那么,獨角獸的角到底是干嘛用的？

The mythical unicorn continues to gallop its way across the fields of human imagination, from the 4,000-year-old Indus Valley civilization carvings to the Starbucks Unicorn Frappuccino. But as Argentinian writer and dreamer Jorge Luis Borges pointed out, "The first version of the Unicorn is nearly identical with the latest."

有關獨角獸的傳說經久不衰，從4000年前的印度河流域文明的石刻上到今天星巴克的獨角獸星冰樂，都有這種生物的身影。但正如阿根廷作家/幻想家豪爾赫·路易斯·博爾赫斯所言，"獨角獸最初和最末的形象基本一樣。"

In other words, the unicorn is rarely little more than a one-horned horse. As Joe McCormick and I discuss in our podcast episode "Unicorns of the Mythic World," the fairy-tale beast has come to symbolize everything from sinful lust to Jesus Christ himself, and the purpose of its single horn is rarely clear. Luckily, our episode provides some tantalizing biological suggestions as to why these fanciful beasts would boast such a fabulous protrusion.

換句話說，獨角獸基本上就是長了一只角的馬。我曾和 Joe McCormick 在我們的播客中討論過，這種傳說中的生物代表著一切從骯臟到圣潔的事物，但這個角的意義卻不甚明晰。好在我們的節(jié)目提供了一些看上去靠譜的生物學建議來說明為什么要長出來這只角。

For starters, we can cast aside the more magical properties. Natural world organisms don't purify lakes or heal wounded paladins with their bony growths. It's also tempting to cast aside the notion presented in Ridley Scott's 1985 film "Legend," that a unicorn's horn is "a single horn reaching straight to heaven," as if it functions as a sort of divine antenna.

首先我們不考慮魔法因素。大自然不會自己凈化湖泊或者用自己的骨骼生長治療受傷的圣騎士。也先不要琢磨雷德利·斯科特1985年的電影《Legend》說的“獨角獸的角是直通天堂的”，好像一根神圣的天線一樣。

Yet the idea of a horn antenna isn't that far-fetched. The most famous unicorn of the natural world is the narwhal (Monodon monoceros), though its lone tusk is actually an oversized canine tooth that grows straight out of the creature's face. The exact purpose of the tusk remains a topic of scientific dispute, but it might well function as a sense organ. After all, it's loaded with sensitive nerve endings.

但角狀天線這個概念還不算很離譜的。自然界最接近獨角獸的動物是一角鯨(Monodon monoceros)，但它的這一根牙齒實際上是一個超大的犬齒，直接從臉上生長出來的。這顆牙的確切目的仍然是一個有科學爭論的話題，但它可能是充當了一個感官，畢竟里面是敏感的神經末梢。

Some researchers theorize that narwhals use the tusk to focus their potent echolocation powers, which they use to hunt fish, shrimp and squid. Martin Nweeia of Harvard's School of Dental Medicine also suggests that it could be used to detect changes in water salinity. Still, sensory explanations for narwhal tusks are undercut by the fact that females rarely grow them. As in most cases of sexual dimorphism, we can usually assume that mating plays a key role in the difference.

一些研究人員推測獨角鯨使用這顆牙集中他們強大的回聲定位能力，用它來捕魚、蝦和魷魚。哈佛大學牙醫(yī)學院的 Martin Nweeia 也猜測這顆牙可能是用來檢測海水咸度變化的。盡管如此，對于獨角鯨的感官解釋還是受制于雌性很少生長這顆牙的事實。正如大多數第二性征的情況一樣，我們通?？梢哉J為這是在交配中起著關鍵作用的東西。

This brings us back to the unicorn. Perhaps only the males of the species boast horns as a means of sparring with romantic rivals or communicating sexual fitness to potential mates. The latter reason, at least, would jibe with the writings of fifth-century B.C.E. Greek historian Ctesias, in which the unicorn's horn is red, black and white. That sounds like a festive mating display to me.

這樣我們又回到了獨角獸本身。獨角獸的角或許就是雄性用于與情敵決斗或者向潛在的配偶傳達性健康的工具。后者可能更符合公元前5世紀希臘歷史學家克特西亞斯的描述，他寫道獨角獸的角是紅色、黑色和白色組成的。這聽起來像是一個喜慶的交配展。

The other obvious possibility is that they provide a means for the unicorn to defend itself against predators, such as human hunters or its legendary rival, the lion. This at least matches up with one of the creature's most closely associated real-world counterpart: the rhinoceros.

另一個明顯的可能性是，角為獨角獸提供了一種手段來防御捕食者，如獵人或獅子。這至少與和獨角獸最密切相關的現(xiàn)實世界中的對應生物相匹配：犀牛。

The unicorns of medieval European art were a docile-looking bunch, but older texts described a more fearsome creature. First-century Roman author Pliny the Elder wrote that a unicorn could not be taken alive, and others depicted it as a creature capable of besting lions. Sometimes, it would seem, the most violently obvious guess is the most valid.

中世紀歐洲藝術中描述的獨角獸看起來很溫順，但更古老的文字卻描述了更可怕的生物。公元一世紀的羅馬作家大普林尼寫到，獨角獸不能被活捉，其他人則將其描繪為一種能夠擊敗獅子的生物。有時往往最顯而易見的猜測是最真實的。