南极岛屿上罕见的黑化企鹅

 　　Rare black penguin 1 in the Antarctic islands

　　The penguin, believed to be suffering from a condition known as melanism, was spotted 2 on Fortuna Bay, a sub-Antarctic island of South Georgia, about 860 miles off the Falklands.
　　这只被认为患有黑化症的企鹅出现在距离福兰克群岛860英里远的南乔治亚岛亚南极岛屿的褔图纳湾上。
　　A group of travellers had travelled to the island to watch local wildlife and one of the group, Andrew Evans, took this picture of the penguin, one of several thousand.
　　一群游客来到这座岛上观察当地的野生动物，其中一人，也就是安德鲁·埃文斯，拍下了这几千只里才出一只的企鹅。
　　“Observing this black penguin waddle 3 across South Georgia's black sand beach revealed no different behaviour than that of his fellow penguins 4. In fact, he seemed to mix well,” he wrote on a National Geographic 5 blog.
　　他在《国家地理》的博客上写道：“这只蹒跚在南乔治亚岛的黑沙滩上的黑企鹅看起来和它的同伴们无异。其实它似乎还与同伴们相处得不错。”
　　“Regarding feeding and mating behaviour there is no real way to tell, but I do know that we were all fascinated by his presence and wished him the best for the coming winter season.”
　　“就进食和交配行为而言没看出有什么特别的，但它的外表的确看呆了我们，希望它能度过一个愉快的冬季。”
　　Biology experts say that because black penguins are particularly rare there is very little research discussing the subject.
　　生物学专家说，由于黑色企鹅非常罕见，所以这方面的研究也很少。
　　Melanism is however, common on other animal species such as squirrels.
　　然而黑化症在其他物种上很常见，比如松鼠。
　　It is estimated that about one in every 250,000 penguins shows evidence of the condition.
　　据估计，25万只企鹅中仅有一只会出现黑化症状。
　　Ecology and Evolutionary 6 Biology expert Dr Allan Baker 7, from the University of Toronto, said the Antarctic penguin was black because it had lost control of its pigmentation patterns.
　　多伦多大学的生物学与生态进化学家艾伦·贝克博士称南极地区的黑色企鹅是因为失去了自身的色素构成。
　　After being shown the pictures by National Geographic, Dr Baker, also the head of the Department of Natural History at the Royal Ontario Museum, described them as “astonishing”.
　　贝克博士看过《国家地理》上刊登的照片后，身为安大略皇家博物馆自然历史部负责人的他只能用“吃惊”两个字来形容它们。
　　"I've never ever seen that before,” he told the magazine.
　　他告诉杂志：“我以前从未见过这般奇景。”
　　“It's a one in a zillion kind of mutation 8 somewhere. The animal has lost control of its pigmentation patterns. Presumably it's some kind of mutation.”
　　“某种程度上，这也是无数种变异中的一种。它失去自身的色素构成能力，也可以说是一种变异。”
　　According to the Encyclopaedia 9 Britannica, the condition is the darkness in an animal’s skin, feathers, or fur is acquired by populations living in an industrial region where the environment is soot-darkened. It can be gene 10 related.
　　根据大英百科全书上所述的，这一现象是居住在工业区的动物受到暗沉煤烟的附着，皮肤、羽毛或毛皮中沉淀了黑色素，也可能和基因有关。
　　It does, however, mean that the probability that its members will survive and reproduce is enhance.The condition evolves over the course of several generations.
　　但它确实意味着，几代的演变过程后,其成员生存和繁殖的概率是提高。
　　But due to being lighter 11 in colour, they become more conspicuous 12 to predators 13.
　　但由于(周围)颜色较浅，他们变得更加突出。