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The North American prairies, home to the bison.
北美的大草原 是野牛的故乡
But this film isn about the bison,
但本片并不是讲述野牛的
Its about a tiny creature that lives beneath the bisons feet -
而是生活在野牛脚下的一种小巧的动物
The prairie dog.
土拨鼠
You might easily overlook
你很容易忽视土拨鼠
the prairie dog until it opens its mouth.
直到它张嘴叫唤
Its a little animal with a big voice.
这是种有大嗓门的小动物
A team of scientists believe
一些科学家们相信
this noise is in fact a very complex language,
这声音其实是种复杂的语言
which is remarkable for an animal many see as lowly vermin.
这对被视为有害低等动物的它们来说是很了不起的
So, what are they saying?
那它们在说什么
To find out,
为了找到答案
scientists have devised a set of cunning experiments.
科学家们设计了一套巧妙的试验
But could these barks, squeaks and chirps really be a language?
但这些唧唧喳喳的喊叫真的是种语言吗
To our human ears,
对于人耳
this just sounds like a lot of unnecessary noise,
这只是不必要的噪音
but to other prairie dogs
但对其他土拨鼠来说
its all part of a jolly good conversation.
是愉快对话的一部分
That is, if you believe this man,
如果你相信这个人的话
prairie dog expert Professor Con Slobodchikoff.
土拨鼠专家肯·斯罗布奇科夫教授
Prairie dogs have the most
土拨鼠掌握着
complex natural language thats been decoded so far.
迄今所知最为复杂的自然语言
They have words for different predators,
它们对不同的掠食者有不同的词
they have descriptive words for
它们用形容词
describing the individual features of predators.
来描述掠食者的特征
So its a pretty complex language that has a lot of elements.
所以这是种包含许多元素的复杂语言
A relative of the squirrel
一种松鼠的亲戚
with a language second only to humans in its complexity?
却有着复杂度仅次于人类的语言
Thats a bold claim.
这是个大胆的断言
But Con has a problem.
但肯有个困难
Hes fighting an in-built prejudice against these little rodents.
他要改变的是人们对这种小啮齿动物的固有成见
Convincing the wider world that prairie dogs are great linguists
让大众相信土拨鼠是伟大的语言学家
is proving a tough challenge.
是个困难的挑战
He believes if we just get to know them a little better,
他相信如果我们能更了解它们一点
understand their world, then we might just see his point of view.
了解它们的世界 我们也许就能明白他的观点了
Life as a prairie dog is complicated.
土拨鼠的生活是复杂的
Its not just a simple matter of eating grass
并不仅仅是简单的吃草
and minding your own business.
和做好自己的事情
You have to share your space with lots of other prairie dogs.
你必须和许多其他的土拨鼠分享生活空间
Every prairie dog is part of a big community called a town.
每只土拨鼠都是叫做"镇"的大社区的一份子
The largest prairie dog towns stretch over tens of miles,
最大的土拨鼠镇能延绵数十英里
their excavated homes pockmarking the prairie landscape.
它们挖掘的洞穴令大草原满目疮痍
Living together requires impeccable social skills.
居住在一起需要有高超的社交技巧
Kissing is all the rage in prairie dog town.
亲吻在土拨鼠镇最是风行
A little taste of saliva is
唾液的交换
like a calling card that helps identify a visitor.
就像名片一样互表身份
Prairie dogs, though, are nervous creatures,
土拨鼠是神经紧张的动物
always on the lookout for signs of trouble across town.
总在注意镇上是否有麻烦事的苗头
But what is there to worry about?
他们在担心什么呢
Prairie dogs aren the only animals living in the town.
土拨鼠并不是镇上的唯一种族
Squatters have moved into some of their vacant burrows.
侵占者搬进了空穴里
All these strangers make prairie dogs a little nervous.
这些陌生动物让土拨鼠有些紧张
And so they should be.
它们也理应如此
Prairie dogs are under attack from all quarters.
从所有方位都能攻击土拨鼠
There are times when they must
它们必须能够感觉出来
feel besieged by animals that want to eat them.
自己已经被当成猎物包围
Even when they retreat to their underground burrows,
即便它们撤回地下的洞穴时
the prairie dogs can really relax.
土拨鼠也不能放松
With no safety anywhere, above or below ground,
由于不论地上还是地下都不安全
prairie dogs have come up with a clever strategy
土拨鼠发明了一个聪明的策略
for dealing with these threats.
来应对这些威胁
They shout.
那就是吼叫
Very loudly.
大声吼叫
Technically speaking, its an alarm call.
严格说来 这是警报
You might still be wondering why Con
你也许仍旧奇怪
would choose such a humble subject to study animal language.
为什么肯选择如此弱小的物种来研究动物语言
After all, there are more likely animal linguists -
毕竟还有更像是语言家的动物
whales or monkeys.
比如鲸或者猴子
But there was something about those prairie dog alarm
但土拨鼠的警报系统
calls that piqued his interest.
引起了他的兴趣
With so many predators living in prairie dog town, Con wondered,
他想知道在危机四伏的镇上
do the prairie dogs have just one call,
土拨鼠是只有一种警报
or do they have different calls for the different predators?
还是对不同掠食者有不同的警报
Theres only one way to find out.
只有一种方法能揭开谜底
Con must test their calls.
肯必须测试这些警报
Hes on his way to a remote ranch in the north of New Mexico.
他正驶往新墨西哥州北部的一个大牧场
Its a heaven for prairie dogs.
那是土拨鼠的天堂
Two species live here, Gunnisons and black-tails.
有两个品种 刚宁森氏和黑尾
Joining him are two of his students,
与他一道的是他的两名学生
Patricia Dennis, who will help record the calls,
帕特丽夏·丹尼斯将负责录下警报
and Bill Briggs, whos devised a series of experiments
而比尔·布里格斯则负责设计一系列试验
to test the prairie dogs.
来给土拨鼠测试
Together, this team hopes to show once and for all
这个小队想告诉所有人
that we have underestimated the little prairie dog.
我们低估了小土拨鼠
First of all, Con looks for signs of predators in his research area.
首先 肯要寻找地区中掠食者的标志
Heres a badger excavation.
这是獾挖掘的
This is very fresh.
刚挖不久
It probably happened in the last day or two.
大概就在过去的一两天
This is the way that badgers typically hunt.
这就是獾典型的狩猎方式
Theyll excavate a prairie dog burrow and then go inside,
他们会挖开土拨鼠的洞穴然后潜入其中
and while the prairie dogs are sleeping,
在土拨鼠睡觉的时候
they will eat the prairie dogs
吃了土拨鼠
and then theyll also sleep inside the burrow.
然后睡在洞穴里
They typically excavate a number
它们会在某一特定区域
of burrows all around us in a particular area,
挖掘其中的数个洞穴
and then they move on to another place
在吃完居住在某一洞穴系统内
once theyve eaten all the prairie dogs
所有的土拨鼠之后
that live in a particular burrow system.
将会转移到下一个地方
The presence of predators is welcome news for Con.
掠食者的出现对肯来说是个好消息
The prairie dogs should be on a state of alert,
土拨鼠应该处于警戒的状态中
and thatll mean good alarm calls.
而这意味着高质量的警报声
But waiting for predators to appear
但等待掠食者出现
would be far too time-consuming.
会很耗时间
These imaginative scientists have a solution -
这些充满想象力的科学家们有个解决方案
they bring their own.
用他们自备的掠食者
Time to set up the first experiment.
是时候准备第一个试验了
Bill must keep the dummy predator under wraps
比尔必须保证假的掠食者在找到合适位置前
while he finds a suitable spot.
不被暴露
Some prairie dogs are already a little spooked.
部分土拨鼠已然受惊
Con uses his car as a screen to hide behind.
肯用他的车作为屏障躲在其后
Its important that no-one is visible.
看不到人是非常重要的
The predator is revealed...
掠食者出现了
..A plastic coyote without any legs.
一只没有腿的塑料土狼
It seems like an encouraging result.
看来是个振奋人心的结果
The prairie dogs are certainly being vocal.
土拨鼠很显然大声喊叫了
Whats really wonderful about this
真正奇妙的是
is that other individuals are chiming in
其他的土拨鼠也陆续加入
just in response to the vocalisation,
回应发出的警报
so they don even have to see the stimulus
所以它们甚至不需要亲眼看到掠食者
in order to know that this is a coyote, and they start yelling.
就能知道这是土狼并开始喊叫
Every call recorded must subsequently be analysed by Con.
所有录音都要经过肯的分析
We can hear the difference in the calls
我们能听出来
between the different predators,
对于不同掠食者的警报是不同的
but thats not really enough for us.
但这还不够
What we really need is some sort of analytical tools
我们真正需要的是一种分析工具
for measuring what the frequency and time elements in the call are.
来测量这些警报中的频率与时间元素
And so this software here allows us to do this.
而这个软件就可以做到
This is our alarm call elicited for a coyote,
这是从对土狼的警报中分离出来的
and we can hear that it has a series of rhythmic chirps.
我们能听到一系列有节奏的叫声
Let me stop it at this point.
我停在这个点上
