雙語：如果動物沒有毛 世界將會怎樣

Without fur or hair, most mammals would be pretty uncomfortable. That"s because a furry covering shields mammals" bodies from the weather, keeping them warm and dry—sort of like your clothes do for you.Of the 5,000 kinds of wild mammals, only a few are nearly hairless. These creatures developed other ways to thrive comfortably.A few animals, such as the sphynx cat below and the Mexican hairless dog at left, are practically hairless because people bred them that way. They"re bred as pets.A sphynx generally feels like suede to the touch. Some sphynxes have very fine, hard-to-see body hair. They feel like warm, fresh peaches!Many animals thrive in their near-nakedness.Elephants, rhinos, and hippos don"t have fur. They all live in hot places, where the trick is to keep cool. Being practically hairless is one way these animals deal with the heat. They use mud, dust, and water to protect their skin from sunburn.Whales spend all of their time underwater. Their body fat keeps them warm, so they don"t need fur coats. Naked mole rats live entirely underground, where the temperature stays warm year-round. No need for hair there!Hair has a special importance for some animals. If it"s long and colorful, or short and cropped in different shapes, it can attract lots of attention from the opposite sex. Think about that the next time you see a male lion"s mane at the zoo or a teenager with a spiked Mohawk hairstyle at the mall!Some people call humans "naked apes." That"s not entirely accurate, though. An adult human"s body is covered with about five million hairs—the same number that an adult gorilla has.However, human hair is generally shorter and thinner than gorilla hair. You may have to look closely to see the hairs on most of your body.

如果動物沒有毛 世界將會怎樣(圖)如果身上沒有毛，很多哺乳動物或許都會感到十分不自在。哺乳動物的皮毛使它們的身體保持溫暖和乾燥，並幫它們阻擋來自天氣等外界環境的傷害，這就和人們穿衣服的道理有幾分相像。據美國《國家地理》雜誌網站日前報道，在5000多種野生哺乳動物中，其中只有很少一部分是身上幾乎沒有毛，將身體直接裸露在外的。為了讓種群發展壯大，這些無毛動物形成了與眾不同的生活方式。一些無毛動物，如加拿大無毛貓和墨西哥無毛犬等，由於人們將其作為寵物飼養，並讓它們一直按照這種樣子繁殖下去，所以它們身上幾乎連一點毛都沒有。一般來說，撫摸加拿大無毛貓帶給人的感覺就像在摸一塊光滑柔軟的小山羊皮。而有些加拿大無毛貓則長著了一層非常纖細，用眼睛難以察覺的體毛，這種無毛貓摸起來則更像個暖和而又新鮮的水蜜桃。除了作為人們的無毛寵物之外，更多的動物則是在一種身體近似裸露的狀態下，使自己的種群繁榮壯大的。比如人們熟知的大象、犀牛以及河馬，它們的身上也都幾乎沒有毛。上述的3種動物都生活在天氣炎熱的地區，赤裸著身體對它們來說是一種必要的生活手段，是它們對抗酷熱天氣的方法，這使這些動物能更好地保持涼爽。另外，它們還會用泥漿、灰塵和水來保護它們的皮膚免受太陽灼燒。鯨魚這種生活在海里的大型哺乳動物，身體也是光滑而沒有毛的。鯨魚的體脂肪能起到保暖的作用，所以它們當然不需要「毛外衣」啦。一種生活在地下的無毛鼴鼠(Naked mole rats)，因為地下溫度整年都能保持溫暖，所以它們也不需要毛。毛對於一些動物來說具有著非常特殊的作用。毛的長短、顏色以及樣式都和能否吸引到異性的注意有關係。當你下次在動物園看到一隻雄性的獅子長長的鬃毛，或是在商業街看到一個留著莫霍克族麥穗頭型的十幾歲少年時，你就會明白了。儘管這個說法並不完全正確，但是有些人還是把人類稱之為「沒毛的猿類」(naked apes)。有資料顯示，一個成年人的身體表面大概覆蓋著約500萬根毛髮——而這個數量和一隻成年大猩猩體表的毛數相同。與之不同的是，較之大猩猩，人的毛髮更短而且也更稀。(記者：王高山)
推薦閱讀：