美国国家公共电台 NPR Mysterious Type Of Killer Whale, Sought After For Years, Found In Southern Ocean

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Scientists say they've located a mysterious type of killer¹ whale living in the oceans near Antarctica. They say it could be the largest animal unidentified by biologists until now. NPR's Christopher Joyce has the story.

CHRISTOPHER JOYCE, BYLINE²: The notion that there might be some new kind of killer whale emerged in 1955. Photos from New Zealand showed a bunch of killer whales stranded³ on a beach.

BOB PITMAN: This was a very different-looking group of killer whales.

JOYCE: Bob Pitman is a marine⁴ biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric⁵ Administration. The whales were smaller than other killer whales. They had rounded heads and pointier fins⁶.

PITMAN: And most importantly, they have a little, tiny eye patch.

JOYCE: A white spot under each eye smaller than other killer whales. Biologists were mystified. Then in 2005, Pitman met a French biologist who showed him a photo of an odd killer whale swimming in the Indian Ocean.

PITMAN: And I looked down, and there they were - the New Zealand killer whales.

JOYCE: For Pitman, the hunt was on. Last year, he assembled a team to go to Cape⁷ Horn in Chile to look for what's now technically⁸ called the Type D killer whale. Local fishers had been complaining that some kind of whale was stripping fish off their lines. NOAA biologist Lisa Ballance, who's married to Pitman, was part of the team.

LISA BALLANCE: From the beginning, I had referred to it as the needle in the haystack. It's a big ocean, and it's a rough ocean.

JOYCE: It was a slow start. Their ship in Cape Horn was trapped at anchor for eight days by howling weather, but then they got a 12-hour quiet spell.

BALLANCE: We left that night, pounded into the seas so that we could get to our spot at first light the next morning.

PITMAN: Sun came up in the morning at 5:50. We had Type D killer whales swimming around our boat.

BALLANCE: There they were. It was thrilling.

PITMAN: It's like seeing a dinosaur⁹ or something. It's one of these moments that biologists live for. And I said that's them; that's the New Zealand killer whale.

BALLANCE: This form is the most unusual and distinct form of killer whale on the planet.

JOYCE: Later the team realized why the whales swam up to them. The team had lowered an underwater microphone over the side on a long cable with GoPro cameras attached. Pitman says it must have looked like a fishing line with fish on it. It looked like breakfast.

PITMAN: You can imagine them thinking, hey, where's our fish?

JOYCE: (Laughter).

PITMAN: But that was definitely the way to bring them into the boat.

JOYCE: The team was able to snip¹⁰ off small tissue samples from the whales. An analysis of the DNA¹¹ will determine if this is actually a completely new species or just an unusual subtype. But the mystery killer whales of the Southern Ocean have been found. Christopher Joyce, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID BOWIE SONG, "NEW KILLER STAR")

1 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 atmospheric   

adj.大气的，空气的；大气层的；大气所引起的

参考例句：

• Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
• Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。

6 fins   

[医]散热片；鱼鳍；飞边；鸭掌

参考例句：

• The level of TNF-α positively correlated with BMI,FPG,HbA1C,TG,FINS and IRI,but not with SBP and DBP. TNF-α水平与BMI、FPG、HbA1C、TG、FINS和IRI呈显著正相关，与SBP、DBP无相关。 来自互联网
• Fins are a feature specific to fish. 鱼鳍是鱼类特有的特征。 来自辞典例句

7 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

8 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

9 dinosaur   

n.恐龙

参考例句：

• Are you trying to tell me that David was attacked by a dinosaur?你是想要告诉我大卫被一支恐龙所攻击？
• He stared at the faithful miniature of the dinosaur.他凝视著精确的恐龙缩小模型。

10 snip   

n.便宜货，廉价货，剪，剪断

参考例句：

• He has now begun to snip away at the piece of paper.现在他已经开始剪这张纸。
• The beautifully made briefcase is a snip at £74.25.这个做工精美的公文包售价才74.25英镑，可谓物美价廉。

11 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。