每日一翻：Mammals Might Have Slept Through Dino Destroyer

You’d think that the asteroid that hit Earth 66 million years ago with enough force to wipe out the dinosaurs would be tough to sleep through. But a new study suggests that the ability to engage in extended hibernation might be what saved ancestral mammals from extinction at the end of the Cretaceous. The hypothesis is in the Proceedings of the Royal Society (B). [Barry G. Lovegrove, Kerileigh D. Lobban and Danielle L. Levesque, Mammal survival at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary: metabolic homeostasis in prolonged tropical hibernation in tenrecs]

6600万年前能量足以使恐龙灭绝的小行星撞击地球，你可能会认为这定是冬眠中哺乳动物的噩梦。但是一项新的研究显示，哺乳动物祖先冬眠的能力或许是使得它们在白垩纪末免于灭绝的原因。这个假说被发表在《英国皇家学会报告B》上。

It’s thought that global wildfires engulfed the planet for a year or more after the Chicxulub impact. That’s a long time to stay out of harm’s way. Small mammals most likely burrowed underground.

人们普遍认为，在被希克苏鲁伯陨石撞击之后地球上爆发了长达一年或者更长时间的全球性火灾。这要求哺乳动物很长一段时间呆在安全地带。小的哺乳动物可能躲在地下。

But could they last that long without coming up for air? Yes—if they were hibernating.

但是他们能那么长时间不呼吸吗？是的，如果他们在冬眠就可以。

We know that bears can sleep through winter. But rabbit-sized Madagascar mammals called tenrecs have got that beat. Researchers tagged two dozen tenrecs with devices that recorded their body temp. And then released ‘em back in the wild.

我们知道熊可以睡一个冬天。但是兔子大小的马达加斯加哺乳动物——马岛猬——超越了这个纪录。科学家用设备记录了24只马岛猬的体温。然后把它们重新放到野外。

Most of the tenrecs got killed by dogs or snakes or poachers. But a couple tunneled into the sand where they proceeded to snooze until the researchers dug them up nine months later.

大多数的马岛猬被狗、蛇或者其他入侵者捕杀。但是有一对钻到沙里冬眠，直到九个月后科学家们把它们挖出来。

The findings reveal that on occasion the best way to make it through a crisis is to just take a long nap.

这个发现揭示了有时候度过一次灾难最好的方式是打个长盹。

—Karen Hopkin