛逼到了极限
But these are the last wild bison herds in America
但这是美国仅存的野牛群
which have survived here for tens of thousands of years.
他们在这里存活了数万年
They know what to do.
他们知道该怎么做
To move is risky, it will tap into their now dwindling energy reserves.
走动是冒险的 会耗掉他们现在日益减少的能量储备
But this year, it's a gamble worth taking.
今年除外 这个险值得去冒
Their way out is a river whose water is not frozen.
他们的希望是一条没有结冰的河
A thermal river fed by warm water from Yellowstone's geysers,
一条有黄石公园的地热喷泉 暖水补充的温暖河流
an ancient route which leads to a place where, if they're lucky,
一条远古的路径通往此处 如果他们很幸运
they will be able to survive.
他们将会在那里幸存下来
It's January, and night is twice as long as day
一月 现在夜长是日长的两倍
in Yellowstone's deep freeze.
深寒的黄石公园
The wind and the storms have gone,
风和暴风雨已经过去
but now the clear skies suck any last trace of heat into space.
但是现在晴朗的天空 把任何一丝热量吸入空中
As morning comes, something extraordinary has happened.
黎明到来的时候 一些特别的事发生了
All moisture in the air has turned to ice,
空气中的所有的湿气都变成了冰
diamond dust.
冰晶
But this is a cruel beauty.
这是种残酷的美
Minus 66 Fahrenheit was recorded here in Yellowstone.
在黄石公园的 有记录的最低温是华氏零下66度
Off the record, it gets colder still.
还有更低的 没被记录的气温
This bison is still out on the open plateau.
一只野牛仍在开阔的高地上
The deep snow with its windblown crust has made it almost impossible to feed.
风吹过雪面 草几乎不可能吃到
The extreme cold will now tip the balance of survival further,
这种极端的寒冷 对于生存下去的考验
most likely too far even for a bison.
即使对一头野牛来说也太过严酷
A red fox can stay in the cold heart of Yellowstone all winter,
一只红狐能整个冬天 呆在黄石公园的中心地带
so long as it can find food.
只要它能找食物
It's looking for mice
它正在找寻老鼠
that survive the winter insulated beneath the blanket of snow.
好不容易在冬天的雪毯下存活下来的
The fox is light enough to move about on the delicate crust
狐狸身体很轻 能在脆弱的雪地上走动
but the mice are six feet beneath it.
但老鼠在它下面六英尺的地方
It listens for the tiny sounds of its prey moving about below,
它倾听猎物在下面移♥动♥的微弱声音
but must take great care not to scare them away.
但是一定要极其小心 不要把他们吓走了
The otter family has arrived at Yellowstone Lake.
水獭一家抵达了黄石湖
Here they can fish in the holes kept open
水下喷泉使这些冰洞保持开放
by the underwater geysers.
他们可以在这里抓鱼了
But every time they catch something,
可每一次他们抓到猎物
this coyote has been watching and waiting.
这一只土狼都会在一旁一直看着 等候着
The otter dives under the ice to hide its fish from the coyote.
水獭跳到冰面下 把它的鱼藏起来
The coyote can't see the otter because of the thick cover of snow.
因为厚雪的掩护 土狼看不到水獭
But he can hear him.
但是他能听到
The otter emerges without the fish.
水獭浮出来 鱼没了
He's stashed it somewhere under the snow. But where?
他把鱼藏在雪下面的某个地方了 但是在哪呢
A huge Yellowstone cutthroat trout.
一条很大的黄石公园"切喉"鳟鱼
With the help of the otters, a wily coyote can catch fish, too.
有了水獭们“帮忙” 一只狡猾的土狼也能“抓”到鱼
The thermal river has led the bison to one of the main geyser fields.
热河引导野牛 来到了其中一个主要地热喷泉
Here the heat from below comes close enough to the surface to melt the snow.
这里地热极度接近地表 足以融化积雪
And a bison can graze as if it were spring.
野牛可以吃草 就如同春天降临
The same volcanic forces, so massive that they created the weather
火山力量巨大 造成了恶劣天气
that drove the bison here, now offer comfort.
驱使野牛跋涉至此 现在 却又让它们如此舒适
The only problem is, the grass that the bison now relish
唯一的问题是
has such a high concentration of silica that it wears down their teeth.
野牛现在吃的草富含二氧化硅 会磨掉它们的牙齿
And it's laced with enough arsenic to slowly poison them.
而且配上大量的砷 慢慢地毒害他们
For these bison, it's not an easy choice to come here.
对这些野牛来说 来这里是个两难的选择
But as long as they don't have to stay here too long
但只要它们不要在这里停留过久
it's a lot better than facing the Yellowstone winter head on.
总比直接面对黄石公园的冬天要好得多
Incredibly, there is life that thrives here.
令人难以置信的是 这里有旺盛的生命
In Yellowstone's thermal springs,
在黄石公园的热泉
the temperature is a constant near-boiling.
温度是接近沸腾的恒温
Yet here are huge colonies of heat-tolerant microbes.
然而这里是耐热细菌的巨大殖民地
As the boiling water flows out from the centre of springs,
当沸腾的水从泉中心涌出
it cools, forming bands of different temperatures,
泉水冷却 形成不同的温度带
each with a different collection of microbes
每个不同的温度带成为不同的微生物聚落