Five of the Loudest Animalsin the World 世界上聲音最大的五種動物

Kristen Hall-Geisler 楊舟選譯

When the sun rises early in the morning and youre snuggled1 under thecovers， the loudest animal in the world is probably your cat or your dog begging2 forbreakfast.

當大清早太陽升起而你蜷縮在被窩里時，世界上聲音最大的動物可能是你家討要早餐的貓或狗。

However， scientists have actually measured the sounds made by animals in thewild. They too are very， very loud， and maybe even louder than your pets in themorning.

然而，科學家實際上測量了野生動物發出的聲音。它們也非常響亮，可能會比清晨時你的寵物更大聲。

1. Tiger Pistol Shrimp

Pow pow！ This little shrimp doesntmake sounds with its mouth. It uses itshuge claw3 to shoot jets4 of water withsuch force that it creates an air bubble.When this bubble implodes5， it generatesa shockwave thats been measured atmore than 200 decibels6. This shockwavecan kill other shrimp as far as 2 metersaway. Human eardrums7 will rupture8 at160 decibels. Thats some shrimp！

1. 老虎槍蝦

砰砰！這種小蝦的嘴不會發出聲音。它用巨大的鰲夾射出水柱，其力量之大足以制造出一個氣泡。當這個氣泡破裂時，它會產生一個超過 200 分貝的沖擊波。這種沖擊波可以殺死 2 米開外的其他蝦。人的耳膜會在 160 分貝時破裂。而那是某種蝦！

2. Blue Whale

This loudest animal in the world is alsothe largest animal in the world. The bluewhales call can reach 188 decibels. Weshare the planet with blue whales and tigerpistol shrimps， so how do we even haveeardrums if these animals are so loud？ Wereprotected by the fact that they liveunderwater and we do not. If we did live inthe sea， wed be able to hear the song of theblue whale as far as 1，609 kilometers away.

2. 藍鯨

這種世界上聲音最大的動物也是世界上體型最大的動物。藍鯨的叫聲可以達到 188 分貝。我們與藍鯨和手槍蝦共享這個星球，那么如果這些動物的聲音如此之大，我們怎么會有耳膜呢？它們生活在水下而我們沒有，我們因此受到了保護。如果我們真的生活在海里，我們就能在 1，609 公里之外聽到藍鯨的歌聲。

3. Greater Bulldog Bat

The greater bulldog bat， usesecholocation9 to find food， like all bats. Butthese bats feed on fish. That means theyneed to emit10 a sound that can penetrate11both air， where they fly， and water， wheretheir food swims. Their echolocation call canreach 140 decibels. But we humans getlucky again in sharing the world with thesebats， since these loud sounds are outside therange of human hearing.

3. 兔唇蝠

兔唇蝠與所有蝙蝠一樣使用回聲定位來尋找食物。但這些蝙蝠是以魚為食。這意味著它們需要發出一種聲音，既能穿透它們飛行的空氣，也能穿透食物游動的水。它們的回聲定位聲波可以達到 140 分貝。與這些蝙蝠共享這個世界的我們人類再次走運了，因為這些響亮的聲音超出了人類的聽覺范圍。

4. Kakapo

Our next loudest animal is also theloudest bird， the kakapo. This New Zealandnatives call can be as loud as 132 decibels.The flightless kakapo holds a couple of otherrecords， too. Its the heaviest parrot speciesin the world. And its the longest -livedbird—theyre known to reach their 90thbirthday.

4. 鸮鸚鵡

我們下一個聲音最大的動物鸮鸚鵡也是聲音最大的鳥類。這種原產新西蘭的動物叫聲可以高達 132 分貝。不會飛的鸮鸚鵡也保持著其他的記錄。它是世界上最重的鸚鵡種類，也是壽命最長的鳥———已知可達 90 歲。

5. Cicadas

Two species of this bug are the loudestknown insects. They can produce sounds upto 120 decibels. It can sound like cicadasare screaming12 their lungs out at absolutelyeverything， but actually they are vibrating13their abdomen14. Their calls are importantfor them to attract other cicadas.

5. 蟬

這種昆蟲中的兩種是已知的聲音最大的昆蟲。它們都能發出高達 120 分貝的聲音。聽起來好像蟬對著任何事物都在撕心裂肺地尖叫，但實際上它們是在振動它們的腹部。它們的叫聲對吸引別的蟬很重要。

（英語原文選自：animals.howstuffworks.com）

1. snuggle [ ] . 偎依;舒服地蜷伏 2. beg [ ] . 乞求;乞討

3. claw [ ] 螯，鉗 4. jet [ ] . 噴射流

5. implode [ ] . 內爆;崩潰 6. decibel [ ] 分貝

7. eardrum [ ] 鼓膜，耳膜 8. rupture [ ] . 破裂

9. echolocation [ ] . 回聲定位 10. emit [ ] 發出（聲音）

11. penetrate [ ] 穿透 12. scream [ ] 尖叫;大聲叫