Wild Case Files|大自然神秘档案

by Marcus Maurice

The strangest stories from the natural world are investigated this month on National Geographic Channel.

It confuses scientists when animals act in unnatural ways. In 2005, European common toads were going through mating season at one particular pond in Hamburg, Germany when something totally disgusting happened. All the locals in the area were shocked to find that the toads began swelling up and exploding, scattering body parts and entrails everywhere. However, no one could figure out what was causing this extremely weird phenomenon.

It's not just Germany that has strange animal behavior. In Cornwall, England in 2008, 26 dolphins became stranded in a shallow creek and died. The strange part of this story is that these dolphins were miles away from their natural habitat, and no one understood how they could have possibly gotten there. In Australia, kangaroos started bouncing into trees, fences, and rivers because they suddenly went blind. In Scotland, dogs have been committing suicide from the same bridge for the last 60 years. As a matter of fact, some of the dogs that jumped off this 50-foot bridge survived and even returned to the same spot to try it again.

With all these abnormal events happening around the globe, National Geographic Channel (NGC) attempts to solve the mysteries with Wild Case Files. Each episode uses local scientists and experts to investigate three separate incidents. Learn what the red, blood-like liquid falling out of the sky in India was or how a creature constructed a web that surrounded an entire forest in Texas. Can NGC come up with satisfactory explanations for these eerie events? You'll have to tune in to Wild Case Files to find out.

大自然神秘档案

本月国家地理频道将调查自然界最稀奇古怪的事件。

　　动物的反常行径总是困扰着科学家。2005 年，时序正值欧洲林蟾的交配季节，在德国汉堡某个池塘却发生令人大为作呕的事件。当地所有居民发现这些蟾蜍开始胀大并爆炸，身体部位和内脏散落各处，大家对此无不感到震惊。然而，没人想得出是什么原因造成这极为怪异的现象。

　　并非只有德国发生奇异的动物行为。2008 年，有 26 只海豚在英国康瓦耳的 1 处浅湾搁浅后死亡。这起事件的怪异之处在于这些海豚现身地点距离牠们的自然栖息地有数英里之远，没人知道牠们怎么有可能到达那里。在澳洲，袋鼠开始在弹跳时撞到树木、篱笆并跳进河流里，因为牠们全都突然眼盲。苏格兰过去 60 年来，狗狗从同一座桥上一跃而下自杀。事实上，有些狗狗从这座 50 英尺高的桥上跳下而生还后，甚至还回到同一地点试图再跳下去。

　　面对这些发生在全球的异常事件，国家地理频道欲藉由《大自然神秘档案》节目解决这些谜团。每集节目皆邀请当地科学家及专家共同调查 3 起个别事件。我们会得知从印度天空降下的红色鲜血般液体是何物，或是某种生物如何织出 1 个覆盖德州一整座森林的网。国家地理频道能否针对这些古怪的事件提出令人满意的解释？观众们得收看《大自然神秘档案》才能知道答案。

2007 年 8月，美国德州公园管理员弗莱迪‧戈温（Freddie Gowin）发现有张巨网覆盖住德州东部塔瓦科尼湖州立公园（Lake Tawakoni State Park），这张网直径达 40 呎，像收缩膜般地包覆树木。对于这张巨网，昆虫专家看了后都充满疑问，都不相信这会是小小的蜘蛛所织。昆虫专家表示，他们要化验样本后才能确定蜘蛛的品种，他们推测这可能是喜欢群居与集体作业的数百万只蜘蛛合力编织的『杰作』。（数据源：国家地理频道、中国经济网）