A Panda Stands Out at the Zoo butBlends in the Wild 熊貓在動物園里很顯眼，在野外卻與環境融為一體

Sarah Zielinski &JoAnna Wendel 笪景行選譯

When you see a panda at the zoo， it stands out against the green bamboo thatit eats all day. But that setting is misleading2. In the wild， the pandas black-andwhite patches3 help it to blend in with its background. That keeps the animalcamouflaged4 against tigers， leopards and so on.

當你在動物園看到一只熊貓時，它會在整天吃的綠色竹子的襯托下格外顯眼。但這種場景是有誤導性的。在野外，熊貓的黑白色斑紋幫助它與背景融為一體。這使得這種動物能夠偽裝起來抵御老虎、豹子等。

We have been fooled into thinking that pandas are much easier to see whenthey are in the wild. If we want to understand animal coloration5， we need to lookat the environment they live in.

我們被愚弄了，以為熊貓在野外更容易被看到。如果我們想了解動物的自然色彩，就需要看看它們生活的環境。

The giant panda is a rare6 animal lives in mountain forests in southwestChina. Earlier research had shown that pandaswhite patches help them blendinto snowy areas. And their dark legs and shoulders match well with shady7 bits offorest. Or at least they do to human eyes.

大熊貓是一種稀有的動物，生活在中國西南部山林中。早期的研究表明，熊貓的白色斑塊有助于它們融入雪地之中。它們深色的四肢和肩膀與森林的陰暗部分很相配，或者至少對人的眼睛來說是這樣。

We usually overestimate8 how well animals can see because our own colorperception9 is so good.

我們通常會高估動物的視力，因為我們自己的色覺非常好。

For new study， scientists got 15 images of pandas in the wild. They then corrected the photos to match how dogs and cats would see the images. Dogs and cats? arent leopards? or? tigers，? but? their? vision10 ?should? be? similar. And? the images showed that the pandas should be well-camouflaged from them， at least from a distance.

在新研究中，科學家們獲得了15張野外大熊貓的照片。然后，他們對這些照片進行了修正，使其與狗和貓會看到的圖像相似。狗和貓不是豹子或老虎，但它們的視覺應該是相似的。這些圖片顯示，在它們面前，至少是在一定距離以外，熊貓應該可以很好地偽裝起來。

This makes sense， since pandas have to stay in one place for a long time to eat enough bamboo. They can just evade11 other dangerous animals in a way that they cant be seen easily by them.

這是有道理的，因為熊貓必須在一個地方呆很長時間，才能吃到足夠的竹子。它們可以以一種不易被其他危險的動物發現的方式來躲避。

（英語原文選自：sciencenewsforstudents.org）

1. blend [ ] 協調，融合 2. misleading [ ] 誤導的

3. patch [ ] . 斑，小塊 4. camouflage [ ] . 掩飾;偽裝

5. coloration [ ] （植物或動物的）自然色彩

6. rare [ ] 少見的;珍貴的 7. shady [ ] .（樹等）成蔭的

8. overestimate [ ] 過高估計 9. perception [ ] . 感覺