科学美国人60秒 濒临灭绝鸟儿忘记了自己的叫声

Some birds are relatively¹ easy to study. Ross Crates² studies the ones that aren’t. He’s part of the Difficult Bird Research Group at the Australian National University.

有些鸟类比较容易研究。罗斯·克拉茨研究的是那些不易研究的鸟类。克拉茨是澳大利亚国立大学难鸟研究小组的成员。

“All our study species are quite challenging to study for various reasons, mostly because they’re really rare and highly mobile.”

由于各种原因，我们所有的研究物种都非常具有挑战性，主要是因为它们非常稀少，而且高度流动性。”

One of those “difficult birds” is the critically endangered regent honeyeater. They’re medium-sized songbirds—with bright yellow tails and black-and-white chests. And though they once roamed Australia in flocks of hundreds, fewer than 300 remain in the wild today.

其中一种“难对付的鸟类”是极度濒危的王吸蜜鸟。它们是中型的鸣禽，有亮黄色的尾巴和黑白相间的胸脯。虽然它们曾经数百只成群在澳大利亚游荡，但如今仍存活在野外的不到300只。

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Crates and his team tracked the birds over a five-year period. If they encountered a male, they’d record his song.

克拉茨和他的团队在5年的时间里追踪了这些鸟。如果遇到一只雄性，就会录下它的歌声。

[CLIP: Proper song]

And they noted³ whether the males were paired up with females.

他们注意到这些雄性是否与雌性配对。

They found that a quarter of the birds sangvariationsof the traditional honeyeater song. And 12 percent of the birds weren’t singing honeyeater songs at all. They were parroting different species’ songs—like this ...

他们发现，四分之一的鸟会发出不同形式的传统的蜜鸟叫声。还有12%的鸟儿根本不唱蜜鸟的歌。它们在鹦鹉学舌地模仿不同物种的叫声——就像这样……

[CLIP: Little friarbird]

... or this.

或者这样。

[CLIP: Little wattlebird]

That could mean bad news for the birds’ future—because males singing those untraditional songs were also less likely to be paired up with a mate, compared to their counterparts who sang the standard tune⁴.

这对鸟儿的未来来说可能是个坏消息——因为与那些唱标准曲调的鸟儿相比，唱那些非传统歌曲的雄性鸟儿也不太可能找到配偶。

“As females breed less, then there’s obviously fewer males in that generation to teach the next generation. A higher proportion of males sing weird⁵ songs. And you get a bit of a positive feedback toward extinction⁶.”

“随着雌性繁殖的减少，用来教育下一代的雄性就明显减少了。”更大比例的雄性会唱奇怪的歌。物种灭绝，你会得到一些积极反馈。”

The work appears in the Proceedings⁷ of the Royal Society B.

这项研究发表在《英国皇家学会学报B》上。

Crates says the honeyeaters’ loss of songs equates⁸ to a loss of culture.

拉茨说，这些鸟失去了歌声就等于失去了文化。

“It’s a complete sort of, you know, animal equivalent of the loss of Indigenous⁹ languages, whether that be Native American languages or Aboriginal¹⁰ Australian languages here.”

这就相当于动物失去了自己的本土语言，无论是本土梅雨还是土著澳大利亚语。

He says he hopes it serves as a warning that all is not well in Australia’s natural world—and that we must do more to tackle climate change and conservation if we hope to save it.

克拉茨表示，他希望这项研究并不只是适用于澳大利亚——如果想解决这个问题，以应对气候变化、保护物种，我们必须作出更多努力。

1 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

2 crates   

n. 板条箱, 篓子, 旧汽车 vt. 装进纸条箱

参考例句：

• We were using crates as seats. 我们用大木箱作为座位。
• Thousands of crates compacted in a warehouse. 数以千计的板条箱堆放在仓库里。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 extinction   

n.熄灭，消亡，消灭，灭绝，绝种

参考例句：

• The plant is now in danger of extinction.这种植物现在有绝种的危险。
• The island's way of life is doomed to extinction.这个岛上的生活方式注定要消失。

7 proceedings   

n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报

参考例句：

• He was released on bail pending committal proceedings. 他交保获释正在候审。
• to initiate legal proceedings against sb 对某人提起诉讼

8 equates   

v.认为某事物（与另一事物）相等或相仿( equate的第三人称单数 )；相当于；等于；把（一事物） 和（另一事物）等同看待

参考例句：

• He equates success with material wealth. 他认为成功等同于物质财富。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This equates to increased and vigor, better sleep and sharper mental acuity. 也就是说可以起到增强活力，改善睡眠，提高心智的作用。 来自互联网

9 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

10 aboriginal   

adj.（指动植物）土生的，原产地的，土著的

参考例句：

• They managed to wipe out the entire aboriginal population.他们终于把那些土著人全部消灭了。
• The lndians are the aboriginal Americans.印第安人是美国的土著人。