BBC Earth｜捕食鸽子的巨鱼

The Fish That Hunts Pigeons
Planet Earth II | BBC Earth

Losing its fear of humans has enabled one animal to spread into cities everywhere and in huge numbers. Pigeons are by far the most successful urban bird.
失去对人类的恐惧，使一种动物能够大量地扩散到世界各地的城市。鸽子是迄今为止最成功的城市鸟类。

Here in Albi, in the south of France, the pigeons come to the river to bathe. They need to preen their flight feathers, clean off the city dust and cool themselves down.
在法国南部的阿尔比，鸽子们来到河边沐浴。它们需要梳理自己的飞行羽毛，洗去城市的灰尘，给自己降降温。

But death lies in wait. A predator that has taken advantage of the very thing that has led to the pigeon's success, their lack of fear. As the pigeons bathe, oil from their plumage flows downstream and is detected.  
但是死亡正潜伏着。一种捕食者充分利用了鸽子成功之处——它们的无畏。当鸽子沐浴时，它们羽毛上的油流向下游，并被捕食者察觉。

A monstrous wels catfish. Introduced here just forty years ago, they have proliferated, virtually exterminated the local fish stocks, and they've now developed a taste for pigeon.
一条巨大的欧洲鲶鱼。四十年前它们才被引入这里，现在已经大量繁殖，几乎消灭了当地的鱼类种群，现在它们开始喜欢吃鸽子了。

Their eyesight is poor, so they use their barbels to sense the movements of their victims. This is a radical new hunting strategy for what is normally a bottom-dwelling fish.
由于视力不佳，它们依赖触须来感知猎物的动向。对于通常栖息水底的鱼来说，这是一种全新的狩猎策略。

After a thousand years of living in this city, pigeons are now having to learn to avoid a fish.
在这座城市生活了千年之后，鸽子现在不得不学会避开一条鱼。

词汇表
pigeon 鸽子
Albi 阿尔比（法国南部城市）
bathe  用水清洗（身体部位）；（到海、河等中）游泳，沐浴
preen （鸟）用喙整理羽毛
clean off the dust 清除灰尘
lie in wait 等待，埋伏着
predator 捕食者，掠夺者
take advantage of 充分利用
plumage （鸟的）羽毛
downstream 顺流地，向下游地
detect 察觉，识别
monstrous 巨大的，可怕的
wels catfish 欧鲶，六须鲶，欧洲巨鲶（欧洲最大的淡水鱼类之一）
proliferate 迅速繁殖，激增
exterminate 消灭，灭绝，根除
develop a taste for  逐渐对某物产生喜好或兴趣
barbel (鱼类唇边的)触须
sense the movement 感知动向
radical 全新的，完全的
bottom-dwelling 栖息水底的；底栖生物

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