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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
Just like humans have virtually unique sets of fingerprints, every giraffe has a unique set of spots. Not that those spot patterns really help wildlife biologists identify their study subjects in real time.
"We have more than 3,000 individuals. ...so I have a hard time myself keeping track of that many humans so I have that problem with giraffes patterns as well."
Derek Lee is a wildlife biologist and population ecologist at Penn State, and with the Wild Nature Institute, a research consultancy group. He and his collaborators have been tracking giraffes for seven years, throughout 1,500 square miles in Tanzania. And they've amassed a library of 70,000 giraffe photos along the way. Photographing the animals isn't that hard, he says.
"The hard part is the tsetse flies constantly biting us on our face and hands while we're trying to take pictures."

Now, they've used image analysis software to study the spots of mothers and their calves. And they found that baby giraffes inherit at least some particular elements of their patterning from their moms. Like how circular the spots are, and how jagged the edges are.
They also found that calves with larger spots were more likely to survive their first months on the savannah, perhaps because the spots better mimic the dappled sunlight in the bushes where calves like to hide from hungry lions and hyenas.
The results - and a lot of giraffe patterns - are in the journal PeerJ.
It's perhaps not surprising that a physical characteristic that protects an individual from being eaten passes the test of Darwinian natural selection - and get passed along to offspring. "The fact these things are heritable and they did affect juvenile survival makes us feel like evolution is acting on these spot traits." So if mom's camouflage is good, her babies, too, might have the spots that make them harder to spot.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

参考译文

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学jKbnbt1-(Bxe4h+-U|。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔^Hv]B7d+JVjU。
就像人类拥有独特的指纹一样，每只长颈鹿身上都有一组独特的斑纹SzIQF^RVWvcC7MK0。但并不是说这些斑纹图案能帮助野生动物生物学家立刻识别出他们的研究对象pgvyXO2GD39-bAs2。
“我们有3000多人，我很难记住那么多人，记住长颈鹿的斑纹图案同样很困难K#r6ta8p6#GmVD2c,(。”
德里克·李是宾夕法尼亚州立大学及研究咨询组织野生自然研究所的野生动物生物学家和种群生态学家_mkHm2ei._n4Ym[N。他和合作者在坦桑尼亚1500英里的土地上追踪了长颈鹿7年gm1HFof3rlxiETa。在追踪过程中，他们收集了7万张长颈鹿图片5^w4PY-1WX,UD。他说，拍摄长颈鹿并不太难muEw=ZO~|FY]#XD++。
“最难的是在我们想拍照时，采采蝇不停地叮咬我们的脸和手AI)Uxxyn@bQ。”
现在，他们通过图像分析软件来研究长颈鹿妈妈及其幼崽的斑纹图案#Eu=(],7rQXmD=Yi。他们发现，小长颈鹿从其母亲那里遗传了斑纹图案，至少是某些特定元素的斑纹q2UgwnFVC0*rdq。比如斑纹的环形方式以及边缘锯齿的样式QE-rfrT2w4w%w9qXP。
他们还发现，斑纹较大的幼崽更可能在大草原上生活的头几个月里存活下来，也许是因为这些斑纹更像灌木丛中斑驳的阳光，而幼崽喜欢藏在灌木丛中躲避饥饿的狮子和鬣狗F[tGDiL*CO&P_。
研究结果以及大量长颈鹿斑纹图案刊登在《PeerJ》期刊上du4ITxcDlY|COmdO。
保护个体不被吃掉的身体特征通过了达尔文自然选择的考验，这种特征之后又遗传给了后代，这或许不足为奇)A!ig&|=c+y。“事实上这些特征可以遗传，而且确实对幼崽的存活产生影响，这令我们感觉进化是围绕这些斑纹特征进行的BZIqG#F!14。”因此，如果长颈鹿妈妈的伪装本领高强，那其幼崽可能也会拥有很难被发现的斑纹jbvHIEzU&!,iy]kjCO。
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学.4!@,)|r6i。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔HWtrVg(+@cp。

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重点讲解

重点讲解：
1. keep track of 跟上…的进展；掌握…的最新消息；
Bank statements help you keep track of where your money is going.
银行账单有助于你了解你的资金使用情况l2^ge1Mbl;a(A。
2. at least （表示更正或改变自己刚说过的话）至少，起码；
Success was assured and, at least to start with, the system operated smoothly.
成功有保证了，至少该系统一开始运行得挺顺利pv&;5.psD4;LH-AP,R。
3. be likely to do sth. 可能（做…）的；有（…）倾向的；
Tickets are likely to be expensive.
入场券可能很贵)M[KMJpj__0Xu|c。
4. protect sb. from doing sth. 保护；防护；
The most important trees were tagged to protect them from being damaged by construction machinery.
最珍贵的树木都被贴上了标签，以防被建筑机械毁坏*J_PkhRkQ^2ba5s。