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Hey there! Squeaks and I are just about to...
嘿，大家好！我和吱吱正打算...
What is it, Squeaks? What do you hear?
吱吱，这是什么声音，你听到了吗？
A bird? Oh, yeah I hear it, too!
一只鸟？噢，我也听到了。
I recognize that! That's a starling.
我听出来了！这是欧椋鸟的叫声。
That one sounds like it's on its own, but starlings sometimes fly around in huge..and I mean huge flocks.
听起来似乎只有一只，但欧椋鸟有时会一飞一大群，我是说很大一个鸟群。
Now, it may be hard to believe, but at one time, there were none of these birds in the United States.
现在似乎很难相信，但美国以前没有这种鸟。
Nope...not one. But that's not the case now at all!
不，一只也没有。但现在的情况并非如此！
There are millions of starlings in the United States.
美国的欧椋鸟有数百万只。
And they can cause some problems.
而且它们有时会惹些麻烦。
For example, starlings like to eat fruit.
比如，欧椋鸟喜欢吃水果。
And if a huge group of starlings gets into an orchard
如果一大群欧椋鸟进入果园，
well, they can eat or harm a lot of the fruit that people need.
那么，它们会吃掉或破坏掉很多人类需要的水果。
Starlings are an example of what's called an invasive species:
欧椋鸟是入侵物种的一个例子：
a type of animal or plant or other living thing that gets moved to a place where it doesn't belong
一类动植物或其他生物指到了一个它不属于的地方，
and causes some harm to the other types of living things that are already there.
并对当地其他种类的生物造成伤害。
A species is a specific kind of living thing,
一个物种是一种特定生物，
and lots of species can only survive in certain places.
许多物种只能在特定地方生存。
For example, a spider monkey that lives in the wet rainforest isn't going to be able to live in the dry desert.
比如，生活在潮湿雨林中的蜘蛛猿不能在干旱的沙漠生活。
It wouldn't be able to find the food, water, and shelter it needs to stay alive!
它们找不到食物、水和生存的庇护所！
But invasive species can survive in places other than where they originally lived.
但入侵物种能够在原居住地以外的地方生存。
And when they move in, they can cause problems for the other types of living things that aren't as flexible.
当它们侵入时，会给其他不能灵活适应的生物造成麻烦。
That's what happened with the starlings in North America.
北美洲的欧椋鸟就是这样。
About 130 years ago, someone brought a group of starlings to the United States from England,
大约130年前，有人把一群欧椋鸟
one of the places where they naturally lived.
从它们原先生活的英格兰带到了美国。
Like many other birds, starlings use their beaks to find and get food.
与其他鸟类一样，欧椋鸟用喙找食物。
But starlings have beaks that are extra strong,
但它们的鸟喙特别坚固，
and they're so good at getting food that they can often get more food than other kinds of birds.
它们非常善于找食物，经常比其他种类的鸟找得多。
So the group of starlings from England were able to get more food
于是这群从英格兰来的欧椋鸟
than the other birds that were already living in the United States.
能够比美国本土的其他鸟得到更多的食物。
And the starlings were also able to get food all winter.
而且欧椋鸟整个冬天也能获得食物。
The birds that were already here never had to deal with anything like that before!
本土鸟类之前从未遇到过这种情况！
The starlings were getting and eating a lot of the food,
欧椋鸟得到并吃掉很多食物，
and they weren't leaving much for the birds that were already here.
没给本土鸟类留下多少。
When other kinds of birds went to other places to find food,
当其他种类的鸟去其他地方找食物时，
the starlings moved into their nests they left behind.
欧椋鸟搬进了它们留下的窝里。
When it got warmer again and the birds came back,
当天气变暖，其他鸟类飞回来时，
the starlings had taken away the other birds' food and their houses!
欧椋鸟已经夺走了它们的食物和房子！
Then the starlings had babies and their babies had more babies!
然后，欧椋鸟生宝宝，它们的孩子又生更多的宝宝！
The number of starlings grew and grew
欧椋鸟的数量越来越多，
until there were tons of starlings and a lot less of the birds that were already living there.
直到它们数量众多而本土鸟类锐减为止。
All this happened because one person brought starlings into the United States!
所有这些都是因为一个人把欧椋鸟带到了美国！
Other times, invasive species move from one place to another accidentally.
其他时候，入侵物种会意外地从一个地方移到另一个地方。
For example, the brown tree snake was accidentally taken from its home in Australia to a nearby island called Guam.
比如，棕树蛇是被意外从澳大利亚带到附近关岛的。
Scientists think the snake might have been hiding on a ship, or even on an airplane.
科学家们认为它可能藏在了船上或飞机上。
Once the snakes got into Guam, they found lots of food to eat, like birds and small lizards.
棕树蛇一进入关岛，就发现许多食物，比如鸟类和小蜥蜴。
And while there were lots of animals for the snakes to eat,
它们有很多食物可以吃，
there were not very many animals on Guam that would eat the snakes.
但关岛上没有太多吃蛇的动物。
So the number of brown tree snakes started to grow.
于是棕树蛇的数量开始增加。
And the more snakes there were, the more birds and other animals got eaten.
这里的蛇越多，被吃掉的鸟类和其他动物就会有越来越多。
Some of the birds that were on Guam before those snakes got there are all gone now!
关岛上有些蛇之前吃过的鸟类现在都消失了！
So, what can we do to stop invasive species?
那么我们该如何阻止入侵物种呢？
Well, it's not an easy problem to solve.
这不是个容易解决的问题。
Sometimes, just paying attention is enough.
有时，多加注意就够了。
For example, people have trained dogs to use their noses to check for tree snakes on ships and planes
例如，人们训练狗用鼻子检查船只和飞机上的树蛇，
to make sure they don't accidentally get taken to other islands.
保证它们不会被意外带到其他岛上。
Squeaks says he doesn't smell any tree snakes in here either! Good to know.
吱吱说它没有在这里闻到树蛇的味道。很棒！
In general, people try to be very careful not to take wild animals and other living things
一般来说，人们尽量不要把野生动物和其他生物
from one area and let them go in another.
从一个地方带到另一个地方。
The starlings in North America are probably here to stay,
北美的欧椋鸟很可能会留下来，
but we can use what we've learned from their story to stop other living things from becoming invasive species.
但我们可以利用这个故事的教训，防止其他生物成为入侵物种。
Hey, it sounds like our starling friend took off, maybe he want to go find the rest of its flock.
嘿，似乎我们的欧椋鸟朋友飞走了，它可能想找其他伙伴了吧。
And it's time for us to get going, too!
我们也该走了！
Thanks for joining us!
感谢您的收看！
If you want to keep learning and having fun with Squeaks and me, hit the subscribe button,
如果你想继续学习，与我和吱吱共度美好时光，就点击订阅吧，
and we'll see you next time, here at the Fort!
我们下期见，沃斯堡等你哦！
