Unlike mammals, tuatara live life in the slow lane.
不像哺乳動物 楔齒蜥的生命是生存在一個緩慢的通道中
Days can pass when they barely move a muscle...sometimes taking just one breath an hour.
數天過去了它們只不過動了一下肌肉...有時1小時才呼吸一次
They feed on wetas, beetles and other invertebrates...
它們以沙螽 甲蟲或其它無脊椎動物為食
but don't appear very good at catching them.
但顯得很不擅長捕捉它們
Even after millions of years of practice, eye-mouth co-ordination is not what it could be.
即使練習了數百萬年之后,眼嘴協調不是它們能做到的
"Survival of the fittest" just doesn't seem to apply here.
"適者生存"似乎并不適合這
The tuatara's survival, first on New Zealand, now on Stephens Island,
楔齒蜥的生存首先在新西蘭 現在在斯蒂芬島
proves a point...islands are pretty safe places to be, at least until invaded.
證明了一點...島嶼是相當安全的地方,至少沒有干擾
Fortunately for the Stephens Island tuatara, it did survive a brief mammal invasion.
斯蒂芬島的楔齒蜥是幸運的,從哺乳動物短暫入侵中生存下來
But for some of the other wildlife here, the invasion was rather more...catastrophic.
但對于一些其它的野生動物來說,入侵是更多的是...災難的
The island had been uninhabited and largely ignored,
島嶼杳無人跡多半是自生自滅
but that all changed with the construction of this lighthouse back in 1894.
但自1894年有了燈塔后一切都改變了
When the newly installed keeper, a Mr Lyall, found an unusual wren on the island,
新近設備維護員萊奧先生,在島上發現一種珍稀的鷦鷯
he sent a specimen to London for identification. Like many island birds, it was flightless.
他送了一個樣本到倫敦作鑒定。像多數島嶼鳥類 它是不會飛的
And perhaps that's why it wasn't Mr Lyall who first discovered the bird,
或許這就是為什么不是萊奧先生 首次發現這種鳥
but his four-legged companion.
而是他的四足伙伴