3.Dingoes And Indian Wolves
3.澳洲野狗和印第安狼
The bond between dingoes and wolves might not come as a jaw-dropping surprise. They're dogs after all, right? Wrong. A groundbreaking—and long overdue—study finally buried the belief that the dingo is a product of feral domestic dogs. Listed as a threatened species in 2008, dingoes wore the label of being Australia's own native dog for over two centuries, but it might be more correct to call them Australian wolves.
澳洲野狗与狼的联系可能不会让你吃惊到掉下巴。因为它们都是犬，不是吗？这种想法完全错误。大家普遍认为澳洲野狗是野生本土野狗的后代，但一个具有开创性却又长期被搁置的研究最终颠覆了大家的这一共识。2008年的一个危险物种清单上指出，两百年来，澳洲野狗一直都被认为是澳大利亚的本土犬种，但是称他们为印第安狼可能更加确切。
The Sydney study discovered that dingoes showed no conclusive signs of being descended from dogs, were not a subspecies, and were completely apart from dogs. Dingoes were never dogs, period. They are, however, related to the one of the smallest wolf species on the planet, the reddish, 1-meter-long (3 ft) Indian wolf. Spending up to 5,000 years in isolation genetically created the dingo as a separate and true canid species. With wolves, they share the pack dynamics of having pups once a year, which are raised by the whole family group, as well as territorial howling. But it's interesting to note that the Indian wolf almost never howls, even though it is capable, and researchers still don't understand why.
悉尼的一项研究发现没有决定性证据表明澳洲野狗的祖先是狗，或是子系，所以澳洲野狗不是狗，也与狗完全无关。然而它们与地球上的某一最小的狼群物种有关联，这种狼群身长一米，皮毛微红，名叫印第安狼。二者长达5000年的分离使得澳洲野狗从基因上变成了一种完全独立的犬科动物。它们与印第安狼一样，每年只生一窝，并由整个家族抚养长大，同时都会发出吓人的咆哮声。但有趣的是，印第安狼从来不咆哮，即使它们有这个能力，而这也一直困扰着研究人员。
2.Gibel Carp And Koi Fish
2.银鲫和锦鲤
Koi fish are iconic; they stand for grace, beauty, and elitism. These brightly colored fish have a family connection to the wild gibel carp. The gibel is a plain, humpbacked fish with a genetic surprise. It's what the goldfish would look like without human interference. Every goldfish today, despite their varied looks, are descended from the wild gibel carp, and interbreeding will result in fertile fry since they are genetically identical. Today's goldfish are nothing more than modified gibel carp; they remain the same species, and the koi is a relative.
锦鲤是鱼中的偶像，它们代表着优雅、美丽和精英。这些色彩鲜艳的锦鲤和野生银鲫有亲戚关系。银鲫不过是一种基因变异的普通弓背鱼类。如果没有人为干涉，金鱼就会长成这样。今天所有的金鱼，除了长相不一，都是由野生银鲫进化而来，因为它们基因相同，杂交会产生很多鱼苗。如今的金鱼和改良后的银鲫差不多，都是同一个物种，和锦鲤是近亲。
Their distant link, both being members of the family cyprinidae, is no barrier for romance, either. Goldfish and koi can interbred, but like horses and donkeys, the offspring produced will be sterile. Such offspring are also dull compared to their colorful parents and lack the mouth whiskers of true koi, but will be tougher than both species and able to live in worse water conditions.
他们有着遥远的联系，都是鲤科的成员，它们之间的爱情也畅通无阻。金鱼和锦鲤可以杂交，就像马和驴杂交一样，但是它们的后代是不育的，比起色彩缤纷的父母，它们色彩单一，没有纯种锦鲤的嘴和胡须，但是他们比纯种金鱼和锦鲤更顽强，能在更差的水域环境中生活。
Researchers have also recently proven that the three-second memory attributed to goldfish is a joke. They have a memory of at least three months and can recognize different colors and noises. Able to live for a couple of decades, they are also smart enough to learn simple tricks.
近日，研究人员发现，金鱼只有三分之二的记忆完全是谬误。它们至少有3个月的记忆，能够识别不同的颜色和声音，寿命长达十几年，它们非常聪明，能学习简单的技巧。
1.人类和袋鼠
A diminutive hopper named Matilda, a tammar wallaby, became the first kangaroo to have her genetic code mapped. The Australian researchers were in for a shock when they compared her code with a human's. They had expected the comparison to be a complete mismatch, but it turned out that the genomes of the two species were more than just similar. Apart from a couple of differences, the genes were identical, and many of them were arranged in the same order. Both species hold large pieces of genetic information about the other.
一只身材矮小叫玛蒂尔达的沙袋鼠，是第一只拥有遗传密码的袋鼠。当澳大利亚研究员把她的遗传密码和人类对比时，结果让人震惊。他们本以为基因对照完全不匹配，但结果却是两个物种基因组非常相似。除了一些差异外，两种物种的基因是同源的，很多基因的排列顺序也一致。两个物种都拥有大量彼此的遗传信息。
It made more sense when the researchers also discovered that people and these bouncy marsupials had a common ancestor that lived at least 150 million years ago. Mice separated from humans only 70 million years ago, but scientists feel that kangaroos can provide more answers about human evolution when it comes to why some DNA remained the same for eons while other DNA changed. By comparing different genomes from species, unknown genes can be identified, and Matilda revealed 14 new genes never before seen in kangaroos, which might possibly also be present in humans, waiting to reveal more about ourselves.
当研究人员发现人类和活泼的袋类动物在1.5亿年前有共同祖先时，这种说法变得更有道理。尽管鼠类和人类分离只发生在7000万年前，但科学家认为当谈到为什么亿万年来，一些DNA保持不变而其他DNA会改变等人类进化问题时，袋鼠可以提供更多的答案。通过对物种间不同基因组进行比较，可以确定未知基因。在玛蒂尔达体内发现的14个之前未在袋鼠体内发现的新基因可能也存在于人类体内，只等着我们更深层次的挖掘自己。
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