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進入《中英對照讀新聞》Giant pandas have not evolved to eat bamboo： study 研究：大貓熊並未演化到吃竹子
◎國際新聞中心
Despite two million years of munching almost exclusively on bamboo, the giant panda’s gut has not adapted to eating the plant--putting the creatures in an "evolutionary dilemma", scientists said Tuesday.
儘管200萬年幾乎都只吃竹子，大貓熊的腸子並沒有改變成適合吃這種植物，讓這種生物處於「演化兩難」。
The surprising study, reported by online US journal mBio, examined 45 giant pandas over the course of a year and found that the animals appeared to have a digestive system "entirely differentiated from other herbivores".
這項讓人訝異的研究是由美國線上雜誌mBio報導，在1年內檢視45隻大型貓熊，發現這種動物似乎有個「完全有別於其他草食動物的」消化系統。
Instead, the pandas still retained the gut bacteria of the omnivorous bears they evolved from, the report’s summary said.
這份報告的摘要說，相反地，貓熊仍然維持牠們演化前的雜食性熊的腸道細菌。
"Unlike other herbivores that have successfully evolved anatomically specialized digestive systems to efficiently deconstruct fibrous plant matter, the giant panda still retains a gastrointestinal tract typical of carnivores".
「不像其他草食性動物，結構上成功演化成有效分解植物纖維的消化系統，貓熊仍維持典型肉食動物的胃腸道。」
新聞辭典
munch：動詞，大聲咀嚼。例句：We watched her munch her way through two packets of peanuts.（我們看著她津津有味地嚼完2包花生。）
differentiate：動詞，區分，分別。例句：We do not differentiate between our workers on the basis of their background or ethnic origin.（我們不會因為勞工的背景或種族不同而區別對待。）
omnivorous：形容詞，雜食的，涉獵廣泛的。例如：an omnivorous reader（涉獵廣泛的讀者）
