For Weissman, this work isn't only about understanding the nuances of hyrax communication.

对魏斯曼来说，这项工作不仅仅是了理解岩蹄兔交流的细微差别。

This is a hyrax or a rock dussy.

这是一只岩蹄兔。

And up in the upper branches was a hyrax.

而在高高的树梢上，有一只岩狸。

They seemed to be looking for similarities because everybody accepted that all these hyraxes are the same.

他们似乎在寻找相似之处，因大家都认所有的树鼩都是一样的。

A lot of times, the hyrax is just busy eating leaves, and they don't even turn their heads to someone that's singing.

很时候，岩蹄兔只是忙着吃树叶，它们甚至不会把头转向唱歌的。

The high mountains belong to the wild goats; the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

高山野山羊的住所，岩番的藏处。

The hyrax, though it chews the cud, does not have a divided hoof; it is unclean for you.

番，因倒嚼不分蹄，就与你们不洁净。

Meet the rock hyrax, sometimes called the rock rabbit or the dassie, common in rocky areas of Africa and the Middle East.

来认识一下岩蹄兔，有时被称岩兔或蹄兔，常见于非洲和中东的岩地区。

The Phoenicians were no more successful, although they bequeathed a memorable nickname to posterity: I-shepan-ha, “land of hyraxes” (more familiar as Hispania).

腓尼基虽后世流传下”I-shepan-ha”，“蹄兔之地”的绰号（比Hispania更知），但也未能更胜一筹。

" We've tried to understand the meaning of all this-why a hyrax would waste time and energy and expose himself to predators by singing such a loud song."

“我们试图理解这一切的意义，什么岩蹄兔会浪费时间和精力，这么大声地唱歌，将自己暴露在捕食者面前。”

Weissman thinks that the snort crescendo, together with the increasing harshness, make the songs impossible to ignore and grabs the attention of other hyraxes—which makes sense.

Weissman 认鼻息的渐强， 加上越来越刺耳的声音，使歌曲无法忽视并引起其他蹄兔的注意——这是有道理的。

And a 2004 study similarly observed that hyraxes raised on cooked foods experienced roughly 10% less growth in facial areas involved in chewing compared to those given raw and dried foods.

2004 也有一项类似的研究，观察到用烹饪过的食物养育的蹄兔咀嚼相关的面部区域成长比例少了约 10%，这是相对于用生食和干燥食物养育的蹄兔的数字。

He believes that understanding why hyraxes sing, and how they construct their songs, could reveal something about the evolutionary origins of human speech and human music—which is no snorting matter.

他认，了解非洲蹄兔何歌唱， 以及它们如何创作歌曲，可以揭示类语言和类音乐的进化起源——这可不是小事。