也许您听说过这种神秘的微生物，它在被压扁、冷冻、煮沸后依然能活下来，它还能在外太空真空中生存。Perhaps you’ve heard of the mysterious, microscopic animals that can survive being crushed, frozen, boiled and subjected to the vacuum of outer space.
缓步动物，俗称水熊虫，是一种极小的、几乎无坚不摧的生物，它有八条短而粗的腿和鼻子。全球各地都有它们的身影，它们会游弋在潮湿的苔藓间或是砂粒间的毛细管水中。水干掉后，它们会回归到一种半死半活状态，这种生存机制连科学家也感到吃惊。
Tardigrades, better known as water bears, are tiny, nearly indestructible creatures with eight pudgy legs and snouts. They’re found around the globe, swimming in pockets of wet moss or in the capillary water between grains of sand. When the water dries up, they retreat into a semi-animate state – a survival mechanism that amazes scientists.
生物学家、夏威夷土著文化从业者萨姆·哥恩三世（Sam Gon III）在 1980 年代就开始寻找这种不足一毫米大的奇珍异宝。他的搜索范围包括海勒卡拉国家公园（Haleakalā National Park）长满苔藓和地衣的熔岩平原。海勒卡拉国家公园位于夏威夷茂宜岛（Maui）高达 10,023 英尺的火山顶上，白天日光暴晒，夜间温度却能降到冰点。 在这个风刮日晒的山顶上，几乎没有食物和遮盖，也没有什么生命形态可以生长，但是，哥恩发现，这里却是缓步动物的完美栖息地。他在 50 平方英里范围内就发现了 31 个不同的物种。
Sam Gon III, a biologist and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioner, began hunting these smaller than 1mm curiosities in the 1980s. His search plot included the moss and lichen-covered lava plains ofHaleakalā National Park. Sitting atop a 10,023ft volcano on the island of Maui, the park is subject to intense solar radiation during the day and freezing temperatures at night. Few life forms thrive on this windblown summit, which offers little in the way of food or shelter. But, as Gon discovered, it’s a perfect habitat for tardigrades. He found 31 distinct species in just 50 sq miles.
哥恩说，“海勒卡拉是地球上缓步动物最为丰富的地方。它是体现缓步动物生物多样性的核心地带。”
“Haleakalā is the single richest place on Earth for tardigrades,” said Gon. “It’s the heart of tardigrade biodiversity.”
也只有这位夏威夷科学家才能发现这种依赖水的、隐匿的微小动物了。哥恩的中间名是‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a ，意思是“解除名为‘ōhi’的树木的干渴的雾”。夏威夷人有成百上千的名称形容各种雾和雨，哥恩中间名中的这种雾可在海勒卡拉国家公园见到，他对这片荒野了如指掌。
It’s only fitting that the Hawaiian scientist found this cache of wee, water-dependent animals. His middle name, ‘Ohukani‘ōhi‘a, means “the mist that quenches the thirst of the ‘ōhi‘a tree”. Hawaiians have hundreds of names for individual mists and rains, and the particular mist that Gon is named for can be found within Haleakalā National Park, a wilderness he knows well.
哥恩说，“在这里研究昆虫学，就必须趴在地上花费大量时间。”
“To do entomology in this place, you have to spend a long time lying on the ground,” Gon said.
1970 年代后期，这位生物学家开始频繁去山顶，目的是研究海勒卡拉另一种迷人的物种——夏威夷笑脸蜘蛛。在研究这种嫩黄色蜘蛛的间隙，他也观察稀有植物，剔除入侵物种。为庆祝自己最终获得博士学位，他进行了一次为期三天的背包旅行庆祝。在此期间，他穿越了海勒卡拉风景如画的火山口。就是在这次旅行中，他采集到了缓步动物。
The biologist began frequenting the mountaintop in the late 1970s, when he was researching another of Haleakalā’s fascinating inhabitants – the Hawaiian happy face spider. Between surveys of the bright yellow arachnids, he helped park staff build fences, monitor rare plants and remove invasive species. And when he finally earned his PhD, he celebrated with a three-day backpacking trip through Haleakalā’s picturesque crater. It was on that trip that he collected the tardigrades.
哥恩是一位亲切友善、充满无穷热情的思想家，他对西方科学知识和夏威夷本土知识兼收并蓄。在进入一个被视为神圣的地区（如海勒卡拉火山顶）前，他会遵从夏威夷的传统仪式。他会在洪亮的唱诵声中宣告此行的目的，并请求祖先和大自然的恩准。他说，“这是你对这个地方表达感谢之情，你来到个地方不能仅仅出于心血来潮。”
Gon is an amiable, endlessly enthusiastic thinker who draws equally from his western scientific training and his indigenous Hawaiian lineage. Before he enters a place that’s considered sacred – such as the summit of Haleakalā – he practices traditional Hawaiian protocols. Chanting in a resonant voice, he announces the intention for his visit and asks for permission from his ancestors and the natural elements. “It’s an acknowledgement that the place you’re going to isn’t just somewhere you go on a whim,” he said.
过去，鲜有夏威夷人来这个高海拔王国，他们即便来也总有特殊的使命。他们会从海勒卡拉斜坡上山，采集鸟羽毛做披风，劈石头用来制作工具和柔软丝滑的褐色塔芙丝纤维，后者用于制作床上用品。 哥恩的先辈们曾逡巡在火山口的焦渣路上，他们或赤脚或穿着原生植物编织的草鞋。哥恩最近改造了一双这种草鞋，以便能近似于赤脚行走，但他徒步时通常会穿着 Vibram 五指鞋。
Hawaiians of the past journeyed to this high-altitude realm rarely, and always with a specific purpose. They hiked up the slope of Haleakalā to collect bird feathers for capes, adze stones for carving tools and soft fern hulu – silky brown tufts of fibre – for bedding. Gon’s predecessors navigated the volcanic crater’s cinder paths barefoot or in braided sandals woven out of native plants. Gon recently recreated a pair of these sandals, though he usually hikes in five-fingered Vibram shoes – his approximation of bare feet.
在研究中，他几乎踏遍这个国家公园的每一寸土地。他知道哪儿有蜘蛛出没，哪儿长着当地的苦艾，他也知道黎明时分天空的样子，那时，太阳升起，慢慢在圆形的山顶上洒满金色的光辉。他发现了大多数人们眼中死气沉沉、缺乏生机的缓步动物：它们藏身于荆棘丛生的火山熔岩上长满的成片灰色砂藓上。他的感觉也上升到大自然和精神层面。据哥恩说，Hō‘ailona (符号) 在我们周围如影随形。”
He’s explored just about every inch of the park’s wild interior. He knows where the spiders hang out, where the endemic wormwood grows and what the sky looks like at dawn, when the sun slowly fills the summit’s round bowl with golden light. He found the tardigrades in a landscape most people would assume was devoid of life: in patches of grey Racomitrium moss growing on prickly ‘a‘a lava rocks. His senses are tuned to the natural and spiritual world. According to Gon, “Hō‘ailona (signs) are around us all the time.”
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