关于动物的误解，你是不是也犯过同类错误

The animal kingdom is home to one remarkable fact after another.

动物王国里充满了一个又一个神奇的事实。

To name a few: Sperm whales can hold their breath for an hour, the most venomous animal on Earth is a snail, and tiny freshwater hydras can live so long they may as well be immortal.

举几个例子来说：抹香鲸可以屏住呼吸一个小时，地球上毒性最大的动物是蜗牛，微小的淡水水螅属动物可以活很长很长时间，几乎可以说是长生不老。

But for each surprisingly true assertion about animals, there’s invariably another that’s exaggerated, misguided, or just plain wrong.

但是每一个关于动物的惊人真相身边总是伴随着另一个被夸大、误导或完全错误的言论。

MYTH: Beaver butt secretions are in your vanilla ice cream and other foods.

误解一：香草冰淇淋和其他食品里有海狸屁股的分泌物。

You’ve probably heard that a secretion called castoreum, isolated from the anal gland of a beaver, is used in flavourings and perfumes.

你大概听说过有一种叫作海狸香的分泌物，这是从海狸的肛腺中分离出来的物质，用于制作调味料和香水。

But castoreum is so expensive, at up to $70 per pound of anal gland (the cost to humanely milk castoreum from a beaver is likely even higher), that it’s unlikely to show up in anything you eat.

但是海狸香非常昂贵，每磅肛腺价格高达70美元（如果用人道的方式从海狸屁股汲取海狸香花费很可能更高），所以海狸香在你食用的东西里出现是不大可能的。

In 2011, the Vegetarian Resource Group wrote to five major companies that produce vanilla flavoring and asked if they use castoreum. The answer: According to the Federal Code of Regulations, they can’t. (The FDA highly regulates what goes into vanilla flavoring and extracts.)

2011年，素食资源团体写信给五个生产香草调味料的大公司，问他们是否使用了海狸香。答案是：根据美国联邦法规，他们不能这么做。（美国联邦法规对用于香草调味料和香草精的物质有严格规定。）

It’s equally unlikely you’ll find castoreum in mass-marketed goods, either.

同样，在大众化商品中找到海狸香也是不太可能的。

MYTH: Dogs and cats are colourblind.

误解二：狗和猫都是色盲。

Dogs and cats have much better colour vision than we thought.

狗和猫对颜色的辨别力比我们想的强多了。

Both dogs and cats can see in blue and green, and they also have more rods – the light-sensing cells in the eye – than humans do, so they can see better in low-light situations.

狗和猫都可以辨别蓝色和绿色，而且它们的视杆细胞（眼睛里的感光细胞）比人类还多，在弱光环境下视力比人类更好。

This myth probably comes about because each animal sees colours differently than humans.

这个误解很可能是源于每种动物看到的颜色都和人类不同。

Reds and pinks may appear more green to cats, while purple may look like another shade of blue.

红色和粉色在猫看来可能更绿一些，而紫色也许在猫眼里是另一种蓝色。

Dogs, meanwhile, have fewer cones – the colour-sensing cells in the eye – so scientists estimated that their colour vision is only about 1/7th as vibrant as ours.

与此同时，狗的视锥细胞（眼睛里的感色细胞）更少，所以科学家估计狗对颜色的辨别力只有人类的七分之一。

MYTH: Humans evolved from chimpanzees.

误解三：人类是从大猩猩进化而来的。

Chimps and humans share uncanny similarities, not the least of which is our DNA – about 98.8 percent is identical.

大猩猩和人类确实是有很多诡异的相似之处，尤其是DNA-大约有98.8%是相同的。

However, evolution works as incremental genetic changes add up through many generations. Chimps and humans did share a common ancestor between 6 and 8 million years ago but a lot has changed since then.

但是，进化是经历许多代累积产生的基因改变。大猩猩和人类确实在600万至800万年前拥有同一个祖先，但是自那以后很多事情都发生了变化。

Modern chimps evolved into a separate (though close) branch of the ape family tree.

现代大猩猩进化成了猿猴大家族的一个独立（尽管关系很近的）分支。

MYTH: Lemmings jump off cliffs in mass suicides.

误解四：旅鼠会集体跳崖自杀。

Lemmings do not commit mass suicide.

旅鼠并不会集体自杀。

During their migrations, or if they wander into an area they are unfamiliar with, they sometimes do fall off cliffs.

在迁徙过程中，如果旅鼠走到了一块不熟悉的地方，它们有时确实会跌下悬崖。

No one knows exactly when the myth started, but a 1958 Disney video called White Wilderness, which won an Oscar for best documentary feature, has emerged over the years as the likeliest suspect.

没人知道这个误解是从哪里开始的，但是曾获得奥斯卡奖的1958年迪士尼纪录片《白色荒野》极有可能是这些年来这种误解的起源。

MYTH: Bats are blind.

误解五：蝙蝠是瞎子。

Being "blind as a bat" means not being blind at all.

“和蝙蝠一样瞎”的意思是一点也不瞎。

While many use echolocation to navigate, all of them can see.

尽管很多蝙蝠用回声定位能力来导航，但所有的蝙蝠都能看得见。

MYTH: Ostriches hide by putting their heads in the sand.

误解六：鸵鸟想躲起来就把头埋在沙子里。

Ostriches do not stick their heads in the sand when threatened. In fact, they don’t bury their heads at all.

鸵鸟在受到威胁的时候不会把头埋在沙子里。事实上，它们根本就不会把头埋起来。

When threatened, ostriches sometimes flop on the ground and play dead.

在受到威胁时，鸵鸟有时会倒在地上装死。

MYTH: People get warts from frogs and toads.

误解七：人们碰到青蛙和蟾蜍会长疣子。

Frogs or toads won’t give you warts, but shaking hands with someone who has warts can.

青蛙或蟾蜍不会让你长疣子，但是和长疣的人握手会让你长疣子。

The human papillomavirus is what gives people warts, and it is unique to humans.

让人长疣子的是乳头瘤病毒，这也是人类独有的。