(单词翻译:单击)
Beetle Busts Brood's Begging By Biting
甲壳虫吃掉乞求食物的幼虫
A baby's cries for food might drive a tired parent to aggravation. But some species take more drastic measures. Like the burying beetle, Nicrophorus vespilloides—which punishes its pesky children by eating them.
孩子索要食物的哭声会使得疲惫的父母更加疲惫。但是有些物种采取更激烈的措施。比如说甲壳虫，它们会吃掉自己讨厌的孩子。
Researchers wanted to get to the bottom of an age-old question in evolutionary biology: the origin of begging. Natural selection favors a greedy, well-fed child. But it also favors parents who dole out food evenly to their young, and save some for themselves.
研究人员希望得到进化生物学中一个古老问题的答案：乞讨的来源。自然选择偏爱贪婪，吃的很好的孩子。但是也偏爱将食物平均分给孩子和自己的父母。
So how do you resolve that parent-child conflict? Burying beetles do so by putting the ultimate price on pleading: death. Begging larvae were 13 times more likely than laid-back larvae to be eaten by mom. Which may discourage them from asking for more than their fair share of the grub. That finding appears in the journal Behavioral Ecology.
那么，亲子冲突怎么解决呢？甲壳虫通过恳求的最高代价，死亡，来解决这个问题。乞讨幼虫比无忧无虑的幼虫被母亲吃掉的可能性高13倍。这会让它们放弃索要超出平均值的食物量。这一发现发表在《行为生态学》杂志上。
Humans have different standards than beetles do, of course. For us, pestering your parents may be a good thing. One study suggests crying is a sign of good health, which might lower a baby's chances of being neglected or abused. Then again, after those first few years, you're probably better off not being a crybaby.
当然，人类跟甲虫有不同的标准。对我们来说，缠着父母可能是一件好事。一项研究表明，哭泣时健康的一个迹象，会降低婴儿被忽视或者虐待的机会。但是，话又说回来，过了幼儿时期，你最好不要再哭了。
—Christopher Intagliata
