科学美国人60秒 SSS 小仓鸮通过分享来互相帮助

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

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是杰森·古德曼。

Robin¹ Hood² famously stole from the rich and gave to the poor.

罗宾汉以劫富济贫而闻名。

Young, newly hatched barn owls³ do something similar.

刚孵化小的仓鸮也会做类似的事情。

On average, barn owls raise six chicks at once—and sometimes as many as nine.

平均来说，仓鸮一次养育6只雏鸟，有时能达到9只。

But they don't all hatch at the same time, which means the older owlets are generally larger and healthier than their younger brothers and sisters.

但它们不会同时孵化所有雏鸟，也就是说年长的仓鸮通常比年幼的弟弟妹妹体型更大、身体更健康。

As long as the little owls remain in the nest, they're completely dependent on their parents for food.

只要小仓鸮还待在巢里，它们就能完全依赖父母喂食。

The problem is that the small rodents⁴ that they eat can't be split up.

问题是它们吃的小啮齿动物不能被分开。

So when Mom or Dad returns to the nest to feed their offspring, only one chick can eat a time.

因此，当仓鸮父母回到巢中喂养雏鸟时，一次只能喂一只雏鸟。

In many bird species, the oldest would simply outcompete the youngest, but barn owls are different.

在大多数鸟类中，最年长的鸟能轻松战胜最年轻的鸟，但仓鸮则不同。

Turns out the older, healthier birds sometimes donate their meals to their hungrier siblings⁶.

事实表明，年长、健康的仓鸮有时会将自已的食物捐给饥饿的兄弟姐妹。

Adults in other animals species share their food.

其它成年动物会分享食物。

"It's mainly observed when males want to reproduce with females, so there (are) many (exchanges) of food.

“这种行为主要在雄性想和雌性繁殖时能观察到，因此会有许多食物交换。

Or in primates⁷, there (are) many (exchanges) of food and grooming⁸ but only in adults."

还有灵长类动物会用食物交换梳毛，但这仅存在于成年动物之间。”

Evolutionary⁹ biologist Pauline Ducouret from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

瑞士洛桑大学的进化生物学家保林·迪库雷说到。

"And in chicks, it is really rarely observed. So it's quite impressive that in this species, there are so many cooperative behaviors."

“我们极少在雏鸟身上观察到这种行为。因此，令人印象相当深刻的是，仓鸮这一物种存在如此多的合作行为。”

She and her team wanted to know how this unique behavior evolved.

她和团队想知道这种独特行为的进化方式。

It could be explained by the direct benefits gained through cooperation, such as trading food for grooming.

这可能是因为它们可以通过合作获得直接利益，比如用食物交换梳毛。

Or it could be explained by the indirect benefits gained from helping¹⁰ others that share your genetic¹¹ heritage—also known as kin¹² selection.

或者因为它们能通过帮助有共同遗传基因的同类来获得间接利益，也就是亲缘选择。

They found that the answer was both. Younger birds groomed¹³ older ones more often than older ones groomed the youngsters.

他们发现答案是两者兼而有之。就仓鸮而言，年幼者为年长者梳毛的频率要高于年长者为年幼者梳毛的频率。

And in return, the older birds fed their younger siblings.

作为回报，年长仓鸮会喂食弟弟妹妹。

In addition, older owlets preferentially offered food to their hungriest siblings, even in the absence of grooming.

此外，即使没有梳毛作为交换，年长者仓鸮也更愿意为最饥饿的兄弟姐妹提供食物。

But food sharing only happened when the researchers artificially provisioned the owlets with extra food.

但只有当研究人员人为地为仓鸮提供额外食物时，它们才会分享食物。

So it's not that the owls risked their own survival to help their siblings.

因此，并不是说仓鸮冒着生存危险去帮助它们的兄弟姐妹。

But when there was more than enough to go around, they shared instead of hoarding¹⁴.

但是，在食物有富余时，它们就会分享，而不是贮藏。

The results are in the journal the American Naturalist¹⁵.

这项研究发表在《美国博物学家》期刊上。

Ducouret says that evolutionary biologists usually characterize sibling⁵ relationships as competitive or even antagonistic¹⁶.

迪库雷表示，进化生物学家通常认为兄弟姐妹关系是竞争性甚至是敌对的。

But remarkably¹⁷ complex examples of cooperation can still be found among animal brothers and sisters.

但在动物兄弟姐妹之间仍然可以找到非常复杂的合作例子。

Seems that even newly hatched barn owls know that sharing is caring.

似乎连刚孵出的仓鸮都知道分享就是关心。

Thanks for listening 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 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

2 hood   

n.头巾，兜帽，覆盖；v.罩上，以头巾覆盖

参考例句：

• She is wearing a red cloak with a hood.她穿着一件红色带兜帽的披风。
• The car hood was dented in.汽车的发动机罩已凹了进去。

3 owls   

n.猫头鹰( owl的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 'Clumsy fellows,'said I; 'they must still be drunk as owls.' “这些笨蛋，”我说，“他们大概还醉得像死猪一样。” 来自英汉文学 - 金银岛
• The great majority of barn owls are reared in captivity. 大多数仓鸮都是笼养的。 来自辞典例句

4 rodents   

n.啮齿目动物( rodent的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Rodents carry diseases and are generally regarded as pests. 啮齿目动物传播疾病，常被当作害虫对待。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Some wild rodents in Africa also harbor the virus. 在非洲，有些野生啮齿动物也是储毒者。 来自辞典例句

5 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

6 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

7 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。

8 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。

9 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

10 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。

11 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。

12 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。

13 groomed   

v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的过去式和过去分词 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗

参考例句：

• She is always perfectly groomed. 她总是打扮得干净利落。
• Duff is being groomed for the job of manager. 达夫正接受训练，准备当经理。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 hoarding   

n.贮藏；积蓄；临时围墙；囤积v.积蓄并储藏（某物）( hoard的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• After the war, they were shot for hoarding. 战后他们因囤积而被枪决。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Actually he had two unused ones which he was hoarding up. 其实他还藏了两片没有用呢。 来自英汉文学

15 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

16 antagonistic   

adj.敌对的

参考例句：

• He is always antagonistic towards new ideas.他对新思想总是持反对态度。
• They merely stirred in a nervous and wholly antagonistic way.他们只是神经质地，带着完全敌对情绪地骚动了一下。

17 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。