A Panda Stands Out at the Zoo butBlends in the Wild 熊猫在动物园里很显眼，在野外却与环境融为一体

Sarah Zielinski &JoAnna Wendel 笪景行选译

When you see a panda at the zoo， it stands out against the green bamboo thatit eats all day. But that setting is misleading2. In the wild， the pandas black-andwhite patches3 help it to blend in with its background. That keeps the animalcamouflaged4 against tigers， leopards and so on.

当你在动物园看到一只熊猫时，它会在整天吃的绿色竹子的衬托下格外显眼。但这种场景是有误导性的。在野外，熊猫的黑白色斑纹帮助它与背景融为一体。这使得这种动物能够伪装起来抵御老虎、豹子等。

We have been fooled into thinking that pandas are much easier to see whenthey are in the wild. If we want to understand animal coloration5， we need to lookat the environment they live in.

我们被愚弄了，以为熊猫在野外更容易被看到。如果我们想了解动物的自然色彩，就需要看看它们生活的环境。

The giant panda is a rare6 animal lives in mountain forests in southwestChina. Earlier research had shown that pandaswhite patches help them blendinto snowy areas. And their dark legs and shoulders match well with shady7 bits offorest. Or at least they do to human eyes.

大熊猫是一种稀有的动物，生活在中国西南部山林中。早期的研究表明，熊猫的白色斑块有助于它们融入雪地之中。它们深色的四肢和肩膀与森林的阴暗部分很相配，或者至少对人的眼睛来说是这样。

We usually overestimate8 how well animals can see because our own colorperception9 is so good.

我们通常会高估动物的视力，因为我们自己的色觉非常好。

For new study， scientists got 15 images of pandas in the wild. They then corrected the photos to match how dogs and cats would see the images. Dogs and cats  arent leopards  or  tigers，  but  their  vision10  should  be  similar. And  the images showed that the pandas should be well-camouflaged from them， at least from a distance.

在新研究中，科学家们获得了15张野外大熊猫的照片。然后，他们对这些照片进行了修正，使其与狗和猫会看到的图像相似。狗和猫不是豹子或老虎，但它们的视觉应该是相似的。这些图片显示，在它们面前，至少是在一定距离以外，熊猫应该可以很好地伪装起来。

This makes sense， since pandas have to stay in one place for a long time to eat enough bamboo. They can just evade11 other dangerous animals in a way that they cant be seen easily by them.

这是有道理的，因为熊猫必须在一个地方呆很长时间，才能吃到足够的竹子。它们可以以一种不易被其他危险的动物发现的方式来躲避。

（英語原文选自：sciencenewsforstudents.org）

1. blend [ ] 协调，融合 2. misleading [ ] 误导的

3. patch [ ] . 斑，小块 4. camouflage [ ] . 掩饰;伪装

5. coloration [ ] （植物或动物的）自然色彩

6. rare [ ] 少见的;珍贵的 7. shady [ ] .（树等）成荫的

8. overestimate [ ] 过高估计 9. perception [ ] . 感觉