“灭绝”137年后，树蛙在印度重现 （中英双语）

青岛希尼尔翻译公司（www.sinosenior.com.cn）整理发布2016-01-23

希尼尔翻译公司（www.sinosenior.com.cn）2016年1月23日了解到：An extraordinary tree frog thought to have died out more than a century ago has been rediscovered in India.

最近，一种曾经被认为已灭绝一个多世纪的珍稀树蛙在印度被发现。

The discovery was made by renowned Indian biologist Sathyabhama Das Biju and a team of scientists, in the jungles of north-eastern India.

印度著名生物学家比朱和一个科学家小组在印度东北部的丛林中发现了这种树蛙。

It is hoped the frogs might now be found across a wide area, from China to Thailand.

该树蛙有望在中国到泰国等更广泛的地区存在。

树蛙研究_华盛顿邮报

Studies of the frog have also led scientists to reclassify it as an entirely new genus.

科学家通过对这种树蛙进行研究，决定将它作为一种全新的种类重新分类。

The golf ball-sized frog lives in tree holes up to 6m (19ft) above ground, which may have helped it stay undiscovered.

这种高尔夫球大小的青蛙居住在距离地面6m高（19英尺）的树洞中，这也许是它一直未被人类发现的原因之一。

Although other scientists have suggested it may have gone unnoticed simply because there are so few scientists working in the remote region.

然而，其他科学家认为它之所以未被注意到，仅仅是因为在偏远地区工作的科学家太少。

The height at which they live is not their only quirk, with females laying their fertilized eggs in tree holes filled with water, only to return after the tadpoles hatch, to feed them with unfertilized eggs.

这种树蛙奇怪之处不仅仅在于它居住的高度。当雌蛙在充满水的树洞里产下受精卵后，它们便会离开，直到小蝌蚪孵化，它们会返回并把未受精卵作为食物喂给小蝌蚪们。

印度蛙人_华尔街日报

Unlike most frogs, adults also eat vegetation rather than insects and larvae.

和大多数青蛙不同，成年树蛙不仅仅吃昆虫和幼虫，它们还会吃植物。

The newly uncovered frogs were first found by accident in 2007, during a search for other animals.

这种新发现的青蛙最早是由于2007年一次寻找其他动物的过程中出现的巧合。

Mr Biju, of the University of Delhi, is known as The Frog Man in India, for discovering 89 of the country’s 350 or so frog species.

德里大学的比朱先生被称为“印度蛙人”，因为在印度350种左右的青蛙品种中，有89个品种是由他发现的。

"We heard a full musical orchestra coming from the tree tops. It was magical. Of course we had to investigate," Mr Biju said.

“我们听到树顶传来美妙的乐队演奏声，充满了魔力。所以我们必须要进行调查研究。”比朱先生说。

Using DNA analysis, Mr Biju and his colleagues have now identified the frogs as part of a new genus, meaning it has a new name.

借助DNA分析，比朱先生和他的同事们目前已确认这种青蛙为一个全新的种类，也就是说它将被赋予一个全新的名字。

It has changed from Polypedates jerdonii - named after Thomas Jerdon, the British zoologist that collected the previously only known specimens in 1870 - to Frankixalus jerdonii, after herpetologist Franky Bossuyt - Mr Biju’s adviser when he studied at Vrije Universiteit in Brussels, Belgium.

它由“截吻泛树蛙”-以英国动物学家托马斯·哲登于1870年收集之前仅有的品种而命名的，更名为“截吻弗兰克蛙”-以爬行动物学家弗兰克·博叙命名（弗兰克为比朱先生在比利时布鲁塞尔自由大学进修时的导师）。

Although the frogs have since been found in significant numbers, they are far from safe, Mr Biju warned, with tropical forests being cut down at alarming rates to make way for agriculture and human settlements.

尽管这种树蛙自发现以来数量庞大，但仍存在安全风险，比朱先生做出警告。因为为了便于农业和人类居住，热带雨林正以骇人的速度遭到乱砍滥伐。来源:BBC