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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
This is Scientific American 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.
One of the most impressive scenes in the world of birds is a peacock displaying its impressive, iridescent1 feathers, technically2 known as its train. While the female peahen l???ooks on, the peacock spreads his train out and ruffles3 it back and forth4 as the sun highlights the red, blue, and green within the feathers.
But these iconic trains are only half of the story of how the boys impress the ladies. Both male and female peafowl sport crests7 on their heads, small feathers that stick straight up, like a Mohawk.
"The crest6 feathers that actually give the peacocks' their Latin name, they're called Pavo cristatus, the crested8 pheasant. And so I was intrigued9 by the fact that people didn't really know what the function of these crests were."
Haverford College physicist10 Suzanne Kane.
A biologist might see those feathers and assume they are visual signals, but as a physicist, Kane had a different idea.
"We were curious in my laboratory about whether the preferred vibrational12 properties of the crest feathers might, by any chance, agree with the preferred vibrational properties of this train-rattling display that the males do."
So the Kane and her colleagues exposed crest feathers from preserved, dead peafowls to simulated displays of male and female social behaviors, like wing-shaking and train-rattling.
"And so we were just gobsmacked to find out that they did agree."
What all that means is that the peafowls' head crests are specifically tuned13 to the vibrations14 produced by the train-rattling of its own species. The crests thus act like a sort of special antenna15 meant to pick up a single kind of sound. The findings are in the journal PLOS ONE.
The researchers also point out that there are at least 35 other types of birds, distributed across ten taxonomic orders, that have both head crests and displays with a vibration11 component16.
"A lot of those kind of tactile17 aspects of displays are really not even very well described."
University of British Colombia zoologist18 Roz Dakin, who worked with Kane on this study.
"There are species that dance and vibrate on perches20, and you know, the female's sharing the same perch19 as the male, and feeling what's going on through parts of her body like her feet. There are species where birds rub feathers on each other... What we're suggesting here is that a sensory21 function of feathers in social displays may be more widespread than we appreciate right now."
Seems that the females really do feel something about a particular peacock.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.
![收听单词发音](/images/play.gif)
1
iridescent
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adj.彩虹色的,闪色的 | |
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2
technically
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adv.专门地,技术上地 | |
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3
ruffles
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褶裥花边( ruffle的名词复数 ) | |
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forth
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adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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rattling
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adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词 | |
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6
crest
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n.顶点;饰章;羽冠;vt.达到顶点;vi.形成浪尖 | |
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crests
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v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的第三人称单数 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
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crested
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adj.有顶饰的,有纹章的,有冠毛的v.到达山顶(或浪峰)( crest的过去式和过去分词 );到达洪峰,达到顶点 | |
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intrigued
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adj.好奇的,被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式);激起…的兴趣或好奇心;“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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10
physicist
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n.物理学家,研究物理学的人 | |
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11
vibration
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n.颤动,振动;摆动 | |
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vibrational
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adj.振动的,摇摆的 | |
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tuned
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adj.调谐的,已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 );调整;(给收音机、电视等)调谐;使协调 | |
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vibrations
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n.摆动( vibration的名词复数 );震动;感受;(偏离平衡位置的)一次性往复振动 | |
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antenna
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n.触角,触须;天线 | |
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component
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n.组成部分,成分,元件;adj.组成的,合成的 | |
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tactile
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adj.触觉的,有触觉的,能触知的 | |
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zoologist
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n.动物学家 | |
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perch
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n.栖木,高位,杆;v.栖息,就位,位于 | |
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perches
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栖息处( perch的名词复数 ); 栖枝; 高处; 鲈鱼 | |
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sensory
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adj.知觉的,感觉的,知觉器官的 | |
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