The Last Dodo 最后一只渡渡鸟

文/查尔斯·诺顿 译/蓝岚 By Charles Norton

The Last Dodo 最后一只渡渡鸟

文/查尔斯·诺顿 译/蓝岚 By Charles Norton

The Oxford Dodo has defined1define下定义，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，异于正常现象的人或动物的展览。. In death it featured3feature给予显著地位，主演。in Alice in Wonderland4全名Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland（《爱丽丝漫游奇境记》）。作者刘易斯·卡罗尔（Lewis Carroll，1832—1898）原名查尔斯·道奇森（Charles Dodgson）。因为口吃，他介绍自己的姓时会说成“道·道·道奇森”，和渡渡鸟单词英语发音相近。刘易斯任教于牛津大学，是自然史博物馆的常客，非常喜欢画家简·赛佛瑞（Jan Savery）1651年创作的渡渡鸟画像。. The article reveals what became of5what become of 某人/事情况如何。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.

牛津大学的渡渡鸟标本定义了我们脑子中这种生物的相貌。活着的时候，它在伦敦一种畸形秀中展出；死了以后，它被写进《爱丽丝漫游奇境记》。本文为我们梳理最后这只渡渡鸟的生平。

[2]直到相对晚近的时期，每当发现新物种，人们的第一个问题总是：“好吃吗？”好吃与否对该物种的未来至关重要，决定着它们的存亡。渡渡鸟属鸽类，在灭绝之前似乎有幸逃过一劫。太难吃了。

[3]“煮得再久肉都煮不烂。”17世纪一位荷兰船长这样写道。悲哀的是，这也没能挽救渡渡鸟的命运。

[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、偷偷地带走。away to Europe. However one possibility is that she left in around 1628, courtesy of7courtesy of承蒙某人允许、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]如今欲识渡渡鸟的真面目除牛津大学外，已无别处可去——这里保管了大约300年的渡渡鸟是现存唯一的标本。这一个体的性别难以确认，但现有资料勉强能够证明它是雌性。

[5]在毛里求斯密林深处的草窝里，她从一枚白色的蛋中破壳而出，渡渡鸟妈妈一窝只下一个蛋。她被捕获偷运至欧洲时的年龄我们不得而知。一种可能是，1628年前后，承蒙外交官伊曼纽尔·奥尔瑟姆的“好意”，它才得以“远走高飞”。

[6] 1628年前后，奥尔瑟姆从毛里求斯给家人寄了份礼物：一只活的渡渡鸟。离家多年，他应该是想把它送给家人当作宠物饲养。他还写信给兄弟，让他准备接收。奥尔瑟姆的鸟搭乘“威廉号”前往英格兰，船长是一个名叫珀西的人。遗憾的是，这只渡渡鸟是否安全抵达并无明确记载，但她十有八九经受住了长途跋涉的考验。

[7]船上喂食的可能是压缩饼干，如果我们这只渡渡鸟与相近物种口味相似，这饼干会让她大快朵颐。不过，她很可能缺乏足够的运动，以致很快就胖了起来。大多数欧洲和亚洲圈养的渡渡鸟最后都是偏胖。现在人们一想起渡渡鸟，脑中浮现的都是当时图像上的形象：嗉囊巨大、肉球身材，然而这却与考古发现大相径庭：当年毛里求斯野外的渡渡鸟可是身手敏捷、以水果为食的。

[7] On board ship our dodo would have been fed on a diet of ship’s biscuits8ship’s biscuit （旧时远航备用的）硬饼干，压缩饼干。, 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，在鸟类食管后段，用于润湿和软化食物。bulbous birds that most people have in mind when thinking of the dodo, a far cry from10a far cry from 与某事物大不相同。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林肯律师学院广场，建于1630年代。.

[8] 17世纪早期，估计有17只渡渡鸟被运出了毛里求斯。渡渡鸟尽管谈不上喜欢“家庭生活”，但还是有着群体生活的习性：一只受困，只只帮忙，共同保护幼鸟。荷兰水手曾对渡渡鸟之间的友谊有过评价。1662年，维克特·埃沃特兹写道：“我拎起渡渡鸟的腿，只听它一声大叫，其他渡渡鸟们纷纷赶来救援。”

[9]在神学家哈蒙·莱斯特兰奇爵士1638年的记述中，我们的渡渡鸟再次登场。她被当作展品，在伦敦林肯律师学院广场附近的一个小房子里展出，爵士也去了。

[10]“她被养在房间里，”爵士回忆道，“看管她的人管她叫‘渡渡鸟’。房间的烟囱下有一堆大块的鹅卵石。我们看到的石子很多，有些大如肉豆蔻。看管的人告诉我们她吃石子（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，作香料和药用，种仁卵圆或椭圆形，长2—3.5厘米，宽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剥制动物标本的人。and, at some point between 1638 and 1652,the mounted14mounted制作成标本的。remains came into the possession of the Tradescant family15特拉德斯坎特父子，两代都用John这个名字，17世纪英国博物学家、收藏家，从世界各地收集了各类动植物、矿物标本和其他珍品。.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兰贝斯区，大伦敦内的自治市，位于泰晤士河南岸。老特拉德斯坎特把自己收藏各种标本和奇珍的房子命名为“方舟”，房子位于兰贝斯。.

[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]健康渡渡鸟的寿命无人知晓，不过单从体型上看，渡渡鸟明显应该比它的鸽类亲戚长寿——至少可以多活15年。莱斯特兰奇爵士看到的那只渡渡鸟当时应该不久于世了。如果捕获的时间是1628年，那么几乎可以断言她没活到25岁。

[12]这只渡渡鸟死后很快被剥制成了标本，填充好的标本成为特拉德斯坎特父子的藏品，入藏时间在1638到1652年之间。老约翰·特拉德斯坎特对博物情有独钟，热衷于收集各种标本和奇珍。他1638年过世后，他的儿子接管了置于兰贝斯区的大量私藏。

[13] 1662年小约翰·特拉德斯坎特去世，这些藏品被他的朋友伊莱亚斯·阿什莫尔继承。1683年3月20日，藏品迁入牛津大学新建的阿什莫尔博物馆。

[14] The country’s first public museum officially opened two months later. A heady17heady使人兴奋的。jumble18jumble杂乱的一堆。of curios, its sheer eclecticism19eclecticism兼收并蓄，兼容并包。led some snootier20snooty 目中无人的，妄自尊大的。Oxford intellectuals to refer to it as the ‘knickknackatory21源自knick-knack（有时也作nick-nack）（价值不大的）小饰物，小玩意儿。’. 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食肉动物。考古学家在毛里求斯岛上发现大量家猪骨头之后认为，人类带到岛上的猪可能跟渡渡鸟争夺地盘和食物，并且吃掉渡渡鸟产在地面上的蛋，从而加速了渡渡鸟的灭绝。, 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]两个月后，这一博物馆作为英国首个公共博物馆正式开放。这堆珍品花样繁多，令人目眩神迷，一些傲慢的牛津大学“知识分子”把它们叫作“小玩意儿”。在众多展品中，渡渡鸟看似微不足道。然而，随着17世纪落下帷幕，阿什莫尔的渡渡鸟标本变得十分珍贵。她是渡渡鸟的唯一标本。

[15] 1693年前后，渡渡鸟的栖息地遭到破坏，新的掠食者使它们“蛋尽命绝”，最后一只幸存的渡渡鸟也随之殒命在毛里求斯日渐稀疏的丛林里。

[16] 1755年检查发现，羽螨和其他虫子大量滋生，使牛津大学渡渡鸟标本遭到了严重的破坏，这也是填充标本常见的问题。她的躯干、双翼和羽毛几乎已被啃食殆尽，只剩干瘪萎缩的表皮，唯有头部和一只脚还被判定具有挽救价值，其余部分都被付之一炬。今天我们能看到的，只剩下她的头和一只脚了。