科学美国人60秒 猴子被惹怒会报复入侵者

Don’t mess with a monkey. Because if you do, he’s might take revenge—on your family and friends. That’s according to a study of Japanese macaques, which shows that monkeys keep track of each’s others’ associates and make use of that intel when it comes time for payback. The findings are in the Royal Society journal Open Science.

别惹猴子。因为如果你这样做，它会报复——你的家人和朋友。这是根据对日本猕猴的一项研究，研究表明猴子会和自己的伙伴保持联系，它们会在“回报”的时候利用这个社交网络。该研究结果发表在英国皇家协会《开放科学》杂志上。

Researchers were interested in the question of how primates¹ suss out social relationships, knowledge that can come in handy for maneuvering² within a complex society. To assess how the macaques obtain and make use of such social know-how³, the researchers decided⁴ to focus on episodes of aggression⁵—a common feature of simian⁶ interactions.

研究人员感兴趣的是这些灵长类动物是如何发现这种社会关系，同时如何在复杂的关系中利用这种关系。为了评估猕猴是如何利用这些社会知识，研究人员决定将集中研究它们的侵略行为——这是猴子互动的共同特征。

They went through more than 500 hours of video recordings⁷ showing the exchanges that took place in a group of 57 macaques living in the Rome Zoo—monkeys whose genealogical relationships are well known. And they parsed⁸ some 15,000 episodes of aggression, noting the relationships among the individuals involved.

他们用摄像记录了500多个小时的视频，视频显示了生活在罗马动物园的57只猕猴之间的交流——并且已经事先知道这些猴子之间的系谱关系。研究人员分析了15000次的侵略行为，并指出了哪些行为涉及的是个体的关系。

First, they confirmed that monkeys that find themselves at the receiving end of aggression tend to turn around and take it out on a third party. And that retaliation⁹ is often directed at a relative of the original aggressor.

首先，研究人员证实，发现自己在侵略行为终端的猴子，会反过来报复第三方，报复通常针对的是一个相对原始的侵略者。

But how do the monkeys determine who’s kin¹⁰? Well, one way would be that they’ve been around long enough to have watched each other grow up. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. When researchers looked specifically at conflicts involving older monkeys, it didn’t seem that relatives were singled out for revenge.

但是，猴子是如何决定谁是亲戚的呢?其中的一种方式是它们在周围花费了很长的时间观察彼此的成长。但是似乎事实并不是如此。当研究人员观察较年长的猴子之间发的冲突，他们发现，似乎亲戚没有被报复了。

What does seem to be true is that victims will target their attacker’s associates—the other monkeys he hangs around with. If they’re not his relatives, they’re probably his cronies. So, close enough.

难道受害者会把报复之手伸向袭击者的伙伴——和它一起玩耍的猴子。即使这些猴子不是袭击者的亲属，但是它们可能是它的亲信。所以，关系足够密切，都会被报复。

Interestingly, there’s a benefit to hitting family members when you’re meting¹¹ out justice. Macaques that sought out the kin of the monkeys they wanted to settle a score with were less likely to be picked on again in the future. Whereas wailing¹² on the friends appeared to offer only present satisfaction, but no such future protection.

有趣的是，当你在伸张正义，攻击袭击者的家庭成员时，还有一个好处。寻找亲人的猕猴会报复以后不会成为报复对象的亲人。但是哭泣的朋友似乎只能得到现有的满意感，但是不能得到未来的保护。

Which suggests if you’re gonna beat on someone for payback, it should at least be a monkey’s uncle.

这意味着如果你要报复某只猴子的时候,它至少应该是一只猴子的叔叔。

1 primates   

primate的复数

参考例句：

• Primates are alert, inquisitive animals. 灵长目动物是机灵、好奇的动物。
• Consciousness or cerebration has been said to have emerged in the evolution of higher primates. 据说意识或思考在较高级灵长类的进化中已出现。

2 maneuvering   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• This Manstein did, with some brilliant maneuvering under the worse winter conditions. 曼施坦因在最恶劣的严冬条件下，出色地施展了灵活机动的战术，终于完成了任务。 来自辞典例句
• In short, large goals required farsighted policies, not tactical maneuvering. 一句话，大的目标需要有高瞻远瞩的政策，玩弄策略是不行的。 来自辞典例句

3 know-how   

n.知识；技术；诀窍

参考例句：

• He hasn't got the know-how to run a farm.他没有经营农场的专业知识。
• I don't have much know-how about engines.发动机方面的技术知识我知之甚少。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 simian   

adj.似猿猴的；n.类人猿，猴

参考例句：

• Ada had a wrinkled,simian face.埃达有一张布满皱纹、长得像猿猴的脸。
• Curiosity is the taproot of an intellectual life,the most valuable of our simian traits.好奇是高智生命的根源，也是我们类人猿特征中最有价值的部分。

7 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

8 parsed   

v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• You should never assume any of the scripts being parsed are valid. 你绝不能假设所有的脚本都正确的解释。 来自互联网
• All text in an XML document will be parsed by the parser. XML文档中的所有文本都会被解析器解析。 来自互联网

9 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 kin   

n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的

参考例句：

• He comes of good kin.他出身好。
• She has gone to live with her husband's kin.她住到丈夫的亲戚家里去了。

11 meting   

v.（对某人）施以，给予（处罚等）( mete的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The manager was strict and fair in meting out rewards and punishments. 经理赏罚严明。 来自互联网
• Doris Crockford. Mr. Potter. I can't believe I'm meting you at last. 我叫桃瑞丝。韦斯莱。波特先生。我真不敢相信，总算见到您了。 来自互联网

12 wailing   

v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱

参考例句：

• A police car raced past with its siren wailing. 一辆警车鸣着警报器飞驰而过。
• The little girl was wailing miserably. 那小女孩难过得号啕大哭。