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From this predator's point of view the requirement to evolve resistance to a venom, particularly one that is not lethal, is therefore low.
從這種捕食者的角度來看，對進化出毒液抵抗力（尤其是非致命毒液）的要求因而很低。
The spider's interests, too, may be served by the evolution of non-lethal venom.
非致命毒液的進化可能也符合蜘蛛的利益。
A live predator that has learnt not to attack may be better than a dead one,
一只學會不攻擊的捕食者可能比一只已死捕食者更好，
which might then be replaced by a conspecific which has not learned that lesson.
因為后者可能會被一個沒有學會這一教訓的同種掠食者所取代。
This is particularly true when the venom is directed towards animals that teach their young,
尤其是當動物們拿毒液來教育它們的幼崽，
as many mammals do, about what is and is not dangerous in the world.
就像哺乳動物一樣，教會它們世界上的危險與安全。
Get stung by a bee and you will surely advise your children to give bees a wide berth, even though bees are not predators.
被蜜蜂蟄了，你肯定會建議你的孩子離蜜蜂遠點，即使蜜蜂不是捕食者。
To pursue this idea, Dr Fry and his colleagues looked at the genetic sequences describing 22 types of delta-hexatoxin,
為了證實這個想法，F(xiàn)ry博士和他的同時觀察了22種類型的delta-hexatoxin基因序列，
extracted from ten species of funnel-webs. This let them analyse the peptides' evolutionary histories.
提取自十種漏斗網(wǎng)蜘蛛。這讓他們能夠分析出多肽的進化歷史。
Funnel-web spiders are an ancient group, believed to have emerged about 150m years ago, near the end of the Jurassic period.
漏斗網(wǎng)蜘蛛是一個古老的種群，據(jù)信出現(xiàn)于1.5億年前，接近侏羅紀末期。
Dr Fry's analysis suggested that, around that time, delta-hexatoxin peptides were evolving rapidly, but have subsequently barely changed.
Fry博士的分析表明，在那時候，delta-hexatoxin多肽進化迅速，但之后幾乎沒有改變。
This is consistent with the idea that they were evolving into something which would discourage, but not kill,
這與一種觀點是一致的，即它們進化成了一種能夠阻止，但不會殺死
vertebrate predators such as mammals—a group that also appeared in the late Jurassic.
哺乳動物等脊椎動物捕食者的生物——這個種群也出現(xiàn)在侏羅紀晚期。
Which is all well and good, but does not explain why funnel-web delta-hexatoxins are so deadly to people.
這一切都很好，但并不能解釋為什么漏斗網(wǎng)delta-hexatoxins對人類如此致命。
The answer to this, Dr Fry suspects, is that until the arrival in Australia 65,000 years ago of human beings,
Fry博士認為這是因為，直到65000年前人類到達澳大利亞，
funnel-web spiders had never encountered primates (of which that continent has no wild representatives)
漏斗網(wǎng)蜘蛛還從未遇到過靈長類動物（該大陸沒有這種動物的野生代表），
and so had had no chance to co-evolve with them. In one sense, then, the fact funnel-web delta-hexatoxins are lethal to humans
因此沒有機會與它們共同進化。在某種意義上，漏斗網(wǎng)delta-hexatoxins對人類致命這一事實
is indeed an unlucky accident caused by some quirk of primate biochemistry not shared with other groups of mammals.
確實是一個不幸的意外，是由靈長類動物生物化學中與其他哺乳動物不同的某些怪癖引起的。
But if such co-evolution had taken place, it would have been in the interests of both sides for this lethality, too, to have been whittled away.
但如果發(fā)生這種共同進化，削弱其致命性也符合雙方的利益。
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