14 A2 weird animals

CHAPTER 1 What's so Weird About That? THE WAY AN ANIMAL LOOKS OR BEHAVES MIGHT BE WEIRD TO US, BUT IT WORKS FOR THEM! Let's look at the warthog. To our eyes, it looks very weird! But to another warthog, this animal looks normal, maybe even beautiful. Maybe warthogs think people look weird. But some animals also look strange to other animals. This helps them survive. For example, some scientists believe that a zebra's stripes are not for camouflage but to make an optical illusion. When a lion sees a group of zebras, it can't see where one zebra ends and another begins. It doesn't know where to bite. So, a zebra's stripes help it to survive.

第一章这有什么奇怪的？ 动物的外表或行为方式对我们来说可能很奇怪，但对它们来说却很有效！让我们看看疣猪。 在我们看来，它看起来很奇怪！但对另一头疣猪来说，这只动物看起来很正常，甚至可能很漂亮。 也许疣猪觉得人看起来很奇怪。 但有些动物在其他动物看来也很奇怪。 这有助于它们生存。例如，一些科学家认为斑马的条纹不是用来伪装的，而是用来制造视觉错觉的。 当狮子看到一群斑马时，它看不清一头斑马在哪里结束，另一头斑马在哪里开始。 它不知道该咬哪里。 所以，斑马的条纹帮助它生存。

Sometimes animal behavior seems very strange to us, but it's normal in the animal's world. When some kinds of male penguins want to find a mate, for example, they look for just the right female. This is not easy because penguins sometimes live in groups of thousands. When he finally finds the "girl of his dreams," he doesn't do a dance or sing like other birds. He looks for rocks! He picks up a rock and puts it at the feet of the female he wants to be his mate. If the female takes the rock and puts it in the nest, it means she wants him as her mate. The rock is like a wedding ring!

有时动物的行为在我们看来很奇怪，但在动物的世界里这是正常的。 例如，当某些种类的雄性企鹅想要寻找配偶时，它们会寻找合适的雌性。 这并不容易，因为企鹅有时会成群生活。 当他最终找到“梦中女孩”时，他不会像其他鸟儿那样跳舞或唱歌。 他在找石头！他捡起一块石头，把它放在他想成为配偶的雌性的脚下。 如果雌鸟把石头放在巢里，这意味着她想要他做她的伴侣。 这块石头就像一枚结婚戒指！

CHAPTER 2 Look at That! ANIMALS HAVE STRANGE ADAPTATIONS TO HIDE FROM PREDATORS, TO FIND PREY TO EAT, OR TO FIND A MATE. Some animals don't look like animals. They look like part of the environment around them. Camouflage is a good way to hide from predators and survive. One animal with amazing camouflage is the leafy seadragon, which lives in the waters near Australia. The leafy seadragon is an animal that hides by moving. When it moves through the water, it looks like a piece of seaweed. This is good because its environment has a lot of seaweed! The leafy seadragon's body is green, orange, and gold, and it has small pieces on its body that look just like seaweed. What is the only thing that shows it's an animal? Its eyes!

第二章看！动物有奇怪的适应能力来躲避捕食者、寻找猎物或寻找配偶。 有些动物看起来不像动物。 它们看起来就像周围环境的一部分。 伪装是躲避捕食者和生存的好方法。 有一种动物有着惊人的伪装，那就是生活在澳大利亚附近水域的叶海龙。 叶海龙是一种通过移动来隐藏的动物。 当它在水中移动时，看起来像一片海藻。 这很好，因为它的环境有很多海藻！叶海龙的身体是绿色、橙色和金色的，它的身体上有小块，看起来就像海藻。 唯一能证明它是动物的是什么？ 它的眼睛!

Leafy seadragons also behave in a weird way. The male carries the eggs! After the female lays from 100 to 250 eggs, the male picks them up and carries them in a special place under its tail. It keeps them for four to six weeks until the eggs hatch and the babies come out. And leafy seadragons don't have teeth or a stomach. To eat, they suck very small animals into their long mouths. What a weird and wonderful animal! Another animal with great camouflage is the walking stick. A walking stick is an insect that looks like a stick that can walk. Walking sticks go out at night. During the day, they hide in plants and do not move. Look at the picture. Can a predator see this walking stick? Probably not.

叶海龙的行为方式也很奇怪。 雄性带蛋！当雌性产了100到250个蛋后，雄性会把它们捡起来，放在尾巴下面的一个特殊地方。 它会让它们保存四到六周，直到蛋孵化出来。 叶海龙没有牙齿和胃。 为了吃东西，它们把很小的动物吸进长长的嘴里。 多么奇怪又奇妙的动物啊！另一种伪装能力很强的动物是手杖。 手杖是一种看起来像一根会走路的棍子的昆虫。 手杖在夜间外出。 白天，它们躲在植物里不动。 看这幅画。掠食者能看到这根手杖吗？ 可能不会。

Some insects look like other animals. When the snake caterpillar sees a predator, it puts its legs under its body, and makes the front of its body bigger. Then it looks just like a snake! Predators want a delicious caterpillar, but they see a snake and stay away. There are many insects that look like flowers and plants, but some reptiles do, too. One example is the leaf-tailed gecko. It's a kind of small lizard that lives in Madagascar. When a predator looks for its lunch and sees this gecko, it thinks it's just an old, brown leaf and goes to look somewhere else.

有些昆虫看起来像其他动物。 当蛇毛虫看到捕食者时，它把腿放在身体下面，使身体的前部变大。 然后它看起来就像一条蛇！掠食者想吃美味的毛毛虫，但看到蛇就躲远了。 有许多昆虫看起来像花和植物，但一些爬行动物也一样。 其中一个例子就是叶尾壁虎。 这是一种生活在马达加斯加的小蜥蜴。 当捕食者寻找它的午餐时，看到这只壁虎，它认为这只是一片旧的棕色叶子，然后去其他地方寻找。

Some animals use venom to keep predators away. The saddleback caterpillar of eastern North America looks like a leaf, but it also has sharp hairs with venom on them. When a predator touches these hairs, it gets hurt! The blanket octopus doesn't have anything on its own body to keep it safe. It takes something from another very dangerous animal— the Portuguese man- of-war. This animal has tentacles with venom on them. The venom can make animals and people very sick, but it doesn't hurt the blanket octopus. So, when the blanket octopus swims by a Portuguese man-of-war, it takes a tentacle. Then it can hit its predators with the tentacle. That's a very smart octopus!

有些动物用毒液来躲避捕食者。 北美东部的鞍背毛虫看起来像一片叶子，但它也有锋利的毛发，上面有毒液。 当捕食者接触这些毛发时，它会受伤！毯子章鱼身上没有任何东西来保护它的安全。 这是从另一种非常危险的动物——葡萄牙军舰身上取来的。 这种动物的触须上有毒液。 这种毒液可以使动物和人生病，但它不会伤害毯子章鱼。 所以，当毯子章鱼游过葡萄牙军舰时，它需要一条触手。 然后它可以用触手攻击捕食者。 那是一只非常聪明的章鱼！