亚马逊发现大量八英尺高的白蚁土丘，与金字塔的历史一样悠久，覆盖面积超过英国（可以从太空看到它们！） [英国媒体]

Eight-foot tall termite mounds as old as the PYRAMIDS that cover an area larger than Britain are discovered in the Amazon (and they can be seen from space!)

亚马逊发现大量八英尺高的白蚁土丘，与金字塔的历史一样悠久，覆盖面积超过英国（可以从太空看到它们！）



Scientists have found eight-foot tall termite mounds as old as the pyramids hidden in the Amazon.

科学家们在亚马逊深处发现大量高达八英尺的白蚁土丘，它们与金字塔的历史一样悠久。

The 4000-year-old mounds cover an area greater than Great Britain and can even be seen from Google Earth.

这些土堆有4000年历史，覆盖的地区面积超过英国，而且甚至在谷歌地图上都可以看到。

The 200 million cone-shaped mounds are not nests but are the result of the insects' slow and steady excavation of a network of interconnected underground tunnels.

200万座锥形土丘并非蚁穴，而是这种昆虫缓慢而稳定的在地下开挖隧道的结果，这些隧道相互连通。

The termites' activities over thousands of years required enough excavated soil to fill Wembley Stadium 2,500 times over.

白蚁数千年活动所挖掘的土壤足以将温布利体育场填满2500次。



'Perhaps most exciting of all - the mounds are extremely old - up to 4,000 years, similar to the ages of the pyramids.'

“可能最令人激动的是，这些土丘历史悠久，可以上溯至4000年前，与金字塔的历史差不多。”



The mounds, found in the Caatinga rainforest, are largely hidden from view in the fully deciduous, thorny-scrub forests which are unique to northeastern Brazil.

这些土丘是在卡丁加雨林中发现的，大部分隐藏在巴西东北部独有的全落叶荆棘林中，不为世人所见。

They'd only really come into view by 'outsiders,' including scientists, when some of the lands were cleared for pasture in recent decades.

最近数十年，当这片土地被清理为牧场，它们才进入外人——包括科学家——的视野。

Soil samples collected from the centres of 11 mounds and dated indicated that the mounds were filled 690 to 3,820 years ago.

从中心11座土丘搜集了土样，分析结果表明这些土丘是690-3820年前形成的。



The tiny insects have excavated a billion cubic metres of soil so they can access a vast network of tunnels and never need to travel more than three feet in the open air, where they risk being eaten by giant ants.

这种小虫子挖掘了数十亿立方米的土壤，这样它们就可以通过广泛的隧道网络，在外边的行进从来不需要超过3英尺，以降低被大蚂蚁吃掉的风险。



'It's incredible that, in this day and age, you can find an 'unknown' biological wonder of this sheer size and age still existing, with the occupants still present,' Dr Martin said.

“令人惊奇之处在于，在当今时代，依然可以发现这种‘未知的’生物奇迹，它规模庞大而且历史悠久，而且其居住者依然存在，”马丁博士说。

The researchers say there are many questions still to pursue.

研究人员称有很多问题有待探索。

For instance, no one knows how these termite colonies are physically structured because a queen chamber of the species has never been found.

例如，没有人知道这种白蚁殖民地的物理结构，因为从未发现这一物种的蚁后的巢穴。

John Marshall
I'm sure they'll find lots of things as they cut all the trees down.

我肯定，如果他们把所有的树都砍倒，就会发现很多东西。

vinetwiner
Checked in just to say "What rain forest"?

我登陆进来只想说一句：“啥雨林”？



Titania__
The Brazilians are already planning to destroy it.

巴西人已经在计划毁掉它了。

DownOnAmuffin
I guess that wouldn't be the best place to build a house...

我觉得这不是什么建房子的好地方。

OstrogothRome
Arnie could live there - as the Termitator.

阿尼（阿诺施瓦辛格）会以终结者的身份在那里生活。

Captain Obvious
Would hate to meet the big kahuna termite. Wonder if they have their own set of Kardashians, Beckhams, and a royal family.

不想看到大白蚁。我很好奇它们是否有自己那一套的卡戴珊家族、贝克汉姆家族和一个皇室。

milsim
hahahahahaha, that made me laugh so hard!!! hahahahahahaha

哈哈哈，笑死我了。



Richard46
They'll probably find one or two things as miniscule as Scotland next week.

他们下个星期可能会发现一两个苏格兰那么“小”的东西。

mr fredee
well i cant see it on google earth so not that easy to find.

好吧，我在谷歌地图上看不到它，所以不好找啊。

YoureWrongImRight
Horrid little insects!

可怕的小虫子！

Rubywoo70s
DM, the caatinga is not in the Amazon region !

DM，卡丁加不在亚马逊地区！

Georgina - Sheffield
They got an A+++ for copying and pasting !!!

他们的复制粘贴技能很高明！！！



Stop Scaremongering
Indeed it's one of the driest areas of the entire country, while it's not actually desert it is the next best thing, only the idiots at the DM could call the Caatinga both scrub forest and rainforest in the same article, whatever the average rainfall is, it's far too low for rainforest to grow. Still it isn't as quite as mind-blowingly stupid as their article a few days ago about a dog attacking some lions on the Tanzanian tundra.

确实，这是全巴西最干旱的地区，而它并非真正的沙漠，也相去不远，只有DM的笨蛋才会在一篇文章里说卡丁加既有灌木丛又有雨林，那里的平均降雨量根本不足以维持雨林生长。还有，这篇文章甚至不如之前的那篇震撼，几天前的那篇文章说坦桑尼亚苔原上有一只狗攻击了一群狮子。

zoltan
Why are SI measurements in parentheses? I didn't know the DM was an American news site.

为什么括号里用公制单位？我还不知道DM竟然是一个美国网站？



Hoozizzle
Now I wanna go to space to see whether its true.

我现在想上太空看看是不是这样。
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