Hippo Meat-Munching May Explain Their Anthrax Outbreaks
河马的炭疽疫情之谜

Hippos eat meat more than had been thought, a practice that could explain their susceptibility to anthrax die-offs when they consume infected animals
河马比我们想象的更能吃肉，这一习惯可以解释它们食用感染动物时极易感染炭疽病而且死亡的现象。

撰文/播音  贾森·戈德曼(Jason G. Goldman)
翻译  惠丹丹
审核  乔虹

Hippopotamuses. People usually think of them as massive, lumbering hulks of plant-eating muscle. Reports do crop up of hippos snacking on crocs or chowing down on a drowned wildebeest. Those anecdotes are often dismissed as aberrant behaviors—opportunistic protein snacks added to a diet made mostly of salad. But it turns out that hungry, hungry hippos intentionally seek out the sweet, sweet taste of animal flesh.
 河马，人们总是认为它们是巨大而笨重的食草动物。然而有报道指出河马也吃鳄鱼和淹死的角马。不过人们总是把这些奇闻轶事当做是河马偶尔的怪异行为而忽略——就好像是偶尔将少量蛋白质加入以沙拉为主的日常饮食中一样。但实际上是很饿很饿的河马会刻意寻找肉类这样的“甜食”。

“We saw a bunch of wild dogs come and attack an impala, and the impala jumped into the water, tried to swim across the little lake, and the hippo killed it. Then a few minutes later, that hippo and a bunch of other hippos started eating on that impala.”
“ 我们曾看到过一群野狗攻击一只黑斑羚，那黑斑羚跳入水中，试图游过小河，一只河马却杀死了它。几分钟之后，那只河马和一群其它河马将黑斑羚分食。”

University of Alaska research Joseph P. Dudley was in Zimbabwe studying elephants when he saw this scene play out more than 20 years ago.
 阿拉斯加大学研究员约瑟夫·达德利（Joseph P. Dudley）20多年前在津巴布韦研究大象的时候看到了这一幕。

“About that time, the wild dogs caught and killed another impala right next to the edge of the water hole, and three hippos came out of the water and tried to take away the carcass of the impala, the antelope, from the wild dogs. As far as I had ever heard, hippos didn’t do either of these things.”
“ 就在那时，那群野狗又在小池塘的旁边捕杀了另外一只黑斑羚。这时，三只河马从水中出来想要从野狗群中夺走那黑斑羚的尸体。我从没有听说过河马会干这样的事情。”

We now know that carnivory is actually common among hippos. And meat-eating could explain what’s been a hippo public health mystery: anthrax outbreaks happen naturally among African herbivores, but the pattern of anthrax transmission in hippos has always puzzled researchers. Could their hankering for meat explain it?
 现在我们知道河马吃肉其实是很普遍的。河马的食肉现象也许可以解释众所周知的河马健康之谜：非洲食草动物总是会爆发炭疽疫病，而炭疽杆菌在河马体内的传播模式一直困惑着研究人员。这难道与他们喜欢吃肉有关？

Dudley’s latest research suggests that the hippos’ could owe their unique susceptibility to anthrax die-offs to their practice of eating meat that carries the infection—including the bodies of other dead hippos. The study is in the journal Mammal Review. [Joseph P. Dudley et al,Carnivory in the common hippopotamus?Hippopotamus amphibius: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of anthrax in African landscapes]
 达德利最近的研究表明，河马在感染炭疽杆菌后极易死亡可能就是由于它们的肉食习惯，包括吃其它死去的河马尸体，而这些肉可能受到了感染。这一研究发表在《哺乳动物评论》期刊上。[Joseph P. Dudley et al,Carnivory in the common hippopotamus?Hippopotamus amphibius: implications for the ecology and epidemiology of anthrax in African landscapes]

And that means that humans who come into contact with hippo meat need to take care. At least 511 Zambians became infected, and five died, because they handled or consumed hippo meat during a 2011 anthrax outbreak among the amphibious mammals. That’s one advantage of being a vegetarian—for both hippos and humans.
这也就意味着人类在接触河马肉的时候需要谨慎。因为赞比亚人在2011年两栖动物爆发炭疽疫情期间接触或食用了河马肉，导致至少511人被感染，且有5人死亡。这可是当素食主义者的一大好处，不论是对河马还是人类。