A little red flying fox. |
一只红色的小狐蝠 |
Their ancestors flew here, |
它们的祖先 |
travelling along the chain of volcanic islands |
飞过连接着亚洲和澳洲的火山群岛 |
that links Asia to Australia. |
抵达这里 |
But their huge wings, which stretch from their fingers to their toes, |
但是它们的大翅膀从手指头伸展到脚指头 |
make it difficult for them to walk or take off from the ground, |
使得在平地行走或起飞变得十分困难 |
so, when they want to rest, they hang upside down in trees. |
所以休息的时候狐蝠会倒挂在树上 |
But the bats have to drink every day. |
狐蝠每日都需要饮水 |
And they do so on the wing. |
它们在飞行中完成这一任务 |
They swoop just low enough to wet their bellies |
它们掠过水面水花打湿了腹部 |
and then, back in their roosts, they will suck out the water. |
回到栖息地后它们就可以吸干身上的水 |
Each evening, 10,000 of them come here. |
每晚都有上万只狐蝠都来到这里 |
Not all of them return. |
但并不是每一只都回得去 |
Every two metres of river, there is... |
每隔两米 |
A crocodile. |
河中就有一条鳄鱼 |
They were here long before the bats... |
它们比狐蝠更早扎根于此 |
Survivors from Australia's prehistoric past. |
它们是澳大利亚史前生命的活化石 |
These dramas have been taking place for millions of years... |
这样的捕食大戏上演了数百万年 |
Aerial agility... |
这是飞行敏捷性 |
Versus patience... |
与耐心 |
And deadly speed. |
以及速度的对决 |
Australia's forests are |
想在澳大利亚森林安营扎寨 |
hostile places in which to make your home. |
你要面对诸多危险 |
As you move inland, the forest thins, the air cools |
沿着内陆前行森林渐少气温下降 |
and the land, as it gets higher, changes dramatically. |
而地形也随之变高山脉连绵起伏 |
The Great Dividing Range, 2,000 metres above the jungle. |
两千米高的大分水岭横贯于丛林之上 |
To survive here, |
想要在这里活下来 |
you must be able to tolerate really harsh conditions. |
你必须忍受极度恶劣的气候条件 |
Kangaroos, like nearly all of the continent's native mammals, |
就像这片大陆上几乎所有的哺乳动物一样 |
are marsupials... |
袋鼠属于有袋类动物 |
Mammals that rear their young |
这种些哺乳动物的雌性通常会把幼崽 |
usually in a pouch on the mother's belly. |
放在腹部上的育儿袋里照顾 |
And the young up here certainly need such shelter. |
袋中的幼崽也需要这样的庇护 |
No kangaroos can survive for long, higher than this. |
海拔再高的地方袋鼠就活不成了 |
But there is an even tougher marsupial up here. |
但这里生活着另一种有袋类动物 |
A wombat. |
袋熊 |
She usually shelters underground in a burrow, |
它通常在地洞中生活 |
but now that is under a metre of snow, |
但此刻地洞和草甸 |
together with all the grass on which she lives. |
都掩埋在一米深的积雪下 |
She weighs as much a big dog |
它有一只大型犬那么重 |
and has the legs of a small one - |
但四肢却跟小型犬的相当 |
not ideal for deep snow. |
这样的身体条件并不适合在积雪中生活 |
Fragments of bark hardly count even as a snack... |
对它来说树皮屑连零食都算不上 |
And she's hungry. |
它饥肠辘辘 |
She needs grass. |
它需要吃草 |
完整版请点击 |
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But it's over a mile away, across a frozen river. |
但草地在一千六百米外的冰河对岸 |
Wombats might not be fast. |
袋熊或许行动迟缓 |
but then they don't need to be up here. |
但它们不需要去到那么远 |
They can survive on next to nothing. |
它们在绝境中也能生存下来 |
A few mouthfuls will be enough food for over a week. |
这一点草料足够它吃一周多了 |
And there's not much competition for it |
在这块大陆的这个小角落 |
in this small corner of the continent. |
并不会有多少动物和它争抢食物 |
Snowy peaks are hardly typical of Australia, |
尽管雪峰在澳大利亚并不常见 |
but the Great Dividing Range is a remnant of what were once |
但大分水岭却是地球最长山脉之一 |
some of the longest mountain chains on Earth. |
留下来的遗产 |
They connected Australia and Antarctica. |
它们曾连接起澳大利亚和南极洲 |
But then these sister continents broke apart. |
然而这对姐妹大陆后来却分道扬镳 |
Antarctica, drifting southwards, became locked in ice. |
南极洲向南漂移逐渐被冰雪覆盖 |
Australia drifted northwards towards the equator |
澳大利亚向北边的赤道漂移 |
and became hotter and drier. |
变得愈加炎热和干燥 |
Woodlands developed, |
森林继续向内陆延伸 |
and in places where rainfall was low - |
降水量稀少的地方 |
open grasslands. |
就成了开阔的草地 |
On these grassy plains, |
在这些草原上 |
animals had the space to thrive. |
动物有足够空间得以繁衍生息 |
These are also eastern grey kangaroos, |
这是一群东部灰袋鼠 |
and this is their true home. |
这里是它们真正的家园 |
Here, they are well fed and powerful. |
在这里它们饱食无忧身体健壮 |
Adults can stand over two metres tall |
成年袋鼠站起来有两米高 |
and travel as fast as a racehorse. |
奔跑起来就像赛马一样快 |
And on these open plains, you need speed... |
在开阔的平原上你必须足够快 |
Because where there are large herds, there will be predators. |
因为有大群动物的地方就有天敌环伺 |
Dingoes - descendants of wolves that were brought here |
澳洲野狗[丁格犬]的祖先是四千年前 |
over 4,000 years ago by human visitors from Asia. |
来自亚洲的人类带到这里的狼 |
This pack is led by a white female... |
这群野狗的首领是一头白色母野狗 |
And they are hunting. |
它们正在捕猎 |
Creating panic tests the herd. |
野狗制造的恐慌对袋鼠群是一种考验 |
Mothers with young in their pouches might be slower... |
带着幼崽的袋鼠母亲可能跑得更慢 |
But they can still outrun a dingo. |
但它们仍能逃脱野狗的追捕 |
Maybe an ambush will work. |
埋伏突袭可能有用 |
But even young, newly independent kangaroos seem uncatchable. |
但即使是刚独立的小袋鼠也不容易抓到 |
Across these open, flat plains, |
在这片开阔的平原上竞逐 |
the dingoes are just not fast enough. |
野狗的速度还不够快 |
But what makes the white female their leader is her stamina |
但这只白色母野狗之所以成为领袖 |
and, particularly, her intelligence. |
靠的是耐力和机智 |
She has run 18 miles today, but she still doesn't give up. |
它今天已跑了二十九千米但仍不放弃 |
A different group of kangaroos, this time on uneven ground. |
这次它盯上了崎岖地形上的另一群袋鼠 |
It's what she's been looking for. |
这就是它在寻找的捕猎对象 |
Driving them uphill, |
它将袋鼠赶上坡 |
she's struggling to keep up with them. |
努力跟上它们的速度 |
And as they hurtle down the other side, |
当袋鼠们冲下坡时 |
the kangaroos pick up speed. |
它们的速度加快了 |
They will easily outpace her, if they stay in control. |
只要不摔跤它们很容易就能甩掉野狗 |
The white dingo has more than one reason to be so relentless. |
这只野狗之所以如此冷酷无情 |
She's a mother. |
只因它是一个母亲 |
This is a rare sight. |
这样的场景很罕见 |
Dingo pups are hardly ever seen. |
人们很少看到野狗幼崽 |
With so much effort for just one meal, |
野狗为一顿饭就要耗尽精力 |
the open plains are tough places on which to raise young. |
想要在开阔的平原上抚养幼崽并不容易 |
These are gumtrees. |
这些是桉树 |
They have leaves that are poisonous to most animals. |
桉树叶对大多数动物来说都有毒 |