2006年6月6日星期二晚九时

    The canopy, the upper level of the trees in the rain forest, holds a plethora of climbing mammals of moderately large size, which may include monkeys, cat, civets, and porcupines. Smaller species, including such rodents as mice and small squirrels, are not as prevalent overall in high tropical canopies as they are in most habitats globally.

    树冠,雨林树木的上层部分,栖息着大量中等体形的攀援哺乳动物,包括猴子,猫,麝猫,豪猪.小一点儿体形的包括像老鼠和小松鼠这样的啮齿动物,但这类小型哺乳动物在热带雨林的高层树冠上的数量不如他们在地球的其他主要栖息地普遍.

    Small mammals, being warm blooded, suffer hardship in the exposed and turbulent environment of the uppermost trees. Because a small body has more surface area per unit of weight than a large one of similar shape, it gains or loses heat more swiftly. Thus, in the trees, where shelter from heat and cold may be scarce and conditions may fluctuate a small mammal may have trouble maintaining its body temperature.

    小哺乳动物,由于是温血动物,在树木的顶层遭受着暴露在外且变化扰动环境的艰苦.由于小型的身材比相似形态的稍大身材占有单位体重更多的皮肤面积,所以它获得和散失热量就更快.因此,在树上,用以抵御寒暑的蔽所可能很稀缺加之条件易受扰动,小型哺乳动物会很难保持体温.

    Small size makes it easy to scramble among twigs and branches in the canopy for insects, flowers, or fruit, but small mammals are surpassed, in the competition for food, by large ones that have their own tactics for browsing among food-rich twigs. The weight of a gibbon hanging below a branch arches the terminal leaves down so that fruit-bearing foliage drops toward the gibbon’s face. Walking or leaping species of a similar or even larger size access the outer twigs either by snapping off and retrieving the whole branch or by clutching off branches with the feet or tail and plucking food with their hands.

    小型身材利于它们在树冠的树枝和树干间攀爬来寻找昆虫,花,或水果,但在对食物的竞争上小型哺乳动物却被大型哺乳动物超越.大型的有他们自己的策略来穿梭于食物丰富的树枝间.长臂猿靠体重悬挂在树干下,树干末端弯曲成拱状,这样果实累累的枝叶就垂在长臂猿的面前了.体形相似或稍大一些的行走类或跳跃类动物要么靠折断并取走整个树枝要么靠把脚和尾巴挂在树干上然后用手来摘食物来达到接近外侧树枝的目的.

    Small climbing animals may reach twigs readily, but it is harder for them than for large climbing animals to cross the wide gaps from one tree crown to the next that typify the high canopy. A macaque or gibbon can hurl itself farther than a mouse can, it can achieve a running start, and it can more effectively use a branch as a springboard, even bouncing on a limb several times before jumping. The forward movement of a small animal is seriously reduced by the air friction against the relatively large surface area of its body. Finally, for the many small mammals that supplement their insect diet with fruit of seeds, an inability to span open gaps between tree crowns may be problematic, since trees yield these foods can be sparse.