Level 4 Reading 2B

Reading 2B

阅读2B

FEATHERS OF LOVE Covered in soft, black feathers, the noble performer bows deeply to his audience. From the top of his head grow several long feathers that tap the ground as he begins his dance. This dancing bird is Carola's parotia, just one of the many birds of paradise that live on the island of New Guinea. This male bird is attempting to impress a row of females that are watching him from a branch above. Keeping the females attention isn't easy. He pauses for dramatic effect, then commences his dance again. His neck sinks and his head goes up and down, head feathers bouncing. He jumps and shakes his feathers until his performance finally attracts the attention of one of the females. An Amazing Performance In the dense jungle of New Guinea is nature's most absurd theater, the special mating game of the birds of paradise. To attract females, males' feathers resemble costumes worthy of the stage. The bright reds, yellows, and blues stand out sharply against the green of the forest. It seems that the more extreme the male's costume and colors, the better his chance of attracting a mate. In addition to having extremely beautiful feathers, each species has its own type of display behavior. Some dance on the ground, in areas that they have cleared and prepared like their own version of a dance floor. Others perform high in the trees. The male red bird of paradise shows off his red and yellow feathers in a display called a "butterfly dance." He spreads and moves his wings intensely, like a giant butterfly. The male Carola's parotia, however, is the dance king of the birds of paradise; he has serious dance moves! These include one in which he spreads out his feathers like a dress, in a move called the "ballerina dance." While some birds of paradise perform alone, others perform in groups, creating an eye-catching performance that female birds find impossible to resist. Hanging from nearby branches, male Goldie's birds prominently display the soft red feathers that rise from their backs as they flap their wings. Excited females soon choose the one that pleased them the most. The Evolution of Color These brilliantly colored birds of paradise have developed over millions of years from ancient birds whose feathers were dark and boring in comparison. Of today's 45 brightly colored birds of paradise species, most live only on New Guinea. These birds of paradise invite us to solve a mystery of nature. It seems to be a contradiction that such extreme feathers and colors could have been favored by the process of evolution. After all, these same brightly colored feathers that attract mates also make the birds much more noticeable to predators. The answer lies in the safe environment in which the birds live, and a process of evolution known as sexual selection. "Life here is pretty comfortable for birds of paradise. The island's unique environment has allowed them to go to extremes unheard of elsewhere," says biologist Ed Scholes. Under harsher conditions, he says, "evolution simply wouldn't have come up with these birds." Fruit and insects are abundant all year round, and predators are few. The result is a perfect environment for birds. Sexual selection has thus been the driving force in the evolution of birds of paradise. Freed of other pressures, birds of paradise began to specialize in attracting mates. Over millions of years, they have slowly undergone changes in their colors, feathers, and other talents. Characteristics that made one bird more attractive than another were passed on and enhanced over time. "The usual rules of survival aren't as important here as the rules of successful mating," Scholes adds. The diversity of New Guinea's birds also springs from its varied environments: from coastal plains to cloud forests, from swamps to mountains rising as high as 5,000 meters. The landscape has many physical barriers that isolate animal populations, allowing them to develop into distinct species.

爱的羽毛 这位高贵的表演者身披柔软的黑色羽毛，向观众深深鞠躬。 从他的头顶长出几根长长的羽毛，在他开始跳舞时拍打着地面。 这只跳舞的鸟是卡罗拉的假释鸟， 这只是生活在新几内亚岛上的众多天堂鸟之一。 这只雄鸟正试图给从上方树枝上看着它的一排雌鸟留下深刻印象。 保持女性的注意力并不容易。 他停顿了一下以获得戏剧性的效果，然后再次开始跳舞。 他的脖子沉了下去，头上下摆动，头上的羽毛蹦蹦跳跳。 他跳跃并摇动羽毛，直到他的表演最终吸引了其中一只雌性的注意。 惊人的表演 在新几内亚茂密的丛林中，是大自然最荒诞的剧场， 天堂鸟的特殊交配游戏。 为了吸引雌性，雄性的羽毛就像舞台上的服装。 明亮的红色、黄色和蓝色与森林的绿色形成鲜明对比。 似乎男性的服装和颜色越极端，他吸引伴侣的机会就越大。 除了拥有极其美丽的羽毛外，每个物种都有自己的展示行为。 一些人在地面上跳舞，在他们清理和准备好的区域，就像他们自己的舞池一样。 其他人在树上表演。 这只雄性红天堂鸟在一场名为“蝴蝶舞”的表演中展示了他的红黄羽毛 他像一只巨大的蝴蝶一样，展开并剧烈地移动着翅膀。 然而，雄性卡罗拉的假释是天堂之鸟的舞蹈之王； 他的舞步很严肃！ 其中包括他像裙子一样展开羽毛，这一动作被称为“芭蕾舞演员舞蹈” 虽然一些天堂鸟独自表演，但另一些则分组表演， 创造了一场引人注目的表演，雌鸟无法抗拒。 雄性戈尔迪鸟悬挂在附近的树枝上 突出地展示了它们拍打翅膀时从背部升起的柔软的红色羽毛。 兴奋的雌性很快就会选择最让她们高兴的那只。 颜色的演变 这些色彩斑斓的天堂鸟是从古代鸟类经过数百万年的进化而来的 相比之下，它们的羽毛又黑又无聊。 在今天的45种色彩鲜艳的天堂鸟中，大多数只生活在新几内亚。 这些天堂鸟邀请我们解开大自然的奥秘。 如此极端的羽毛和颜色似乎是一个矛盾 可能会受到进化过程的青睐。 毕竟，这些吸引配偶的色彩鲜艳的羽毛也使鸟类对捕食者来说更加引人注目。 答案在于鸟类生活的安全环境， 以及一个被称为性选择的进化过程。 “这里的生活对天堂鸟来说很舒适。 该岛独特的环境使它们能够走到其他地方闻所未闻的极端，”生物学家Ed Scholes说。 他说，在更恶劣的条件下，“进化根本不会产生这些鸟类。” 水果和昆虫全年都很丰富，捕食者很少。 其结果是为鸟类提供了一个完美的环境。 因此，性选择一直是天堂鸟进化的驱动力。 摆脱了其他压力，天堂鸟开始专注于吸引配偶。 数百万年来，它们的颜色、羽毛和其他才能慢慢发生了变化。 使一只鸟比另一只鸟更有吸引力的特征随着时间的推移而传递和增强。 斯科尔斯补充道：“在这里，通常的生存规则不如成功交配的规则重要。”。 新几内亚鸟类的多样性也源于其多样化的环境： 从沿海平原到云雾林，从沼泽到海拔5000米的山脉。 景观有许多物理障碍，将动物种群隔离开来， 允许它们发展成不同的物种。

Trouble in Paradise The people of New Guinea have been watching the displays of the birds of paradise for centuries. "Locals will tell you they went into the forest and copied their rituals and from the birds," says anthropologist Gillian Gillison. At local dance performances, the painted dancers still evoke the birds with their movements and beautiful costumes. "By wearing the feathers," Gillison says, " ... you capture the animal's life force." In the past, demand for the birds' feathers resulted in a huge amount of hunting. At the peak of the trade in the early 1900s, 80,000 skins a year were exported from New Guinea for European ladies' hats. Nowadays, few birds die for fashion or for traditional costumes: Ceremonial feathers are passed down from generation to generation. Although local people are still permitted to hunt the birds for traditional uses, they usually target older male birds, leaving younger males to continue breeding. There are more serious threats to the birds, however. An illegal market in feathers still exists. Large farms use up thousands of hectares of forest where birds of paradise once lived. Logging, oil prospecting, and mining also present dangers to New Guinea's forests. Meanwhile, human populations continue to grow. David Mitchell, a conservationist, is relying on the help of local villagers to record where the birds display and what they eat. He hopes to not only gather data, but also encourage protection of the birds' habitat. The strategy seems to be working. "I had come to cut down some trees and plant yaｍ vines," says Ambrose Joseph, one of Mitchell's farmers. "Then I saw the birds land there, so I left the trees alone." For millions of years, these impressive birds have danced to find their mates. They'll keep dancing for as long as the forest offers them a stage.

天堂的麻烦 几个世纪以来，新几内亚人民一直在观看天堂鸟的表演。 人类学家吉莉安·吉利森说：“当地人会告诉你，他们走进森林，复制了他们的仪式和鸟类。”。 在当地的舞蹈表演中，彩绘舞者仍然用他们的动作和美丽的服装唤起人们对鸟类的回忆。 “通过佩戴羽毛，”Gillison说，“你捕捉到了动物的生命力。” 在过去，对鸟类羽毛的需求导致了大量的狩猎。 在20世纪初的贸易高峰期， 每年有8万张皮从新几内亚出口，用于欧洲女士的帽子。 如今，很少有鸟为时尚或传统服装而死： 礼仪羽毛代代相传。 虽然当地人仍然被允许为传统用途狩猎鸟类， 它们通常以年长的雄性鸟类为目标，留下年轻的雄性鸟类继续繁殖。 然而，鸟类面临着更为严重的威胁。 羽毛的非法市场仍然存在。 大型农场占用了数千公顷的森林，天堂鸟曾经生活在那里。 伐木、石油勘探和采矿也给新几内亚的森林带来了危险。 与此同时，人口继续增长。 环保主义者大卫·米切尔正在依靠当地村民的帮助 记录鸟类在哪里展示和吃什么。 他希望不仅收集数据，而且鼓励保护鸟类的栖息地。 该策略似乎正在发挥作用。 米切尔的一位农民安布罗斯·约瑟夫说：“我是来砍倒一些树，种山药藤的。”。 “然后我看到鸟儿降落在那里，所以我就把树一个人留下了。” 数百万年来，这些令人印象深刻的鸟类一直在跳舞寻找伴侣。 只要森林为他们提供舞台，他们就会一直跳舞。

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