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Tribbles are fictional alien species in the ''Star Trek'' universe who first appeared in the episode titled "The Trouble with Tribbles". They are depicted as small, furry, soft, gentle, attractive, and slow-moving, and they usually produce a soothing purring or cooing sound when stroked, all of which are endearing traits to humans, Vulcans, and their hybrids. However, because tribbles reproduce incredibly fast, and consume exponentially larger and larger amounts of food as they multiply and crawl stealthily from one place to another, Starfleet considers them dangerous organisms and forbids their transportation. The Klingons, in whose presence tribbles produce a convulsive, shrieking reaction, go as far as to consider them "mortal enemies", as stated in the ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' episode "Trials and Tribble-ations". While appearing in only four episodes and briefly in four of the ''Star Trek'' movies, they are one of the most popular and well-known species featured in the ''Star Trek'' universe, fairly well known even to casual followers of the series. In 2006, two tribble props from "Trials and Tribble-ations" were auctioned for US $800 to $1,200.〔(On the trail of Trek Tribbles ), BBC, 5 October 2006〕 Because of their popularity, the core episodes featuring tribbles ("The Trouble with Tribbles", "Trials and Tribble-ations", and the animated "More Tribbles, More Troubles") were collected on a single laserdisc, "Triple Tribble Troubles". This was the only Star Trek laserdisc to contain episodes from multiple series. The Blu-ray boxed set of Season 2 of the show used the same selection of episodes on disk 4, with the latter 2 episodes appearing as bonus features. The expression "multiplying like tribbles" has also become commonplace in the context of science fiction or technology. A family of proteins which have a variety of roles, including involvement in the control of the cell cycle in the fruit fly, was named after these fictional animals.〔(Tribbles entry on Interactive Fly database )〕 ==Physiology== According to Star Trek canon, tribbles are native to the planet Iota Geminorum IV. They are essentially small bundles of fur with no visible external features. The fur of live-action and animated tribbles ranges from solid white to grey, speckled light to dark brown, yellow to reddish orange, and black. According to Dr. Leonard McCoy's dialogue, their only two purposes in life appear to be to eat and to reproduce, and they perform both of these functions exceptionally well. McCoy concludes that tribbles use over fifty percent of their metabolism for reproduction and that they are born pregnant. A creature that was genetically engineered to hunt tribbles is introduced in the episode of ''Star Trek the Animated Series'' "More Tribbles, More Troubles". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「tribble」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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