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Science and technology: Panda genetics
科技：熊貓遺傳學(xué)
Hey dude. Give me six!
嘿，伙計(jì)。用六指擊個(gè)掌吧！
Two strange mammals illuminate the process of natural selection.
兩種不同的哺乳動(dòng)物闡明自然選擇的過(guò)程。
Convergent evolution—the arrival, independently, by different species at the same answer to a question posed by nature—is a topic of great interest to biologists.
趨同進(jìn)化是生物學(xué)家們有著極大興趣的話(huà)題，它是指在自然作用下，不同物種獨(dú)立的共同進(jìn)程。
One aspect of the phenomenon which has not yet been much looked at, however, is its underlying genetics.
然而該現(xiàn)象在潛在基因方面尚未得到許多的關(guān)注。
In particular, an issue not previously addressed is how often such changes arise from similar mutations in the two convergent lines,
尤其是在兩條趨勢(shì)線中來(lái)自相似基因突變引起趨同變化的頻率，
and how often they have different genetic causes that happen to have similar effects on the organisms’ forms and functions.
以及不同基因?qū)ι锏男螒B(tài)功能起到相似作用的概率的方面，尚未得到解決。
That has now been rectified by an examination of two creatures which,
如今通過(guò)對(duì)兩種生物的檢驗(yàn)已得到糾正，
though only distantly related, share an unusual feeding habit, an unusual anatomical feature and an unusual name: panda.
雖然這兩種動(dòng)物是遠(yuǎn)親，但他們都具有與眾不同的飲食習(xí)性、解剖特性以及一個(gè)不尋常的名字：熊貓。
The giant panda is a black and white bear. The red panda is related to weasels, raccoons and skunks.
大熊貓是一種黑白相間的熊。小熊貓與鼬鼠，浣熊和臭鼬具有親屬關(guān)系。
Their habitats—mountainous areas of southern China and its neighbours—overlap, but their last common ancestor lived 43m years ago.
他們的棲息地在華南山區(qū)且近親重疊，在4300萬(wàn)年前，他們有著共同祖先。
They do, though, share a limited kinship, for both are members (along with dogs, cats, hyenas, mongooses, seals and so on) of the mammalian order Carnivora.
盡管如此，由于它們都是食肉目哺乳動(dòng)物類(lèi)（像狗，貓，鬣狗，貓鼬，海豹等），所以確實(shí)有一些相同的血緣關(guān)系。
Which is curious, because both are vegetarian.
令人好奇的是它們都是食草動(dòng)物。
More intriguingstill, both subsist almost entirely on bamboo (some etymologists think their mutual name is derived from the Nepali phrase nigalyaponya, meaning “bamboo-eater”).
更有趣的是，它們幾乎完全以竹子為食（一些詞源學(xué)家認(rèn)為它們的共同名字源于尼泊爾語(yǔ)nigalyaponya，指“食竹者”）。
英文文本來(lái)自經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人 譯文來(lái)自欄目二第五組
