科学美国人60秒 SSS 白犀牛通过偷听确定身份

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Jason Goldman.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是杰森·古德曼。

Got a minute?

有一分钟时间吗？

Rhinos² have notoriously poor eyesight, so they mostly rely on their noses to understand the world around them.

众所周知，犀牛的视力非常差，所以它们主要依靠鼻子来了解周围的世界。

But there's one interaction in which sound plays a key role.

但有一种声音发挥关键作用的互动。

Southern white rhino¹ males can either be dominant³ or subordinate. And only the dominant males hold and defend territories.

雄性南方白犀牛可以是主导者，也可以是从属者。只有主导雄性才能守卫和保卫领土。

New research finds that they eavesdrop⁴ on the calls of other males to know who is who.

一项新研究发现，它们通过偷听其它雄性的声音来了解谁是谁。

"We found that contact calls carry information about the dominance status of the males.

“我们发现，联系叫声携带着有关雄性主导身份的信息。

It means that only by listening to the calls, you can say if the male is territorial⁵ or subordinate."

这意味着，只有通过听叫声，你才能判断这只雄性是领地性的还是从属性的。”

Ivana Cinková, a zoologist⁶ at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

南非夸祖鲁纳塔尔大学的动物学家伊万娜·辛科娃说到。

She and her team spent almost two years in South Africa's Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park recording⁷ the social contact and courtship calls of male rhinos.

她和团队在南非的赫卢赫卢韦-印姆弗鲁兹公园花了近两年时间，记录雄性犀牛的社交和求偶叫声。

Then they played those calls back to dominant territorial males and watched the responses.

之后他们将这些叫声的播放给主导领地雄性听，并观察它们的反应。

The researchers asked that the rhino calls not be included in this podcast due to the concern that poachers might use the calls to lure⁸ rhinos closer.

研究人员要求本期播客中不插入犀牛的叫声，因为他们担心偷猎者可能会利用这些叫声来引诱犀牛靠近。

Back to the reactions of the rhinos:

回到犀牛的反应：

"They started to search for the intruder the most quickly

“在播放从属犀牛叫声之后，它们开始以最快的速度寻找入侵者，

and spent the longest time searching around for the intruder after the playback of the subordinate call, which was quite surprising."

并花了最长时间四处寻找入侵者，这令人相当惊讶。”

Territorial male rhinos hold exclusive breeding opportunities with the female rhinos.

领地性雄性犀牛拥有与雌性犀牛繁育的独享机会。

Subordinate males could thus be interested in challenging the territorial male for dominance.

因此，从属雄性可能有兴趣挑战领地雄性的主导地位。

But dominant males rarely lose their territories to subordinate males, at least while they're in prime condition.

但主导雄性很少会把自已的领地输给从属雄性，至少在它们处于最佳状态时是如此。

So responding to the challenge call quickly has little cost.

因此，迅速响应挑战叫声几乎不用付出什么代价。

But other dominant rhinos theoretically pose a larger risk.

但从理论上讲，其它主导犀牛构成更大的风险。

So when territorial rhinos heard other dominant males, they oriented toward the direction of the sound. But they took their time responding.

因此，当领地犀牛听到其它主导雄性的叫声时，它们会朝向声音的方向。但它们做出回应需要时间。

The researchers think that the rhinos were being careful, waiting to acquire more information before reacting.

研究人员认为犀牛很谨慎，等到获得更多信息后才会做出回应。

And most of them did eventually investigate the source of the sound.

大多数犀牛最终会调查声音的来源。

Rhinos are always under a high risk of poaching, so parks and preserves usually keep tabs on every individual rhino they care for.

犀牛一直处于偷猎的高风险之下，因此公园和保护区通常会密切关注他们所照料的每一头犀牛。

Cinková says that understanding their social dynamics⁹ could allow wildlife managers to more effectively manage their rhino herds¹⁰,

辛科娃表示，了解它们的社交动态可以使野生动物管理者更有效地管理犀牛群，

which ultimately enables them to better guard and protect the animals from poachers—so that rhinos can keep on calling for a long, long time.

这最终使他们能够更好地守卫和保护动物免受捕猎者的伤害，这样犀牛就可以长时间地发出叫声。

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Jason Goldman.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。

1 rhino   

n.犀牛，钱, 现金

参考例句：

• The rhino charged headlong towards us.犀牛急速地向我们冲来。
• They have driven the rhino to the edge of extinction.他们已经令犀牛濒临灭绝。

2 rhinos   

n.犀牛（rhino的复数形式）

参考例句：

• There are many reports of people taming and even training Indian rhinos. 有许多关于人们驯养甚至训练印度犀牛的记载。 来自辞典例句
• The rhinos had fed during the night in the rice fields of these villagers. 犀牛夜里在这些村民的庄稼地里也已吃饱了。 来自辞典例句

3 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

4 eavesdrop   

v.偷听，倾听

参考例句：

• He ensconced himself in the closet in order to eavesdrop.他藏在壁橱里，以便偷听。
• It is not polite to eavesdrop on the conversation of other people.偷听他人说话是很不礼貌的。

5 territorial   

adj.领土的，领地的

参考例句：

• The country is fighting to preserve its territorial integrity.该国在为保持领土的完整而进行斗争。
• They were not allowed to fish in our territorial waters.不允许他们在我国领海捕鱼。

6 zoologist   

n.动物学家

参考例句：

• Charles darwin was a famous zoologist.查尔斯达尔文是一位著名的动物学家。
• The zoologist had spent a long time living with monkeys.这位动物学家与猴子一起生活了很长时间。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 lure   

n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引

参考例句：

• Life in big cities is a lure for many country boys.大城市的生活吸引着许多乡下小伙子。
• He couldn't resist the lure of money.他不能抵制金钱的诱惑。

9 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

10 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。