[雙語]別小看了熊貓_Don’t underestimate pandas

不要低估熊貓，它們的身體能中和氰化物。

They’re more than just cuddly creatures

它們不僅僅是可愛的動物

The giant panda has a complicated reputation. It is known as an adorable animal, a symbol of Chinese diplomacy, the poster child for endangered animals, the poster child for charismatic megafauna who get too much attention for being endangered, and a creature that’s really bad at sex (with exceptions).

大熊貓?jiān)诖蟊娦哪恐械挠∠笃鋵?shí)挺豐富的。他是人見人愛的大萌物，在中國的國寶也是外交工具，是珍稀動物中的代表，他也是因?yàn)闉l危得到了太多關(guān)注的大型動物中最具魅力的代表，也是最不會交配的動物(但也有例外)。

So it’s unsurprising that pandas are seen as bumbling animals, but in actuality, they do have one very impressive skill: their bodies neutralize cyanide. Yes, the poisonous chemical that famously smells faintly of almonds.

所以，大熊貓被視為憨厚老實(shí)笨手笨腳的動物一點(diǎn)也不奇怪，不過實(shí)際上，他們確確實(shí)實(shí)有意向逆天技能：他們的身體可以中和氰化物。是的，就是那個聞起來有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)杏仁味的劇毒化學(xué)物質(zhì)。

You see, raw bamboo contains cyanide and, if eaten, will make the average person extremely sick; it can even be deadly. (Cooking gets rid of the cyanide.) Pandas, of course, primarily eat bamboo, and have adapted to overcome this. In a study published in Nature a couple years ago, scientists investigated how this works by measuring the cyanide content in the bamboo shoots they fed to 20 giant pandas. In addition to measuring cyanide in the shoots themselves, they measured the cyanide in the pandas’ feces.

你懂得，生竹子里含有氰化物，如果吃下去，可能會導(dǎo)致一般人感覺惡心，甚至有可能致死(通過烹調(diào)可以去掉氰化物)。但是熊貓是吃竹子的，而且身體已經(jīng)適應(yīng)，能夠中和氰化物了。在自然雜志兩年前刊發(fā)的一篇論文中，科學(xué)家通過檢測他們給20只熊貓喂的竹筍中的氰化物含量調(diào)查這一過程是如何實(shí)現(xiàn)的，除此之外，還檢測了竹筍本身的氰化物含量和熊貓糞便的氰化物含量。

They found that, first, pandas are ingesting cyanide — it’s not like they’ve found a way to only eat bamboo that doesn’t contain it. Giant pandas absorbed more than 65 percent of the cyanide present in the shoots. But their bodies were able to turn 80 percent of that absorbed cyanide into a less toxic chemical called thiocyanate, which they then peed out. It’s an inspiring story, really. It’s possible to be a giant cuddly animal that everyone underestimates, with the little-known power of being able to eat poison.

首先，實(shí)驗(yàn)結(jié)果表明，熊貓確實(shí)在吃氰化物——它們不大可能找到不含氰化物的竹子。大熊貓能吸收竹筍中 65 % 的氰化物，不過熊貓的身體能將它吸收的 80% 的氰化物轉(zhuǎn)變成另一種毒性小得多的化學(xué)物質(zhì)——硫氰酸鹽，然后再將其排出體外。真是很讓人興奮和激動。可能，所有人的低估了這只大萌獸，因?yàn)榇蠹叶疾恢浪麄冞€能吃毒藥。