047 世界上最高的动物

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Do you know what animal is the tallest in the world?

你知道世界上最高的动物是什么吗？

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You guessed it! It's the giraffe!

你猜对了！是长颈鹿！

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Follow me and let's take a close-up look at these marvelous creatures

跟我来，让我们近距离看看这些奇妙的动物吧。

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Here we see a group of giraffes

这里我们看到一群长颈鹿。

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As you can see, giraffes are the tallest animals in the world

正如你所见，长颈鹿是世界上最高的动物。

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The male giraffe can grow to 5.5 meters

雄性长颈鹿能长到5.5米高。

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The female giraffe is usually a little bit shorter

雌性长颈鹿通常稍矮一些。

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What makes these animals so unusual?

是什么让这些动物如此与众不同呢？

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It's their very, very, very long necks, of course

当然是它们非常、非常、非常长的脖子啦。

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Actually, this neck makes it possible for the giraffe to reach very high

实际上，这个脖子让长颈鹿能够伸到很高的地方。

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It can reach the soft and tender leaves on the tops of trees

它能吃到树顶上柔软鲜嫩的叶子。

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As you can see, there aren't many trees around here

如你所见，这周围没什么树。

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So the giraffe's long neck helps it find food to stay alive

所以长颈鹿的长脖子能帮它找到食物，活下来。

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Can you see that giraffe over there?

你看到那边那只长颈鹿了吗？

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Look at how the giraffe must spread its legs very wide

看看那只长颈鹿必须把腿叉得多开。

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It's the only way it can get its head down low

这是它把头低下来的唯一办法。

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Why is that?

这是为什么呢？

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The giraffe's neck is very long, but it is not very flexible

长颈鹿的脖子很长，但不太灵活。

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In fact, the giraffe's neck has only seven vertebrae

事实上，长颈鹿的脖子上只有七块椎骨。

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We humans have seven vertebrae too

我们人类也有七块椎骨。

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But look how short our necks are!

但看看我们的脖子多短啊！

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With such big bones, the giraffe's neck cannot bend very well

骨头这么大，长颈鹿的脖子没法很好地弯曲。

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The giraffe's neck is not the only unusual thing about this animal!

长颈鹿身上不寻常的，可不只是脖子！

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The giraffe has a tongue that can stretch to almost 45 centimeters long

长颈鹿的舌头能伸到将近45厘米长。

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Also, its head can stretch almost in a straight line

而且，它的头几乎能伸成一条直线。

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So, the giraffe can reach the highest leaves

所以，长颈鹿能吃到最高处的树叶。

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In fact, a giraffe eats about 34 kilograms of leaves a day!

事实上，长颈鹿一天大约要吃34公斤树叶！

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The giraffe doesn't drink often─maybe once every two or three days

长颈鹿不常喝水——大概每两三天喝一次。

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It gets water from the soft leaves!

它从嫩叶中获取水分！

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You know, the giraffe's body is not very big

你知道吗，长颈鹿的身体并不是很大。

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In fact, the giraffe's body is about the size of a horse's body

其实，长颈鹿的身体大约和马的身体一样大。

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But it's the legs and the neck that make it the tallest animal in the world!

但正是它的腿和脖子，让它成为世界上最高的动物！

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The legs of a giraffe are very strong!

长颈鹿的腿非常强壮！

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The body of a giraffe is designed to support the head

长颈鹿的身体天生就为了支撑它的头部。

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See the large muscles at the top of its legs?

看到它腿上方的大块肌肉了吗？

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Those muscles are powerful

那些肌肉非常有力量。

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A lion that attacks a giraffe will quickly learn that from a kick!

攻击长颈鹿的狮子，会从它的一踢中很快领教到这一点！

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Even though the giraffe has such a long neck, its voice box is very small

尽管长颈鹿有如此长的脖子，它的喉头却非常小。

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Giraffes aren't able to make loud noises

长颈鹿没法发出很大的声音。

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We usually don't hear them making any noises at all

我们通常完全听不到它们发出任何声音。

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Then how do they protect themselves?

那它们怎么保护自己呢？

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Well, you know how they can kick!

嗯，你知道它们会怎么踢！

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Also, the giraffe's ears are very sensitive

还有，长颈鹿的耳朵非常灵敏。

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So is its nose

它的鼻子也是。

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In fact, a giraffe will often smell danger and use its very long legs to run away quickly!

事实上，长颈鹿常常会嗅到危险，然后用它非常长的腿快速跑开！

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Its best protection is its color

它最好的保护是它的颜色。

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It's hard to see a giraffe because it looks like it's a part of a tree

很难发现长颈鹿，因为它看起来就像树的一部分。

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Giraffes don't sleep more than thirty minutes a day

长颈鹿一天睡不超过三十分钟。

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Sometimes you'll see a giraffe lying down for a short time to rest, but many times they rest with their eyes open!

有时你会看到长颈鹿躺下休息一小会儿，但很多时候它们是睁着眼睛休息的！

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Well, I hope you enjoyed your close-up view of the giraffe

好了，希望你喜欢这次对长颈鹿的近距离观察。

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Aren't they amazing?

它们是不是很神奇？

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The next time you see a giraffe, remember:

下次你看到长颈鹿时，记住：

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there's much more to this unusual animal than just its long neck!

这种不寻常的动物，远不止它的长脖子那么简单！