每日英語跟讀 Ep.K512: About Nature - Butterfly ‘tails’ might be part of an escape tactic

Tail-like extensions on some butterfly wings may be more than just stylish.

有些蝴蝶翅膀末端像尾巴的延長部分可能不只是時髦。

These break-away parts may help them survive attacks by hungry predators, new data suggest.

新的資料指出，這些斷裂部分可以幫助牠們在遭到飢餓掠食者攻擊時存活下來。

Birds are known to attack eyespots or head-shaped patterns on butterfly wings.

目前已知鳥類會攻擊蝴蝶翅膀上的眼狀斑點或是頭形圖樣。

Because the tails tear off easily, attacked butterflies often can escape and fly away.

因為翅膀尾端容易脫落，被攻擊的蝴蝶通常能夠逃跑飛走。

Those tails distract birds away from the prey’s most vulnerable body parts.

那些尾巴可以分散鳥類對獵物最脆弱身體部位的注意力。

These eye-catching “tails” may have evolved as a decoy to keep hungry birds from grabbing a butterfly’s head or abdomen, scientists say.

科學家表示，這些吸引目光的尾巴可能已經逐步演化成誘餌，防止飢餓的鳥類抓住蝴蝶的頭部或腹部。

The tails of some moths can interfere with the echolocation tactics of hungry bats.

部分飛蛾的尾巴可以干擾飢餓蝙蝠的回聲定位戰術。

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Escaped king cobra crawls back to Swedish Terrarium 逃脫的眼鏡王蛇爬回瑞典飼養箱

A venomous 2.2-meter (7 foot) king cobra that escaped from its home in a Swedish zoo has returned back home by itself, bringing a happy ending to over a week-long disappearance saga.

一條2.2公尺（7英尺）長、從瑞典動物園逃離的有毒眼鏡王蛇，已自行返家，為長達一週的失踪傳奇劃下圓滿句號。

“Houdini, as we named him, has crawled back into his terrarium,” CEO Jonas Wahlstrom of the Skansen Aquarium told the Swedish public broadcaster SVT on Sunday.

週日，斯坎森水族館的執行長喬納斯‧瓦爾斯壯告訴瑞典公共電視台（SVT）：「我們口中的『胡迪尼』（知名逃脫大師）已經爬回牠的飼養箱。」

The deadly snake, whose official name is Sir Vass, escaped on Oct. 22 via a light fixture in the ceiling of its glass enclosure at the aquarium.

這條致命的蛇正式名稱為「瓦斯爵士」，於10月22日經由水族館玻璃外殼天花板上的燈具逃脫。

As a result of an intensive search with X-ray machines, “Houdini” was located earlier this week in a confined space near the terrarium in the insulation between two walls.

園方利用X光機進行密集搜索，本週稍早找出「胡迪尼」的位置，牠身處靠近飼養箱、位於兩堵牆之間絕緣層中的一處密閉空間。

Holes were drilled into the walls where the snake was hiding but the cobra disappeared from the view of the X-ray cameras in the early Sunday. It turned out the snake had given up its freedom ride and crawled back to its terrarium.

蛇藏身的牆壁上被鑽了幾個洞，但這條眼鏡蛇週日稍早從X光攝影機的視野中消失了。原來這條蛇放棄自由行，爬回牠的飼養箱。Source article: https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1561560 ; https://features.ltn.com.tw/english/article/paper/1551362