文/查爾斯·諾頓 譯/藍嵐 By Charles Norton

The Last Dodo 最后一只渡渡鳥

文/查爾斯·諾頓 譯/藍嵐 By Charles Norton

The Oxford Dodo has defined1define下定義，表明。our idea of the creature. When alive, the bird was displayed in London as part of a kind of urban freak show2畸形秀，異于正?，F(xiàn)象的人或動物的展覽。. In death it featured3feature給予顯著地位，主演。in Alice in Wonderland4全名Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland（《愛麗絲漫游奇境記》）。作者劉易斯·卡羅爾（Lewis Carroll，1832—1898）原名查爾斯·道奇森（Charles Dodgson）。因為口吃，他介紹自己的姓時會說成“道·道·道奇森”，和渡渡鳥單詞英語發(fā)音相近。劉易斯任教于牛津大學，是自然史博物館的常客，非常喜歡畫家簡·賽佛瑞（Jan Savery）1651年創(chuàng)作的渡渡鳥畫像。. The article reveals what became of5what become of 某人/事情況如何。the last dodo.

[2] Until comparatively recently mankind’s first question on discovering any new species was, ‘what does it taste like?’ The answer to this question could be very important to the future of that species, making the difference between survival and extinction. For possibly the last time in its existence, the dodo,a member of the pigeon family, was lucky. It tasted awful.

[3] ‘Even a long boiling would scarcely make them tender,’ reported a 17th-century Dutch ship’s captain. But sadly this did not save the dodo.

牛津大學的渡渡鳥標本定義了我們腦子中這種生物的相貌?；钪臅r候，它在倫敦一種畸形秀中展出；死了以后，它被寫進《愛麗絲漫游奇境記》。本文為我們梳理最后這只渡渡鳥的生平。

[2]直到相對晚近的時期，每當發(fā)現(xiàn)新物種，人們的第一個問題總是：“好吃嗎？”好吃與否對該物種的未來至關(guān)重要，決定著它們的存亡。渡渡鳥屬鴿類，在滅絕之前似乎有幸逃過一劫。太難吃了。

[3]“煮得再久肉都煮不爛。”17世紀一位荷蘭船長這樣寫道。悲哀的是，這也沒能挽救渡渡鳥的命運。

[4] Today there is only one place you can see the face of a real dodo.For around 300 years the world’s only preserved dodo remains have resided at Oxford University. We can’t accurately pin down the gender of this individual,but the scant evidence suggests it was a female.

[5] This bird hatched from her mother’s single white egg on a grassy bed, deep in the forests of Mauritius.We don’t know how old she was when she was captured and spirited6spirit迅速、偷偷地帶走。away to Europe. However one possibility is that she left in around 1628, courtesy of7courtesy of承蒙某人允許、好意。the English diplomat Emmanuel Altham.

[6] Around that time Altham sent a live dodo from Mauritius as a present to his family. Away from home for many years, he seems to have wanted the bird to become a new family pet and he wrote to his brother telling him to expect its delivery. Altham’s bird sailed to England aboard a ship called The William, under the captaincy of a Mr Perce. Unfortunately there are no records confirming the dodo’s safe arrival. However there is every chance that she survived the long journey.

[4]如今欲識渡渡鳥的真面目除牛津大學外，已無別處可去——這里保管了大約300年的渡渡鳥是現(xiàn)存唯一的標本。這一個體的性別難以確認，但現(xiàn)有資料勉強能夠證明它是雌性。

[5]在毛里求斯密林深處的草窩里，她從一枚白色的蛋中破殼而出，渡渡鳥媽媽一窩只下一個蛋。她被捕獲偷運至歐洲時的年齡我們不得而知。一種可能是，1628年前后，承蒙外交官伊曼紐爾·奧爾瑟姆的“好意”，它才得以“遠走高飛”。

[6] 1628年前后，奧爾瑟姆從毛里求斯給家人寄了份禮物：一只活的渡渡鳥。離家多年，他應該是想把它送給家人當作寵物飼養(yǎng)。他還寫信給兄弟，讓他準備接收。奧爾瑟姆的鳥搭乘“威廉號”前往英格蘭，船長是一個名叫珀西的人。遺憾的是，這只渡渡鳥是否安全抵達并無明確記載，但她十有八九經(jīng)受住了長途跋涉的考驗。

[7]船上喂食的可能是壓縮餅干，如果我們這只渡渡鳥與相近物種口味相似，這餅干會讓她大快朵頤。不過，她很可能缺乏足夠的運動，以致很快就胖了起來。大多數(shù)歐洲和亞洲圈養(yǎng)的渡渡鳥最后都是偏胖。現(xiàn)在人們一想起渡渡鳥，腦中浮現(xiàn)的都是當時圖像上的形象：嗉囊巨大、肉球身材，然而這卻與考古發(fā)現(xiàn)大相徑庭：當年毛里求斯野外的渡渡鳥可是身手敏捷、以水果為食的。

[7] On board ship our dodo would have been fed on a diet of ship’s biscuits8ship’s biscuit （舊時遠航備用的）硬餅干，壓縮餅干。, which, if she was anything like similar species, she probably enjoyed very much. However, she wouldn’t have had much exercise and probably became fat very quickly.Most of the dodos held in captivity in Europe and Asia ended up obese and it is contemporary paintings of these large-cropped9crop嗉囊，在鳥類食管后段，用于潤濕和軟化食物。bulbous birds that most people have in mind when thinking of the dodo, a far cry from10a far cry from 與某事物大不相同。the nimble fruit-eater of wild Mauritius suggested by archaeological evidence.

[8] An estimated 17 dodos were shipped overseas in the early 1600s.Although in no way domesticated,dodos were social birds who would come to the aid of a distressed fellow and protect their young. Dutch sailors have commented on how friendly the dodo could be. Volkert Evertsz wrote in 1662: ‘I held one by the leg. He let out a cry and others came running forward to help the prisoner.’

[9] Our dodo was possibly next spotted in 1638 by the theologian Sir Hamon L’Estrange. He visited her in London, where she was exhibited as a public attraction in a small building not far from Lincoln’s Inn Fields11林肯律師學院廣場，建于1630年代。.

[8] 17世紀早期，估計有17只渡渡鳥被運出了毛里求斯。渡渡鳥盡管談不上喜歡“家庭生活”，但還是有著群體生活的習性：一只受困，只只幫忙，共同保護幼鳥。荷蘭水手曾對渡渡鳥之間的友誼有過評價。1662年，維克特·埃沃特茲寫道：“我拎起渡渡鳥的腿，只聽它一聲大叫，其他渡渡鳥們紛紛趕來救援?！?/p>

[9]在神學家哈蒙·萊斯特蘭奇爵士1638年的記述中，我們的渡渡鳥再次登場。她被當作展品，在倫敦林肯律師學院廣場附近的一個小房子里展出，爵士也去了。

[10]“她被養(yǎng)在房間里，”爵士回憶道，“看管她的人管她叫‘渡渡鳥’。房間的煙囪下有一堆大塊的鵝卵石。我們看到的石子很多，有些大如肉豆蔻?？垂艿娜烁嬖V我們她吃石子（有助消化）。”

[10] ‘It was kept in a chamber,’recalled L’Estrange. ‘The keeper called it a Dodo, and in the end of a chymney in the chamber there lay a heap of large pebble stones, wherof he gave it many in our sight, some as big as nutmegs12肉豆蔻，作香料和藥用，種仁卵圓或橢圓形，長2—3.5厘米，寬1.5—2.5厘米。,and the keeper told us that she eats them(conducing to digestion).’

[11] Nobody really knows the life span of a healthy Dodo. However the sheer size of the bird suggests that it could have been appreciably longer than other pigeon species—in excess of 15 years perhaps. One thing that seems likely is that the bird L’Estange saw died not long after. If she had been captured in 1628 then she almost certainly did not make it to her 25th birthday.

[12] Soon after her death the dodo was sent to a taxidermist13taxidermist剝制動物標本的人。and, at some point between 1638 and 1652,the mounted14mounted制作成標本的。remains came into the possession of the Tradescant family15特拉德斯坎特父子，兩代都用John這個名字，17世紀英國博物學家、收藏家，從世界各地收集了各類動植物、礦物標本和其他珍品。.John Tradescant Senior was a royallyfavoured naturalist and ardent collector of specimens and curios. Upon his death in 1638 his son supervised his father’s vast private collection in Lambeth16蘭貝斯區(qū)，大倫敦內(nèi)的自治市，位于泰晤士河南岸。老特拉德斯坎特把自己收藏各種標本和奇珍的房子命名為“方舟”，房子位于蘭貝斯。.

[13] John Tradescant Junior died in 1662. The collection was inherited by his friend, Elias Ashmole, and on March 20th, 1683 was moved to the new Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

[11]健康渡渡鳥的壽命無人知曉，不過單從體型上看，渡渡鳥明顯應該比它的鴿類親戚長壽——至少可以多活15年。萊斯特蘭奇爵士看到的那只渡渡鳥當時應該不久于世了。如果捕獲的時間是1628年，那么幾乎可以斷言她沒活到25歲。

[12]這只渡渡鳥死后很快被剝制成了標本，填充好的標本成為特拉德斯坎特父子的藏品，入藏時間在1638到1652年之間。老約翰·特拉德斯坎特對博物情有獨鐘，熱衷于收集各種標本和奇珍。他1638年過世后，他的兒子接管了置于蘭貝斯區(qū)的大量私藏。

[13] 1662年小約翰·特拉德斯坎特去世，這些藏品被他的朋友伊萊亞斯·阿什莫爾繼承。1683年3月20日，藏品遷入牛津大學新建的阿什莫爾博物館。

[14] The country’s first public museum officially opened two months later. A heady17heady使人興奮的。jumble18jumble雜亂的一堆。of curios, its sheer eclecticism19eclecticism兼收并蓄，兼容并包。led some snootier20snooty 目中無人的，妄自尊大的。Oxford intellectuals to refer to it as the ‘knickknackatory21源自knick-knack（有時也作nick-nack）（價值不大的）小飾物，小玩意兒?！? Of the many exhibits the dodo perhaps seemed of least importance. However, as the 17th century drew to a close, the Ashmole dodo became something very special indeed. She was the only example of her kind.

[15] In around 1693, its habitat destroyed and its eggs prey to new predators22predator食肉動物?？脊艑W家在毛里求斯島上發(fā)現(xiàn)大量家豬骨頭之后認為，人類帶到島上的豬可能跟渡渡鳥爭奪地盤和食物，并且吃掉渡渡鳥產(chǎn)在地面上的蛋，從而加速了渡渡鳥的滅絕。, the last surviving dodo died somewhere in the increasingly sparse forests of Mauritius.

[16] In 1755 an inspection revealed that infestation had led to significant deterioration of the Oxford Dodo.Feather mites and other pests had got to her—a common problem with stuffed specimens. Most of her torso, wings and plumage were all but eaten away. With little but a desiccated husk remaining,only the head and one foot were judged to be salvageable, the rest was burned.Today, this is all that remains of her.

[14]兩個月后，這一博物館作為英國首個公共博物館正式開放。這堆珍品花樣繁多，令人目眩神迷，一些傲慢的牛津大學“知識分子”把它們叫作“小玩意兒”。在眾多展品中，渡渡鳥看似微不足道。然而，隨著17世紀落下帷幕，阿什莫爾的渡渡鳥標本變得十分珍貴。她是渡渡鳥的唯一標本。

[15] 1693年前后，渡渡鳥的棲息地遭到破壞，新的掠食者使它們“蛋盡命絕”，最后一只幸存的渡渡鳥也隨之殞命在毛里求斯日漸稀疏的叢林里。

[16] 1755年檢查發(fā)現(xiàn)，羽螨和其他蟲子大量滋生，使牛津大學渡渡鳥標本遭到了嚴重的破壞，這也是填充標本常見的問題。她的軀干、雙翼和羽毛幾乎已被啃食殆盡，只剩干癟萎縮的表皮，唯有頭部和一只腳還被判定具有挽救價值，其余部分都被付之一炬。今天我們能看到的，只剩下她的頭和一只腳了。