科学美国人60秒 SSS 黑猩猩为什么把昆虫涂在伤口上？

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

Chimpanzees can make tools, they display emotions, and they can outfox humans at certain memory games.

黑猩猩能制造工具，能表达情感，还能在某些记忆游戏中战胜人类。

But chimps¹ also resemble us in another way—they use medicine.

但黑猩猩与人类还有另一种相似之处——它们会使用药物。

They're known to eat tough leaves and bitter plants to purge² parasites³ from their guts⁴.

众所周知，黑猩猩以坚硬的叶子和苦涩的植物为食，以清除肠道中的寄生虫。

Now researchers have observed chimps applying a never-before-seen type of treatment—they snatched flying insects, and applied⁵ them to their wounds.

现在，研究人员观察到黑猩猩使用了一种前所未有的治疗方法——它们抓取飞虫，并将其涂在伤口上。

You can see this happening in a video they filmed at Loango National Park, in Central Africa.

他们在中非的卢安戈国家公园拍摄了一段视频，你可以从视频里看到这一切的发生。

Suzee is sitting up.

苏茜坐起来了。

And she's catching⁶ something from under a bush.

她从灌木下抓住了什么东西。

She's putting it between her lips. She seems to press it.

她把它放在她的嘴唇之间。她似乎在按压它。

And then she's grabbing the foot of her son with a wound, and then she is applying the insect to the wound.

然后她抓住她儿子受伤的脚，然后把虫子敷在伤口上。

Simone Pika is a cognitive⁷ biologist at the University of Osnabrück, in Germany.

西蒙娜·皮卡是德国奥斯纳布鲁克大学的认知生物学家。

And part of the team that studies these chimps.

她也是研究这些黑猩猩团队中的一员。

She says it's possible the insects have antibacterial or soothing⁸ qualities—but this could also be a cultural practice. With no medical benefit at all.

她表示，这种昆虫可能具有抗菌或舒缓的特性，但这也可能是一种文化习俗。没有任何医疗好处。

Maybe an individual just found out that it's intriguing⁹, I get a lot of attention, others come, I get some grooming¹⁰ ... and so it just resulted into a social behavior.

也许某只黑猩猩只是发现这很有趣，得到了很多关注，其他黑猩猩来了，得到了一些训练…… 这就导致了一种社会行为。

After all, Pika points out that humans perform plenty of rituals, with no obvious function.

毕竟，皮卡指出，人类有很多仪式，但却没有明显的功能。

Her team reported their findings in the journal Current Biology.

她的团队在《当代生物学》杂志上发表了他们的发现。

And they write that this could be an example of what's called "prosocial behavior."

他们写道，这可能是所谓的“亲社会行为”的一个例子。

They help each other and it's not just a mother helping¹¹ her offspring and it's not somebody helping somebody to increase genetic¹² benefits, but it's also individuals who are not related to each other.

它们互相帮助，不仅仅是母亲帮助后代，也不只是某只黑猩猩帮助某只黑猩猩来增加遗传效益，也有彼此没有关系的黑猩猩个体。

As for those insects?

至于那些昆虫呢?

The team has not yet identified any remains¹³.

该团队尚未确认任何昆虫遗骸的身份。

Because it's probably very very tiny pieces and we are primatologists.

因为昆虫碎片可能很小，而我们是灵长类动物学家。

But now we have talked to entomologists and have an idea of how to find even smallest remains, and then there are also techniques to then identify the species.

但现在我们已经和昆虫学家谈过了，知道如何找到哪怕是最小的昆虫遗骸，也有了鉴定物种的技术。

If they do—they'll be able to learn more about what function this practice might have, if any.

如果他们鉴定出了昆虫物种，将能够更多地了解这种做法可能有什么功能，如果有的话。

And perhaps we humans will be able to learn some medicinal tricks from our primate¹⁴ cousins.

也许我们人类能够从我们的灵长类表亲那里学到一些医学技巧。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

1 chimps   

（非洲）黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少，也太接近于人类，不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
• And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类，就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

2 purge   

n.整肃，清除，泻药，净化；vt.净化，清除，摆脱；vi.清除，通便，腹泻，变得清洁

参考例句：

• The new president carried out a purge of disloyal army officers.新总统对不忠诚的军官进行了清洗。
• The mayoral candidate has promised to purge the police department.市长候选人答应清洗警察部门。

3 parasites   

寄生物( parasite的名词复数 )； 靠他人为生的人； 诸虫

参考例句：

• These symptoms may be referable to virus infection rather than parasites. 这些症状也许是由病毒感染引起的，而与寄生虫无关。
• Kangaroos harbor a vast range of parasites. 袋鼠身上有各种各样的寄生虫。

4 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

7 cognitive   

adj.认知的，认识的，有感知的

参考例句：

• As children grow older,their cognitive processes become sharper.孩子们越长越大，他们的认知过程变得更为敏锐。
• The cognitive psychologist is like the tinker who wants to know how a clock works.认知心理学者倒很像一个需要通晓钟表如何运转的钟表修理匠。

8 soothing   

adj.慰藉的；使人宽心的；镇静的

参考例句：

• Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
• His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。

9 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 grooming   

n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发

参考例句：

• You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
• We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

12 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

13 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

14 primate   

n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的

参考例句：

• 14 percent of primate species are highly endangered.14%的灵长类物种处于高度濒危状态。
• The woolly spider monkey is the largest primate in the Americas.绒毛蛛猴是美洲最大的灵长类动物。