She has the same iron-coated teeth as the beavers.
它们都是啮齿动物 占哺乳动物房♥屋建造者的大多数
Both are rodents,which are the vast majority of mammal house builders.
它的幼崽还从未出去过
Her young have never been out.
它把出口挡住了
She’s blocked the exits.
外面的世界就好像不存在一样
The outside world might as well not exist.
小家伙看来已下定决心去探险
The little ones seem determined to explore,
但也许会在管道网中迷路
but may get lost in the network of tunnels.
所以它逐个的拽着它们
So,she literally drags them
在迷宫一样的地下农场里转
around the labyrinth of her underground bamboo farm.
北美河狸为了运输树而修建河道
American beavers build canals to carry trees
中国竹鼠在地下收割竹子
and Chinese bamboo rats harvest bamboo underground,
但在南美
but in South America,
另一种动物把家园牧场的主意 升华到了更高的境界
another animal takes the idea of a home farm a stage further.
切叶蚁把森林生长物的10% 都带到地下的
Leaf and grass-cutter ants take about 10% of the forest’s grow underground,
真菌花♥园♥里
to fungus farms.
白色真菌生长在切碎的树叶上
The white fungus grows on the chopped-up leaves
那是蚁类的主要食物来源
and is pretty much all the ants eat.
真菌花♥园♥产生热量和二氧化碳
The fungus farm generates heat and carbon dioxide.
经过管子通向地表的一个大土堆
Pipes lead to a large mound above the ground.
烟囱就像凸起的草原犬鼠洞
The chimneys are like the raised prairie dog burrows,
为洞里换取新鲜空气
drawing the air through the nest.
以前没有人知道切叶蚁城有多大
Nobody knew how big grass-cutter ant cities were,
因此 科学家们把液态水泥倾倒进一个老的巢穴里
so scientists poured a liquid cement into an old nest.
等混凝土成形了
Once the concrete was set,
他们就挖开泥土 揭示非凡的秘密都市
they dug away the earth to reveal an extraordinary secret city.
主寝室之间由隐蔽的干道连接
There are subterranean highways connecting the main chambers,
由旁路通往真菌花♥园♥、巨大的垃圾场
with side roads to fungus farms,huge rubbish pits
和温控苗圃
and temperature-controlled nurseries
这是一个拥有一千两百万蚂蚁的大房♥子
This is one house for 12 million inhabitants.
比伦敦或纽约的人还要多
That’s more than London or New York
放大到我们的比例 它有一公里半深 八公里宽
On our scale,it is a mile deep,and five miles across.
这种群居昆虫是自然界最好的建筑师
The social insects are nature’s finest architects.
这些三米高的白蚁穴都是南北走向
These three-metre-high termite mounds all point north to south.
早晨和傍晚它们朝向太阳 因而温暖
In the morning and evening they face the sun and are warmed,
但当正午时分,它们顺着阳光 所以不会太热
but at noon,they are sideways on and so don’t overheat.
我们的大建筑 也会遵循这样的简单策略
Our large buildings could follow this simple trick.
然而 这还不是故事的全部
However,this is not the whole story
一年中有半年时间 这里是一片沼泽 像船帆一样的形状
Half the year this is a swamp and the sail-like shape and larger
和较大的表面♥积♥ 对于保持聚居地干燥温暖 堪称完美
surface areas are perfect for keeping the colony dry,as well as warm.
在一天中较热的时候 大部分白蚁为了避免过热
Most termites avoid overheating by descending into lower levels
搬到蚁穴的低处
during the hotter part of the day.
但这些白蚁已经找到了一个符合建筑学的方法
But these termites have found an architectural solution
来解决这个问题
to the problem.
在房♥子里找到一个比自己体积大一千倍的蛋 一定会很困惑
Finding an egg 1,000 times your size in your house must be puzzling.
当它开始孵化的时候 就很恐怖
Terrifying,when it starts to hatch.
这个巨大的外来物是饰纹巨蜥
The gigantic aliens are lace monitor lizards.
出口已经封闭
Their exit is closed.
白蚁修补好了巨蜥妈妈
The termites repaired the hole in the wall
为了产卵在墙上挖的洞
the monitor mother made to lay her eggs.
它们被困在里面了
They are trapped.
看起来几乎难以置信 巨蜥妈妈回来救它们出去
It seems almost incredible that the mother would return to release them.
饰纹巨蜥选的孵化地再好不过
These lizards could not have chosen a better nursery –
能防御掠食者
protected from predators
并且完美的温度下孵化
and incubated at the perfect temperature.
白蚁必须得修补洞穴
The termites must repair the mound.
用的是泥和排出的灰浆
They use mud and mortar out of their back end.
想要不管外面的温度如何 洞内都保持摄氏30度
The walls are essential to stay within half a degree centigrade of 30,
波动不到半度 墙是必不可少的
whatever the weather outside.
远离热带 昆虫们要依靠中♥央♥系统暖气
Far from the tropics,insects have resorted to central heating.
在空心树里 一个日本大黄蜂
In a hollow tree,a Japanese giant hornet
开始用空心墙和电暖气建造城♥堡♥
starts to build a city with cavity walls and electric radiators.
蜂王首先建几个隔间
The queen first makes a few compartments.
在每个里面有一枚卵孵化成幼虫
An egg in each hatches into a larva
它自己织成了一个性能非凡的丝茧
It spins a silk cocoon for itself that has extraordinary properties.
丝就像一个有温控功能的电热毛毯
The silk is like a thermostatic electric blanket.
充电时能保持热量
It stores heat as electrical charge
如果巢里温度冷的话 就自动回到加热状态
which automatically turns back into heat if the nest cools.
它的女儿们变成蛹然后钻出来
Her daughters pupate and emerge.
它们是第一批建设者
They are the first battalion of builders.
它们加了地板 悬在中间
They add additional floors,suspended in the middle.
支撑柱形物是模压的
Supporting columns are moulded.
嚼碎的木浆做成像纸一样的材料
They build with chewed-up wood pulp the same material as paper.
更多的蜂后产下的幼虫孵化出来 它们开始索要食物
As more of the queen’s larvae hatch they start demanding food,
用头撞墙、蹭墙
banging and scraping their heads on the walls.
工蜂收集昆虫 并把它们捣碎 调成糊状 用于喂养幼虫
The workers collect insects and mash them into a paste for the larvae.
外墙向下延伸形成八层
The outside walls are extended downwards,with up to eight
隔离的洞 设有输送管和烟道
layers of cavity insulation,and built-in flues and ducts.
像白蚁一样 几个简单的指令可能交互运用
Like the termites,a few simple instructions may come together
形成令人惊奇的复杂构造
to build a surprisingly complex design.
科学家们把这叫做“突现性质”
Scientists call this an “emergent property”.
四个月以后 一个高达一米的
And what emerges,after four months
大黄蜂巢就形成了
is a hornet’s nest almost a metre tall.
如果气候寒冷 就由幼虫和丝毯维持巢内温度
If it’s cold,the nest is heated by the larvae and their silk blankets,
但在炎热的天气 凉风就被扇进来
but on hot days,cooling air is fanned in.
这个巢的温度保持在30度上下两度
This nest is held within two degrees of 30.
这个繁殖地不仅是房♥子 整个也像一个温血动物
The colony behaves as much like a warm-blooded animal as a house.
临近秋天 蜂后开始产下明年的新蜂后
Towards autumn,the queen turns to producing new queens for next year.
它和所有的工蜂 不久之后都将死在这儿
She,and all her workers,will soon die here,
精疲力竭 消耗殆尽
exhausted and now expendable.
巢也会被破坏 无法重新利用
The city will crumble,too,and can never be reused.
在它生命临终的那几天
In the final days of her life,
蜂后要确保向几个幼虫提供食物
the queen ensured that a few larvae were fed
还有新的大黄蜂蜂后产生
and fresh queen hornets emerge.
每个都面临着一季的冬眠
Each faces a winter of hibernation
到了春天 就要开始
and,in spring,starts building
建造一个全新的、是它们体积四万倍的巢穴
a brand new edifice 40,000 times her size.
对于每个家庭来说 总有搬家的那一刻
For every home,there comes a time to move on.
在热带雨林里有一种动物
There is one animal in the rainforest
建造着世上最令人惊奇的社区
that builds the most extraordinary city of all.
行军蚁把能杀掉的所有东西
Army ants kill almost everything they can
几乎全都带回家里
and carry it all back to their home.
它们的房♥子是活的建筑 整个都由蚂蚁构成
Their house is a living building entirely made of ants,
称为露营
called a bivouac.
腿承担整个巢的重量
The legs carry the weight of the whole nest.
大的社区就有大的烦恼
Big cities have big problems.
蚂蚁产生那么多的垃圾 的确需要一个垃圾箱
The ants generate so much waste that they need a rubbish tip.
死亡蚂蚁的尸体、旧的茧
The carcasses of dead insects,and old cocoons
被带出社区扔掉
are taken out of the city to the dump.
不久以后 整个社区将生活在垃圾的海洋里
Soon the colony sits in a sea of municipal waste
周围的食物也都没了
and all the surrounding food has gone.
所以 到了晚上 它们把自己解下来 出发
So,they unhook themselves at night and set off.
带上蛹和幼虫 蜂后被保护在
Pupae and larvae are carried,and the queen is protected
一队列士兵后面
behind a cavalcade of soldiers.
选定了一个新地点 活动绳索逐渐形成了柱形
A new site is chosen and living ropes become columns.
看起来像围绕一个架构建巢
They seem to build around a frame,
但由于每一处地点不同 设计也没有完全一样的
but since every site is different,the design is never identical.
框架用蚂蚁做成的墙
The frame is filled in with walls,
隔成走廊和房♥间
to create corridors and rooms,all made of ants.
新环境在几天内将被它们掠夺一空
Their new neighbourhood will be stripped of prey in a few days.
如果蚂蚁不能够转移整个社区
If the ants couldn’t move their city,
它们很快会吃光一切 把自己饿死
they’d quickly eat themselves into extinction.
所有的房♥子都面临着同样的困境
All houses face the same dilemma.
河狸已经伐倒了上百吨♥木头
The beavers have felled hundreds of tons of wood.
过了四或五年时间 除了灌木什么也剩不下
After four or five years,there is nothing left but bushes.
池塘将被淤泥充塞 没有修缮的圆木
The ponds have silted up,and without logs for repair,
一切开始崩溃
things start to fall apart.
河狸开始暂时用像柳兰一类的灌木凑和
The beavers make do for a while on shrubs,like willow herbs,
但即便如此 它们生长的速度 也远比不上被吃掉的速度
but even these,they eat faster than can grow back.
由于湖泊收缩 它们将放弃家园
As their lake shrinks,they will abandon their home.
最终 几乎所有的家园都变得无法维持
Almost all homes become unsustainable,eventually.
河流被空的巢穴和破损的水坝 弄得杂乱不堪