新奇事件簿 科学家发现世界最快的蚂蚁（在线收听）

Scientists have discovered the world's fastest ant. It is the Saharan silver ant. It runs at a speed of just over 3kph, but that is the same ant speed as a human running 580kph. The ant runs 108 times the length of its own body every second. This is quicker than an Olympic 100-meter runner. The world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, ran the 100 meters using 4 strides a second. The Saharan silver ant uses up to 50 strides a second. The scientists say this much movement almost breaks the limits of what is physically possible for a living thing. Each of the ants' feet makes contact with the ground for a very short time. The ants' feet touch the ground for just seven milliseconds before they take the next stride.

科学家们发现了世界上最快的蚂蚁—撒哈拉银蚁。它以每小时3公里的速度奔跑，但这和人类跑580kph的速度是一样的。蚂蚁每秒钟奔跑的距离是自己身体长度的108倍，比奥运会百米跑运动员的速度还快。世界上跑得最快的人—尤塞恩·博尔特，以每秒4步的速度跑完100米。撒哈拉银蚁一秒钟可走50步。科学家们表示，这种长距离的运动几乎打破了生物在物理上的极限。这些蚂蚁的每只脚与地面接触的时间都非常短。它们的脚接触地面的时间只有7毫秒，之后它们就会迈出下一步。

The scientists said the Saharan silver ant runs so fast because it lives in the hot desert. The sand can reach temperatures of up to 60 degrees Celsius, so the ant wants to spend as little time as possible with its feet on the scorching ground. Another reason is that if the ants' feet spend a longer time on the sand, they will sink a little and slow the ant down. Professor Harald Wolf wrote about why the ants' feet move so fast. He said: "These features may be related to the sand dune habitat. They could prevent the ants' feet from sinking too deeply into the soft sand." Professor Wolf told CNN: "We knew these ants would be fast, but nobody knew how fast exactly, and how they would achieve that speed."

科学家表示撒哈拉银蚁跑这么快是因为，它们生活在炎热的沙漠。沙子的温度可以达到60摄氏度，所以蚂蚁想要在灼热的地面上花尽可能少的时间。另一个原因是，如果蚂蚁的脚在沙子上停留的时间更长，它们会下沉一点，速度会慢下来。Harald Wolf教授曾写过，为什么蚂蚁的脚移动的这么快。他表示：“这些特征可能和沙地栖息环境有关。它们可以防止蚂蚁的脚在松软的沙子里陷得太深。”Wolf教授告诉CNN：“我们知道这些蚂蚁的速度快，但没人知道到底有多快，也不知道它们如何达到这样的速度。”