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So, this is what happens: a female butterfly of these Coppers and Blues will lay eggs only on vegetation where there are ants of a particular species.
情況是這樣的：雌性的藍銅蝶只會在有一種特殊品種的螞蟻的植物上產卵。
The butterflies can smell, well, ants leave behind pheromones, a special chemical signal.
這種蝴蝶能夠聞到......螞蟻會留下費洛蒙，一種特殊的化學信號。
The butterfly recognizes the ants’ pheromones on the plant
蝴蝶能辨認出螞蟻留在植物上的費洛蒙，
and then the newly hatched butterflies, the caterpillars will feed on this plant after they hatch from the eggs.
然后新孵出的蝴蝶幼蟲，也就是毛毛蟲孵化后會以這株植物為食。
As the caterpillar gets a little older and find shelter under nearby rocks or stones to protect itself from predators, it’s always attended or escorted by ants.
毛毛蟲稍微長大一點后會在附近的巖石下找到庇護所，以保護自己不被捕食者吃掉，它通常會由螞蟻照顧或護送。
And it always makes its way back to the host plant to feed, guided by the ants, the ant escort service, so to speak.
而且螞蟻通常會給它帶路回到寄主植物上進食，可以說是螞蟻的護送服務。
Now, why would the ants go through all this trouble? What’s their benefit? Mary?
那么，螞蟻為什么要給自己找這么多麻煩呢？它們能得到什么好處呢？Mary，你來說？
It’s probably related to food?
也許和食物有關？
Uh-huh? You are onto something.
哦？你發現了一些什么。
OK, ants feed on sweet stuff, right? So the caterpillar must have some kind of special access to honey or sugar or something like that.
螞蟻以一些甜的東西為食，對吧？所以毛毛蟲一定有某種特殊的方法能弄到花蜜或糖分之類的。
Maybe caterpillars produce honey somehow, on second thought, uh, I’m probably way off.
也許毛毛蟲能制造出蜜，我仔細想了想這錯得太離譜了。
