Are Elephants Really Scared of Mice?大象真的害怕老鼠吗？

There are many scenes¹ on TV where elephants get scared in front of a mouse.Why would a nearly 6，000 kg elephant be afraid of a small mouse？ It’s not just onTV shows. People have seen elephants running away from mice.

电视上有很多这种片段，大象在老鼠面前会感到害怕。为什么一头近6000千克的大象会害怕一只小老鼠呢？不仅仅是在电视上，人们亲眼见过大象从老鼠面前逃走。

Are elephants scared of mice？ No， elephants aren’t scared of mice. Anelephant trainer， Troy Metzler， set out to test it himself. Metzler held a mouse infront of an elephant to see what it would do. Surprisingly²， the elephant didn’tseem interested in the little thing. So， he found that a little mouse doesn’t scarethe big elephant.

大象害怕老鼠吗钥不，大象不怕老鼠。大象训练师特洛伊·梅茨勒亲自动手验证了这个问题。梅茨勒把一只老鼠放在一头大象面前，看它会怎么做。令人惊讶的是，大象似乎对这个小东西不感兴趣。于是，他发现一只小老鼠吓不到大象。

Why do elephants run from mice？ That’s because elephants can’t see verywell. And the mouse moves so fast and surprisingly that it scares them. That alsotells why the mouse in Metzler’s hand didn’t move the elephant.

为什么大象要从老鼠面前逃走呢钥那是因为大象视力较差。老鼠动得如此之快，又出人意料，以至于吓到了它。这也解释了为什么梅茨勒手中的老鼠没有吓到那头大象。

Where did the idea come from？ The idea had existed³ long before it becamepopular in cartoons. A Greek fable⁴ from as far back as 77 AD supported this idea.In the tale， a mouse climbs an elephant’s trunk⁵ and drives him crazy.

这个观点是从哪里来的钥这个观点早在它在动画片中流行之前就已经存在了。早在公元77 年的一则希腊寓言证明了这一观点。在这个故事中，一只老鼠爬上了大象的鼻子，把它吓疯了。

Allen Moulin， an Irish physician， believed that elephants didn’t have the small cartilage⁶ in their throat—epiglottis⁷. If the mouse got into the elephant’s throat， itwould choke⁸. People would realize much later that elephants have epiglottiscartilage. Elephant researcher Richard Lair noted that an elephant could quite easilyblow a mouse out of its trunk if one ever climbed in.

爱尔兰医生艾伦·莫林认为，大象的喉咙里没有那块小软骨——会厌。如果老鼠进入大象的喉咙，它会窒息。人们很久以后才发现大象有会厌软骨。大象研究员理查德·莱尔指出，如果有老鼠爬进去，大象可以轻而易举地把老鼠从鼻子里吹出来。

What tiny animal scares an elephant？ Elephants might not be afraid of mice，but there’s another tiny animal that scares them. It’s bees！ What could a bee do tothe elephant？ Not much. Elephants have very thick skin. But African bees attack⁹ inhundreds， stinging¹⁰ the elephant everywhere. Researchers found that Asianelephants are afraid of bees， too. And some of them believe that a large group ofthousands of bees can seriously hurt a young elephant.

什么小动物会吓到大象呢钥大象可能不怕老鼠，但还是有一种小动物让它们害怕。是蜜蜂！蜜蜂能对大象做什么呢？不多。大象有很厚的皮肤，但是非洲蜜蜂攻击时有数百只，在大象身上到处蛰。研究人员发现亚洲象也害怕蜜蜂，其中有人认为一群数量巨大的蜜蜂会严重伤害小象。

（英语原文选自：thefactsite.com）