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Five New “Flying Monkeys” Identified in Amazon 五种新型亚马逊“飞猴“得以命名
Five species of acrobaticmonkey that have long flown under the scientific radar have been named in SouthAmerica. 在南美洲，有五种科学家们一直致力研究的“飞猴”。如今，他们终于得到了命名。
These “flying monkeys,” orsakis, are notoriously shy and hard to study in their vast Amazon rain foresthomes, where they're known to sail quickly from treetop to treetop. 在广阔的亚马逊雨林家园，这些“飞猴（又称僧面猴）”本来就以胆小闻名，而他们又常在树尖之间来回穿梭，这使得研究工作难以开展。 Scientists had previouslyidentified five species of the 8-pound (4-kilogram) primates, known for theircolorful facial hair and bushy coats that they puff out when threatened. (Alsosee “Pictures: Bushy-Bearded Titi Monkey Discovered.”) 科学家们之前已经鉴定了五种重达8磅（4千克）的灵长类动物，它们以色彩斑斓的面部毛发以及遇到威胁时张开的浓密的毛而为人所知。（你也可以在“图片：大胡子伶猴被发现”中查看它的样子。）
But after nearly ten yearsof analyzing saki museum specimens, photographs, and animals in the field,behavioral ecologist Laura Marsh and colleagues have finally cracked the codeof the Pithecia genus, which is now expanding to 16 species, including 5 new toscience. 然而，在行为生态学家劳拉·马什与同事对存于僧面猴博物馆里的标本、照片以及对当地的动物进行了近十年的研究之后，他们终于破译了＂白面僧面猴属＂的密码。目前这一猴属已经扩展到了16种，其中包括新发现的5种。
Thenewbies include Cazuza’s saki, Mittermeier’s Tapajós saki, Rylands’ bald-facedsaki, Pissinatti’s bald-faced saki, and Isabel’s saki, according to the studyin the July issue of the journal Neotropical Primates, which is published bythe IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group and Conservation International. 这5种分别是卡组卡地区的僧面猴，米特梅尔地区的塔帕若斯河僧面猴，雷兰斯地区的白脸僧面猴，比西纳缇地区的白脸僧面猴，还有伊莎贝尔地区的僧面猴。IUCN/SSC＊下属的国际灵长类动物研究与保护组织将这一研究成果发表在了《新热带区的灵长类动物》杂志7月刊。
Threeof the newly named species were previously thought to be subspecies, whileanother three were thought to be variants of known species. 在刚被命名的物种中，有三种以前被认为是亚种，还有三种被认为是由已知物种变异而来。
MonkeyBusiness 猴类研究事业 Marsh,director and cofounder of the Global Conservation Institute in Santa Fe, NewMexico, first became intrigued with saki monkeys—which resemble “fluffy, kindauglyish cats that run on the tops of trees”—about a decade ago in Ecuador. 马什是全球保护研究所的所长和创始人之一，该研究所位于新墨西哥州圣达非。十年前在厄瓜多尔，她开始对僧面猴这种看起来像“在树顶上奔跑的毛茸茸的、有点丑的猫”产生了兴趣。
Thescientist quickly realized that some of the animals she saw weren’t in herfield guide—and her curiosity eventually took her to museums in 17 countries,where she examined more than 800 skins and 690 skulls. She also studiedhundreds of high-resolution photographs of the primates before reworking thesaki family tree. (Also see “New Snub-Nosed Monkey Discovered, Eaten.”) 马什很快就发现，她看到的一些动物并不在图鉴里——她的好奇心最终驱使她访遍了17个国家的博物馆，调查了超过800种皮毛和690个颅骨。她在修订僧面猴系谱之前，还研究了几百幅灵长类的高分辨率照片。（也可参见“新发现仰鼻猴”中查看相关图片。）
Partof the challenge in deciphering sakis is the remarkable diversity in color andshape within a single species: A juvenile male has similar coloration to anadult female, for instance. What’s more, some females have protrudingclitorises, so in museum specimens ”it looks like a penis,” Marsh said. 辨认僧面猴的一部分挑战来自于，同一种僧面猴的颜色和体型具有明显的多样性：例如，幼年雄性和成年雌性的颜色相似。而且一些雌性有着突出的阴蒂，所以在博物馆标本中，“那看起来就像阴茎一样”，马什说道。
Andflying monkeys are stealthy: “They vocalize in grunts, chirps, whistles, andlow calls, but can be exceptionally quiet when sneaking away from a perceivedthreat such as a field researcher,” Marsh wrote in the study. 而且飞猴很隐蔽：“它们会发出呼噜声、啾啾声、口哨声，会低声召唤，但在察觉到威胁时，例如碰到野外调查员时，他们会悄无声息地溜走”，马什在研究报告中写道。
MarilynNorconk, a professor at Kent State University in Ohio who studies sakis inGuyana, said the new research is the first comprehensive study of these elusiveseed-eaters since the 1980s. (See National Geographic’s photo gallery of othermonkeys.) 马琳·诺科克是俄亥俄州肯特州立大学的教授。他在圭亚那研究僧面猴，他认为这项新的研究是自20世纪80年代以来，对难以捉摸的食籽动物的首次全面性研究。（可在国家地理杂志的其他猴类图集中查阅相关信息。）
“I’d been expecting this for some time,” said Norconk, who wasn’tinvolved in the new research. “[The study is] providing the framework with alot of new species names and some geographic localities.” 并没有参加这项研究的诺科克说道：“我期待这一天很久了。（这项研究）以新物种的名字和一些地理方位信息，为我们提供了一个大框架。”
Butthere’s plenty more to learn. Marsh didn’t do genetic analyses of sakis, forinstance, and “in terms of biology and behavior of this group, we still don’tknow a whole lot,” said Norconk. 但需要研究的东西还有很多。比如，马什没有对僧面猴进行基因分析。“在种群的生物特性和习性方面，我们了解的还不够多”，诺科克这样说道。
StudyingSakis 研究僧面猴 Thenext step will be more expeditions to investigate the newly named sakis’populations—and vulnerability to extinction. 下一步将会针对新命名僧面猴的数量以及它们面临灭绝的可能性进行研究。
Norconknoted that in Guyana, the white-faced saki seem to adapt well to habitats thathave been affected by humans, and its populations are thriving. 诺科克注意到，在圭亚那，白脸僧面猴看起来已经很好地适应了人类影响下的栖息环境，他们的种群十分兴旺。 Forthis species, which is more well studied, “I think they’re a good-newsspecies—let’s understand more about them and why they’re doing so well, even inareas that are disturbed.” 随着调查的逐渐深入，相对于这种生物而言，“我觉得它们是‘吉祥物’——让我们更加深入地理解它们及它们为什么会生活得这么好，即使在一些受到干扰的地区也没有受到影响。”
Butthe status of sakis in other parts of their South American range is unknown.For instance, with parts of the Amazon “completely chewed up” by agricultureand development, Marsh suspects that the habitats of some of the flying monkeysmay be dwindling. (Read “Last of the Amazon” in National Geographic magazine.) 但是僧面猴在南美其他地方的状况尚属未知。例如，马什预测，在亚马逊中那些被农业和发展“完全吞噬”的地方，一些飞猴的栖息地可能会减小。（可在国家地理杂志“亚马逊最后的居民”中查阅相关信息。）
That’swhy her study is so crucial: ＂If we can’tname it, we can’t save it. If we’re calling everyone one species and it’sreally ten different things, you have just lost part of the biodiversity onEarth,” she said. 这就是为什么她的研究如此重要。她说：“如果我们不能命名它，那就不能拯救它。如果我们把每种动物都称为同一生物，而它们实际上是10种不同的东西的话，那我们就失去了地球生物多样性的一部分。”
“I feel like we got the road map—now it’s time to get to work.” “我觉得我已经知道了前进的方向，现在是时候出发了。”
注释： 1. IUCN: International Union for the conservationof Nature，世界自然保护联盟 2. SSC: Species Survival Commission，物种续存委员会 翻译：蒲公英 校对：塔塔 终校：小郭 树屋字幕组-文翻组 翻译仅供学习交流，严禁用于商业用途
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发表于 2015-8-18 11:02:35
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