科学美国人60秒 SSS 叫声洪亮的白钟雀（在线收听）

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Eliene Augenbraun.

这里是科学美国人――60秒科学系列，我是艾琳·奥根布劳恩。

(CLIP: Loud bird call)

（音频剪辑：洪亮的鸟鸣声）

That incredibly loud song soaring over the quieter birds in the Amazon rain forest belongs to the male white bellbird. At 125 decibels, his short but startling songs are louder than a jackhammer.

这个盖过亚马逊雨林中较安静鸟儿的极洪亮鸣叫声，是雄性白钟雀发出的声音。125分贝，它那短促但惊人的歌声比手提钻的声音还大。

"The white bellbird may be the loudest bird in the world. These birds are making extraordinarily loud noises. Noises that are so loud, they would be harmful to our hearing if you had to hear them up close."

“白钟雀可能是世界上叫声最大的鸟。这些鸟正在发出极其响亮的噪声。噪声大到，如果你不得不近距离听，那你的听力受到损害。”

Mario Cohn-Haft, curator of birds at Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amaz?nia. He and his colleague Jeffrey Podos recorded the birds in their natural habitat. Their findings are in the journal Current Biology.

亚马逊国家研究所的鸟类负责人马里奥·科恩·哈夫特说到。他和同事杰弗里·波多斯在白钟雀的自然栖息地记录了它们的叫声。他们的研究发表在《当代生物学》期刊上。

Birds like the kakapo and the Moluccan cockatoo have also laid claim to the loudness title. But the researchers think the new study has better instrumentation and data than most studies previously published in the scientific literature.

尖叫鹦鹉和摩鹿加凤头鹦鹉等鸟也曾获得“叫声嘹亮”的称号。但研究人员认为，这项新研究的仪器和数据比之前发表在科学文献上的大多数研究都要好。

"Loud sounds are usually for long-distance communication. And then, when the listener... there was the potential listener, is up close, the volume is dropped way back down... so that nobody needs to call a lot of attention to themselves or blow out his hearing. But in the case of the white bellbird, the opposite seems to be true. The loudest sound they make is actually reserved for courting a female. When the female comes in close, they just switch to their loudest sound and do it right in her face."

“响亮的声音通常用于远距离通信。当潜在聆听者靠近时，音量就会大大降低，这样就不需要耗费太多精力，也不会损害听力。但白钟雀的情况似乎恰恰相反。它们发出的最响亮叫声实际上是为了向雌性求爱。当雌鸟靠近时，它们会切换到最大音量，在雌性面前大叫。”

The male displays another feature—an extendable wattle. It looks like a worm hanging from above the bird's beak.

雄鸟还展示了另一特征——可延长长的囊肉。看起来就像一条虫子悬在鸟喙上方。

"When they do their loudest song, which is this fast, two-note 'bong bong' that they do, the first bong looking away from the female with their back to her. And then swing around right into her face with that second note. And that wattle whips around, and I suspect that if she were too close, she would get it in the face."

“当雄性用最大声音唱歌时——就是这两个短促的‘嘡嘡’声——它们唱第一声时会把脸转过去，背对着雌性。唱第二声时再把脸转到雌性面前。肉囊也会猛甩过来，我想如果雌性靠得太近，肉囊会直接拍到它脸上。”

Most birds have paper-thin abdominal muscles. But the half-pound bellbird, roughly the size of a common city pigeon...

大多数鸟都有一层薄薄的腹肌。但半磅重、体型大概如普通城市鸽子的白钟雀……

"...had a washboard stomach—this incredible thick set of muscles rippling all along its abdomen."

“有着洗衣板一般的胃，那是沿着整个腹部排列的一组极厚肌肉。”

The powerful muscles provide lots of singing power. But the mating song is short and sweet...

这些强壮的肌肉提供了大量唱歌的能量。但求偶叫声短促而甜蜜……

(Clip: Bong bong)

(音频剪辑：嘡嘡声)

...because:

……因为：

"A very loud sound like that has to be really short for the bird to be able to do it at all."

“这种响亮的声音就得短促，这样鸟儿才能发出声来。”

For Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Eliene Augenbraun.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是艾琳·奥根布劳恩。