科学美国人60秒:飞蛾凭借翅膀躲避蝙蝠
日期:2019-01-25 11:57

(单词翻译:单击)

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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
If you've ever watched a moth flutter clumsily around a light on your porch, the insect might seem like a sad match for a predatory bat. The flying mammal is practically a fighter jet in comparison, with its sophisticated sonar and acrobatic maneuvers.
But some moth species have evolved high-tech tricks of their own—for example, their wings have long, dangling tails. "So that they're fluttering in space and they're twisting behind the moth as the moth flies, creating an alternative echoic target that the bat perceives as a target it can actually attack." Juliette Rubin, a sensory ecologist at Boise State University.
Rubin and her team investigated that phenomenon by experimentally altering the wings of moths. With some moths they snipped the hind wing lobes and tails. With other moths they glued on extra bits of wing. Then they tethered the differently shaped moths, one at a time, in a padded, darkened chamber...a sort of gladiatorial ring for bats on the hunt...and observed the battle with high speed video and ultrasonic microphones. (bat sonar) (By the way, that echolocating sound has been slowed down ten times so you can hear it.)

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Turns out, it was the moths with longer hind wings or wing tails that lived to fly another day... because the bats often wound up with just a mouthful of tail.
"And of course these tail ends do not have a nutritional value essentially and would not be a wise place for the bat to attack if it really wanted to capture the moth. So it seems these tail ends are attracting bat attack--we don't yet quite know the mechanism but they seem to be creating an illusion for the bat that that is another place it can attack and successfully complete its hunting behavior."
The details are in the journal Science Advances.
The researchers write that this decoy strategy has independently evolved multiple times, among different families of moths. Which suggests that this sensory illusion is a powerful tool, in the ongoing evolutionary arms race between the hunter and the hunted.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

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参考译文

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这里是科学美国人——60秒科学D)7Ec^CsmhG9V。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔YWQ7fS4D&0*N.RgOUo
如果你曾看过一只飞蛾绕着你家门廊灯飞来飞去,那这种昆虫似乎很像食肉蝙蝠的可怜猎物Dk|21%)yBfr。对比之下,蝙蝠这一飞行哺乳动物简直就是一架拥有复杂声呐和特技动作的战斗机dQl4,a*N7G%[+nLN[o|L
但有些种类的飞蛾已经进化出了自己的高科技招数,比如,它们翅膀的尾端很长而且下垂bwE[KOJ@G~-JCL。“因此,飞蛾在飞行时,它们的翅膀在空中飞舞,而且还在飞蛾身后扭动,创造出蝙蝠认为可以攻击的另一个回声目标+h]TXfaqem@b_7~T。”博伊西州立大学的感觉生态学家朱丽叶·鲁宾说到=HKTt|#6eX[kzi|F%|0d
鲁宾和团队用实验方法改变了飞蛾的翅膀,然后对这一现象进行研究9u2oCA5gxL4h+-OVKzVh。他们剪断一些飞蛾的后翅叶和尾端#PS5V+U-yaU1v。给其他飞蛾粘上额外的少量翅膀aN%W~[K0=(],5t[P。然后,他们把不同形状的飞蛾一个一个地拴在一间布满填充物的黑暗房间里,这就像是蝙蝠狩猎的角斗场,随后他们用高速视频和超声波麦克风观察这场战斗vn9igW^5HY。(蝙蝠声呐)(顺便说一下,回声速度放慢了10倍,你可以听到wz[R+;enYD69Gy。)
事实证明,那些拥有较长后翅或翅尾的飞蛾能够再活一天,因为蝙蝠通常只能吃满嘴翅尾7ZJ!nOOP8463CCi
“当然,这些翅尾没有营养价值,而且如果蝙蝠真的想抓住飞蛾,那这里不会成为蝙蝠攻击的好地方^&iIui0bk4YSFYFki5T。看起来这些翅尾似乎在吸引蝙蝠攻击,我们还不太清楚这种机制,但它们似乎在给蝙蝠制造一种错觉,让蝙蝠认为那里是可以攻击的另一个地方,并成功地完成了它的捕猎行为T0AX6;t@L|nqiVIfG4u。”
研究具体内容发表在《科学进展》期刊上6DF0r!YJ#8C1sl8fI!5r
研究人员写道,这种诈骗策略已经在不同种类的飞蛾中独立进化了多次_ZeEP@%wX*KkZ)。这说明,这种感觉上的错觉是猎人和猎物之间持续进行的军备竞赛中的一种强大工具blKse|3pqaKk2
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学wa[0AjI9SJ%。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔AFtDlo.ghh

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译文为可可英语翻译,未经授权请勿转载!

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重点讲解

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重点讲解:
1. in comparison 与…相比;与…比较而言;
The amount of carbon dioxide released by human activities such as burning coal and oil is small in comparison.
相比之下,人类活动燃烧煤、石油等所释放的二氧化碳要少一些NT.gfQ%7J=%j^|+pLe
2. perceive as 看作;视为;认为;
This discovery was perceived as a major breakthrough.
这一发现被视为一项重大突破am&1|fspF2Qzb_5z0
3. slow down (使)放慢;(使)减速;
The car slowed down as they passed Customs.
过海关的时候,车速慢了下来]xoLEewQVr!sK
4. wind up 最终沦落到;最终落得;(以…)告终;
I always said he would wind up in prison.
我以前一直说他终归要进班房i+C=Rp7V&GS+TR4bV-

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重点单词
  • evolutionaryadj. 进化的,发展的,演变的
  • capturevt. 捕获,俘获,夺取,占领,迷住,(用照片等)留存
  • essentiallyadv. 本质上,本来
  • perceivevt. 察觉,感觉,认知,理解
  • mammaln. 哺乳动物
  • multipleadj. 许多,多种多样的 n. 倍数,并联
  • comparisonn. 比较
  • sophisticatedadj. 诡辩的,久经世故的,精密的,老练的,尖端的
  • clumsilyadv. 笨拙地
  • ecologistn. 生态学家