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Manta rays are very large.They're one of the largest animals in the ocean.
蝠鲼个头很大。它们是海洋里体型最大的动物之一。
Certainly they're the largest of any of the ray species.
鲼科里它们绝对是体型最大的。
They can get up to about 25 feet across.
它们的身体可达25英尺宽。
When they come towards you and they're that size,
当它向你游来，而且是那么大的个头，
they look like an alien spacecraft as they go overhead, they actually block out the sun.
它们从你头顶游过时感觉就像过去了一座外星飞船，把太阳都挡住了。
It's just so incredible to be that close to such a large animal, especially one that you don't have to fear.
能够如此近距离地靠近那么大的动物，还是一个你不用害怕的动物，简直太不可思议了。
My name's Andrea Marshall. I'm a manta ray researcher and a marine biologist.
我叫安德莉亚·马歇尔。我是蝠鲼研究员，也是海洋生物学家。
I've been in love with the ocean all of my life.
我一直都非常喜欢海洋。
Ever since I could remember, I wanted to be a marine biologist.
从我记事起，我就想成为一名海洋生物学家。
When I moved out to Africa with the intention of studying things like great white sharks,
为了研究大白鲨等生物，我搬到了非洲，
I actually shifted my focus over to manta rays,
但实际上我开始关注起了蝠鲼，
when I realized that no one had ever done a study on manta rays before.
因为我发现还没有人研究这种生物。
One of the things that makes manta rays so special is that they're large,
蝠鲼之所以特别，原因之一在于它们体型很大，
and sometimes people feel frightened by them just because of their sheer size,
有时候人们害怕它们，仅仅是因为它们体型庞大，
but actually they're one of the most gentle animals in the entire ocean.
但实际上它们是整个海洋最温柔的动物之一。
Manta rays are very intelligent animal.
蝠鲼非常聪明。
They actually have the largest brain of any marine fish,
它们的大脑是所有海洋鱼类中容量最大的。
but one of the things that surprises me the most is just the fact that they seek out encounters with humans.
但最令我震惊的是它们会主动接近人类。
So this isn't an animal that swims away from you, this is an animal that swims to you.
所以，这是一种不仅不会从你身边游走，还会游向你的动物。
They recognize you almost as a friend.
它们当你是朋友。
Southern Mozambique is just an incredible location.
莫桑比克南部是一个不可思议的地方。
I've lived here for the last 15 years and even though I travel all over the world to do my work,
我已经在这儿住了15年，虽然我经常到世界各地去开展工作，
I enjoy coming back here because this is such a wild place. It's so exciting.
我还是很喜欢回到这里，因为这儿还是一片荒野。太刺激了。
One of the reasons I began work on mantas is because I knew that these animals were under threat.
我之所以开始研究蝠鲼是因为我意识到这种动物已经面临危险。
Recently, you know, within the last 15 to 20 years,
你知道吗，最近15到20年,
they have started to be fished for Asian tonics,
人们开始捕捞蝠鲼，用于制作滋补药品，
and as a result of this, we've seen manta populations crashing across the globe.
所以，我们看到全球的蝠鲼数量都在急剧下降。
Even here in Mozambique where we don't even have a very aggressive fishery,
即使是在捕鱼业不是那么过火的莫桑比克，
we've seen the population collapse by up to about 98% over the last 15 years.
我们也发现，过去15年里，蝠鲼数量下降的比例高达98%。
We're starting to lose them faster than we can study them.
研究蝠鲼的速度跟不上我们失去它们的速度。
So it's really important for me to get these messages across to people who don't have the opportunity to peak down into the underwater world.
所以，对我而言，把这些信息传递给那些没有机会窥见深海世界的人很重要。
