科学美国人60秒 黑猩猩将昆虫涂在伤口上（在线收听）

  Chimps Apply Insects to their Wounds

黑猩猩将昆虫涂在伤口上

Christopher Intagliata: Chimpanzees can make tools, they display emotions, and they can outfox humans at certain memory games. But chimps also resemble us in another way—they use medicine. They're known to eat tough leaves and bitter plants to purge parasites from their guts.

Christopher Intagliata：黑猩猩可以制造工具，表达情感，并且在某些记忆游戏中可以胜过人类。 但黑猩猩在另一个方面也与我们相似——它们使用药物。 众所周知，它们会吃坚硬的叶子和苦涩的植物来清除肠道中的寄生虫。

Now researchers have observed chimps applying a never-before-seen type of treatment—snatching flying insects, and applying them to their wounds. You can see this happening in a video they filmed at Loango National Park, in Central Africa.

现在，研究人员观察到黑猩猩采用了一种前所未见的治疗方法——捕捉飞虫，并将它们涂在伤口上。 你可以在他们在中非 Loango 国家公园拍摄的视频中看到这一点。

Simone Pika: Suddenly Suzee is sitting up. She's catching something from under a bush, she's putting it between her lips, she seems to press it. And then she's grabbing the foot of her son with a wound, and then is applying the insect to the wound.

Simone Pika：突然 Suzee 坐了起来。 她从灌木丛下抓起什么东西，她把它放在嘴唇之间，她似乎在按它。 然后她抓住儿子受伤的脚，然后将昆虫涂抹在伤口上。

Intagliata: Simone Pika is a cognitive biologist at the University of Osnabrück, in Germany. And part of the team that studies these chimps.She says it's possible the insects have antibacterial or soothing qualities—but this could also be a cultural practice. With no medical benefit at all.

Intagliata：Simone Pika 是德国奥斯纳布吕克大学的认知生物学家。 以及研究这些黑猩猩的团队的一部分。她说这些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。 根本没有医疗福利。

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

皮卡：也许有人刚刚发现这很有趣，我得到了很多关注，其他人来了，我得到了一些修饰......所以它只是导致了一种社交行为。

Intagliata: After all, Pika points out that humans perform plenty of rituals, with no obvious function. Her team reported their findings in the journal Current Biology. [Alessandra Mascaro et al, Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild]And they write that this could be an example of what's called "prosocial behavior."

Intagliata：毕竟，鼠兔指出人类进行了大量的仪式，没有明显的功能。 她的团队在《当代生物学》杂志上报告了他们的发现。 他们写道，这可能是所谓的“亲社会行为”的一个例子。

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

皮卡：他们互相帮助，不仅仅是母亲帮助她的后代，也不是某人帮助某人增加遗传益处，而是彼此无关的个体。

Intagliata: As for those insects? The team has not yet identified any remains.

Pika: Because it's tiny pieces and we are primatologists. 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.

Intagliata：那些昆虫呢？ 该小组尚未发现任何遗体。

皮卡：因为它很小，而且我们是灵长类动物学家。 但现在我们已经与昆虫学家交谈，并且对如何找到最小的遗骸有了一个想法，然后还有识别物种的技术。

Intagliata: If they do—they'll be able to learn more about what function this practice might have, if any. And perhaps we humans will be able to learn some medicinal tricks from our primate cousins.

Intagliata：如果他们这样做了，他们将能够更多地了解这种做法可能具有的功能（如果有的话）。 也许我们人类将能够从我们的灵长类表亲那里学到一些药用技巧。