沙漠 14

The pollen and nectar with which these flowers are loaded attract long-nosed and long-tongued bats. The bats left Mexico a few days earlier to escape the heat of summer and are on their way north to the southern United States. To get there, they have to cross the Sonoran desert. But the desert is so big that for most of the year they would be unable to cross it. Now, with the saguaro in bloom, they can refuel on the way. So the saguaro's success in developing a way to store water is now crucial to most of the animals that live or even travel through this land. The scarcity of rain determined the shape of this icon of the desert but water, scarce though it is, has also, like the wind, shaped the land itself.

它的花朵上的花粉和花蜜，吸引了当地的长舌蝠和长吻蝠，这些蝙蝠几天前离开墨西哥，以躲避那里的高温，现在正在前往美洲北部的途中，为此它们必须穿过这片沙漠，但是这个沙漠太大，一年中的其它时间它们无法飞过，有了开花的巨人柱，它们就可以途中补充食物，所以，巨人柱进化出的成功储水方式，对于绝大多数生活在这里，甚至是路过这里的动物至关重要，雨水稀少，决定了这些沙漠植物的形状，同样，风一样也是决定地表外形的因素。