這是《動物王國大探險展》極地生態區的麝牛導覽。在此聆聽這頭北極陸上最古老的哺乳動物。
上方可播放導覽語音。逐字稿與語音內容相同。
This is the musk ox stop in the polar gallery of the Animal Kingdom Grand Adventure Exhibition. Listen here to the oldest mammal on Arctic land.
Play the narration above. The transcript matches the audio.
在終年冰凍的北極荒原上，一頭宛如從史前岩壁中走出的巨獸，佇立於漫天風雪之中，這是北極陸地上最古老的哺乳動物：麝牛。
麝牛雖然擁有龐大的身軀、厚重的蹄與像牛一樣的角，但牠其實不是牛，而是羊的近親，生物分類上隸屬於羊亞科。牠們沒有麝香味，平時也沒有濃厚的體味，只有雄性麝牛在繁殖季會散發出強烈的氣味，因為雄麝牛會將尿液以及眼下分泌物塗抹在身上，對人類的嗅覺而言，會融合成一種非常類似於「化學合成麝香」的特殊氣味，這種味道就像牠們的生化武器，可以吸引雌性，也能嚇阻競爭者，不需要與對手有肢體衝突。
麝牛是跨越漫長冰河期的活化石，曾與猛瑪象、劍齒虎生活在同一時空，當其他史前巨獸紛紛在冰河期面臨大滅絕時，麝牛憑藉著驚人的抗寒耐受力存活至今。然而全球暖化導致極地氣候異常，讓麝牛數量快速減少，這群熬過極端氣候的頑強生命，正在向人類發出最嚴正的警訊，也為人類敲響了自然氣候的警鐘。
On the Arctic waste, frozen the year round, a giant as if it had stepped from a prehistoric rock face stands in the flying snow. This is the oldest mammal on Arctic land: the musk ox.
Though it has a huge body, heavy hooves, and horns like a cow's, it is not a cow. It is a close kin of the sheep, placed in the subfamily Caprinae. They have no musk scent, and in ordinary times no heavy body odor. Only the males in the breeding season give off a strong smell, because a bull will smear urine and the secretion under the eyes on his body. To a human nose it blends into a scent very like synthetic musk. That smell is their biochemical weapon: it can draw the females and warn rivals off, with no need for a clash of bodies.
The musk ox is a living fossil across the long ice ages. It once shared time and space with the mammoth and the saber-tooth. When other prehistoric giants faced mass extinction in the ice age, the musk ox lived on by a startling power to bear the cold. Yet global warming has thrown the polar climate off, and the numbers of musk ox fall fast. This stubborn life that endured the extremes is sending humankind the gravest of warnings, and sounding the bell of the climate itself.