科學圖說

險境即搖籃(Odd Nursery)

在馬來西亞砂拉越之庫巴國家公園的每個夜晚，我們都在著名的蛙池搜尋。
在嚮導的帶領下，終於在林下落葉層中，找到世界最小的蛙—豬籠草姬蛙。
最令人激動的是，還看到了一對正在交配，二隻豌豆大的小傢伙溫柔地抱在一起，晶瑩剔透，宛若朱玉，溫馨又可愛。
次日夜晚，在同一地點的瓶狀豬籠草捕蟲籠裡，發現了豬籠草姬蛙的寶寶。
捕食昆蟲的陷阱，竟然變成了育兒室！芝麻大半透明的蝌蚪，悠然在捕蟲籠的溶液裡暢遊，有幾隻已經長著後腿。大自然的精妙絕倫，真是超乎想像。

Every night, when we were in Kubah National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia, we would explore Natural Frog Pond. With our local guide, we came across the world’s smallest frog, the Matang narrow-mouthed frog (Microhyla borneensis), among leaves on the forest floor. What was most exciting is that we discovered a mating pair. Two frogs, each the size of a pea, were in a glimmering, gentle embrace. It was a warm and lovely scene. The next night, in the same area, we found tadpoles of Microhyla borneensis inside a tropical pitcher plant (Nepenthes ampullaria). This insect-catching plant had become a nursery! The semi-transparent tadpoles, each the size of a sesame seed, were swimming in fluid inside the pitcher cup. Several of them had developed hind legs. The unrivaled ingenuity of nature is beyond our imagination.