啊！南加州
Aah, Southern California.
你一定听过《冲浪企鹅》浮华城还有迷人的阳光 对吧？
Y’know, the whole “surf’s up, Tinseltown, sun-soaked glamour” thing?
真不幸 这些田园似的美景大多都是假象
Too bad this idyllic landscape is mostly make-believe.
就拿棕榈树来说
Take the palm trees.
它们甚至不是真正的树
They’re not even real trees.
它们倒更像是草一样的东西
They’re more closely related to grass.
而且还是进口货
And they’re imported.
像这种加纳利枣椰树
Like this Canary Island date palm.
绕了半个地球来到这里 成了这里最耀眼的美景之一
It came halfway around the world to be one of the more dazzling stars in the landscape.
但这好莱坞巨作却变得越来越像恐怖片
But this Hollywood success story is turning into a horror movie.
这种小怪物叫南美棕榈象
This little monster is the South American palm weevil.
它于2011年在圣地亚哥首次被科学家发现
Scientists first found it in San Diego in 2011.
象鼻虫就是一种甲壳虫…多长了个鼻子
Weevils are just beetles… with snouts.
雌虫能用鼻子挖隧道 直达棕榈树顶端分生组织
This female uses hers as a drill, to get at the palm’s apical meristem.
这里就是树叶生长的地方 就像是一碗美味佳肴
It’s a bowl of juicy goodness at the top, where the leaves sprout.
它将卵产在自己挖的隧道里
She lays her eggs down in those tunnels.
这样它的宝宝就能从树心往外享受美食
And her spawn eat the palm from the inside out… starting with its heart.
没错 你在超市就能买到
That’s right; it’s the same stuff you can get at the supermarket.
它们会将健康的棕榈树变成一堆烂木渣 在阳光下变得
They’ll turn this palm’s healthy flesh into a rotting mess that smells like a dumpster
腐臭难闻
in the sun.
等到幼虫足够大时 它们就会用烂木渣上无法食用的纤维
Once they’re big enough, the larvae will spin cigar-shaped cocoons from the leftover
结成雪茄状的茧
fibers they can’t eat.
树叶由于缺乏养分而死 然后幼虫露出并继续生长发育
As the trees’ fronds starve and die, the larvae hang out and gestate, morphing into
变成蛹…
pupae, and…
噢 这真是 天啊
Ew, that’s just, oh man…
真令人反胃
That’s gross.
变成成虫后它们破茧而出 飞去寻找新的宿主…
As adults, they burst out, take flight and seek out a new host… leaving behind the
扔下曾经高大的棕榈树空壳等死
dying, hollow shell of a once majestic palm.
加州大学河滨分校的马克·霍尔德正在研究这种象鼻虫的虫害传染
Mark Hoddle, at UC Riverside, is tracking the weevil infestation.
他把它们放到实验室的一种飞行台上测它们的耐力
He puts them on a kind of aerial treadmill in his lab to test their stamina.
他想知道它们如何来到这里 是搭了棕榈树的便车
He’s trying to figure out how they got here, whether they hitched a ride on imported palms,
还是自己飞来的
or made the trip themselves.
实验证明它们一天能飞15英里 足以在棕榈树间自行
Turns out they can fly up to 15 miles a day, enough to hopscotch from palm to palm on their
飞来飞去
own.
对付它们唯一的方法就是：给每棵棕榈树它们的行径上
The only way to stop them: treat every palm tree in their path with pesticides before
提前打杀虫剂
the weevils get there.
要做到这一点很难
That’ll be tough to do.
所以种标志性的特殊植物很快将只能
So these particular botanical icons could be on the fast track to being just another
在电影里看到了
Hollywood has-been.
这些象鼻虫非常恶心
These weevils are pretty gnarly.
因此我们请《重口味科学》的安娜·罗斯柴尔德做了这些动画
So we asked Anna Rothschild from Gross Science to do those animations for us.
-多谢安娜
Thanks, Anna!
安娜：不用客气
ANNA: You’re welcome!
-这是我的荣幸
It’s my pleasure.
-我喜欢重口味的东西
I love gross stuff.
劳伦：所以还有一种对付幼虫的方法 一种生物控制法
LAUREN: So there is one other way to manage these larvae, sort of a biological control,
-这种方法在泰国 秘鲁和加纳等国家也有人使用
which people do in some places, like Thailand, Peru and Ghana.
安娜：食虫法
ANNA: Entomophagy!
劳伦：把虫虫吃掉
LAUREN: Eating bugs.
-嗯
Mmm.
-非常美味
Tasty.
安娜：想了解完整内容就来我的频道吧
ANNA: So hop over to my channel for a whole episode about it.
劳伦：感谢观看本期《微观深望》
LAUREN: And thanks for watching this Deep Look.