世界上10种看起来像虚构却真实存在的动物(中)

en Lion Tamarin

7.金狮面狨

You probably won't see one as a guest judge on "American Idol" any time soon, but golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia)are the rock stars of the Amazonian rain forest.

你可能不会轻易见到“美国偶像”的嘉宾评委，但却可以看到亚马逊雨林里的摇滚明星金狮绢毛猴（金狮面狨）。

The diminutive creatures, whose bodies can stretch to nearly 9 inches (22 centimeters) in length plus a tail of up to 13.5 inches (34 centimeters), have a striking mane of lush, golden fur, which frames a gray-black face with startlingly anthropomorphic features.

可以舒展到9英寸（22厘米）的身体配上一条长达13.5英寸（34厘米）的尾巴，还有眩目似金黄厚重皮衣的浓密鬃毛，以及高度拟人化的灰黑脸庞，这个小家伙的特点肯定会让你两眼放光。

These primates, which spend most of their lives in the trees, use their long fingers to climb and swing from branch to branch, and to snare insects, fruit, lizards and birds for food.

这些灵长类动物大部分的时光与树为伴，他们伸出长手指在树枝之间跳跃，攀爬摘下水果，捕捉昆虫，壁虎以及鸟类果腹。

Both genders split responsibility for raising their young, with males sometimes carrying babies on their backs between feedings, as if they were human yuppie dads. (Their young are usually twins.)

他们还会雌雄分工养育宝宝，雄性有时会在雌性喂养宝宝时背着别的宝宝，一如我们人类里的雅皮士奶爸（金狮面狨的宝宝们一般是双胞胎）。

Unfortunately, these magnificent creatures are critically endangered due to logging and agricultural expansion that are destroying their habitat.

不幸的是，这种珍奇的生物正由于人类的砍伐和农业扩张失去栖息地而濒临灭绝。

otl

6.蝾螈

The axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum), also known as the "water monster" and the "Mexican walking fish," is a peculiar but versatile foot-long (30-centimeter-long) aquatic creature that can use its four stubby legs to drag itself along lake bottoms, or else swim along the surface.

蝾螈（钝口螈），也被称为“水怪”和“行走的墨西哥鱼”，是一种长约一英尺的独特水生生物。利用粗短的腿，它既能在湖底爬行，也可以湖面游动。

It also has a strange, lizard-like face with plume-like gills and a mouth that seems to curl into a smile.

它有着蜥蜴一般的脸以及羽毛样的鳃，它的嘴巴弯曲，看起来就像是在微笑一样。

Even so, the axolotl, which feeds on aquatic insects, small fish and crustaceans, doesn't have a lot to be happy about these days.

蝾螈以水生昆虫、小鱼及甲壳纲动物为食，在最近，它们可没办法愉快地生活了。

The fish is indigenous to the Xochomilco network of lakes and canals around Mexico City, but those waters have become so polluted due to urban sprawl that a 2013 study from Mexico's National Autonomous University failed to turn up any specimens after four months of searching.

蝾螈在索契米克湖泊网络和墨西哥城周围的运河里土生土长，但因城市的开拓，这些水域遭致污染，以至于在2013年，墨西哥国立自治大学历经四个月的搜寻，都无法找到任何蝾螈作为标本。

While axolotls survive in aquariums, water tanks and research labs, scientists are still hopeful that axolotls haven't completely vanished in the wild.

尽管现在仍有蝾螈在水族馆和实验室里存活，但科学家们还是希望它们不会在野外消失殆尽。

t Oarfish

5.巨型皇带鱼

Slithery giant sea serpents have inhabited the nightmares of sailors since ancient times.

鱼类居住的地方还生活着滑溜溜的蛇，自古以来就是这些“水手们”的噩梦。

It turns out, however, that the real-life creature that resembles them most closely, the giant oarfish, actually isn't a snake but rather the largest bony fish in the sea.

尽管巨型皇带鱼很像这种水蛇，但事实证明它们只是海洋中最大的硬骨鱼。巨型皇带鱼头冠为鲜红色，全身布满银色光泽，以牙齿并不多的嘴巴过滤小鱼小虾及其他无脊椎生物。

Therefore, marine scientists were excited when, in October 2013, the bodies of two oarfish — including a 14-foot (4.6 meter)- long female with ovaries full of eggs — were found off the coast of Southern California.

2013年10月加利福利亚南部海岸发现两条巨型皇带鱼，其中一条雌性皇带鱼长14英尺（4.6厘米），她的卵巢里布满卵子。海洋学家们因此兴奋异常。

This provided a precious opportunity to study the elusive animals.

这次发现为人们研究这种难觅踪迹的物种提供了宝贵机会。

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4.㺢㹢狓

If you can imagine a creature that's a cross between a donkey and a zebra that walks like a giraffe, then you've got a pretty good mental picture of the okapi.

现在请你想象这样一种动物，它身形介于驴子和斑马之间，而走路姿势则和长颈鹿相像。你脑子里出现的形象就是㺢㹢狓。

The strange-looking animal, which is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and stands about 5 feet (1.5 meters) tall from hoof to shoulder, lives in the dense tropical rain forests of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

这种动物外形怪异，身长8英尺（2.5米），肩高5英尺（1.5米），主要分布在刚果民主共和国东北部浓密的热带雨林中。

Its bizarre coloration — it has a brown body and legs and hindquarters covered with an array of horizontal black-and-white stripes — enables it to disappear into its usual backdrop of dense vegetation and lighter-colored rotting leaves on the forest floor.

它的颜色也很奇怪，身体是棕色的，腿和臀部上有横向的黑白条纹，在这些颜色的帮助下，即使是在浓密的植物旁或是在颜色较轻的森林地表上，㺢㹢狓都能够伪装起来。

The okapi mimics a giraffe's rolling gait by stepping with the front and hind legs on the same side of the body, instead of using the legs from the opposite sides, as other grazing animals tend to do.

㺢㹢狓的走路姿势跟长颈鹿很像，它们都是身体同侧的前后足同时向前迈出，而不是像其它食草动物那样错开。

It also has a long, black tongue, which it uses for plucking buds, leaves and branches from trees and shrubs.

㺢㹢狓的舌头又黑又长，能够帮助它从树上、灌木上扯下嫩芽，树叶和枝条。

Sadly, this exotic creature may be in danger of disappearing, with a mere 20,000 existing in the wild.

令人悲伤的是，目前这种奇特的动物野外仅存20000多头，濒临灭绝。