動物世界當中的十大奇葩瘋狂事(下)

hed Dolphins And Whales

5.擱淺的海豚和鯨魚

In 2009, a group of false killer whales stranded themselves on a beach in South Africa. There were 55 individuals, and rescuers attempted to help them back into the water. But as soon as the rescuers had pushed the massive creatures back into the water, they forced their way up on shore again. The beaching started in the morning, and by the afternoon, it was decided that the most humane thing to do to the whales was to euthanize them.

2009年，一羣擬虎鯨擱淺在南非的沙灘上。這羣擬虎鯨總共有55頭，施救人員正嘗試着幫助它們重新返回大海。當救援人員剛把這羣龐然大物推向水中的時候，它們卻又奮力地游回了岸邊。擱淺從早上就開始了，一直到下午前，救援人員才決定最佳的救援方案就是讓它們安樂死。

There are many stories about mass whale and dolphin beachings linked to military activity, sonar, underwater noise caused by shipping vessels, and even pollution. While that all might have something to do with it, the behavior dates back to well before the advent of any of these human innovations. There are records of mass beaching events in New England not long after the first European settlers arrived, and even Aristotle recorded instances of marine animals beaching themselves. It all seems to suggest that while it might be something that's aggravated by modern technologies like sonar, it might also be a natural behavior—and that makes no sense. It's possible that sick animals beach themselves to die, but that doesn't entirely explain why huge populations strand themselves all at once. The record for false killer whales, the species that was found fighting to stay on the beaches in South Africa, is 835 individual animals.

很多關於大量的鯨魚和海豚擱淺事件都和軍事活動，聲納，貨船造成的水下噪音，甚至海洋污染有關。儘管這些都有可能導致擱淺的發生，但是早在人類的這些科學發明之前就已經出現了這樣的擱淺狀況。有記錄顯示，就在第一批歐洲定居者到來不久後，大規模的沙灘擱淺事件就發生了，甚至亞里士多德也記錄到海洋生物的自我擱淺事件。所有這些似乎表明了現代科技比如像聲納，加重了這種狀況的產生。但也表明了這些也有可能是動物本身的自然行爲——但這種解釋完全說不通。如果生病的動物們擱淺自己而死亡的說法行得通的話，那麼爲什麼如此大規模的羣體性擱淺事件就完全無法解釋了。在這次南非沙灘上發現的擬虎鯨不願重回海洋而是羣體性擱淺至死的記錄中，總共擱淺數量爲835頭。

o-Riding Genets

4.騎在犀牛背上的麝貓

The genet is a small, cat-like animal native to north Africa. They're traditionally solitary animals, and although their territories can occasionally overlap, they spend most of their time alone. This isn't the case for one particular genet that's been spotted in South Africa's Hluhlwe-iMfolozi Park, not only making some unlikely friends, but going joyriding on his back every night.

麝貓是一種小型，外表像貓的北非本土動物。它們通常是獨居的動物，儘管它們各自的領地會偶爾重合，它們多數時間裏還是單獨生活。但有一例除外，有人發現在南非的 Hluhlwe-iMfolozi公園裏，麝貓們不但在和一些看起來不太可能的物種交朋友，還在每天晚上非常愉快地騎在它們的背上。

Cameras are set up throughout the park to monitor the population of black rhinos, but they caught something odd in the process. One of the local genets has apparently taken to riding around on the backs of the large herbivores that it shares its territory with, and no one knows why. The genet doesn't seem to prefer the company of any one rhino; it's been seen riding around on different rhinos and buffaloes alike, and it doesn't seem to be trying to get anywhere in particular, either. There are plenty of examples of birds landing on the big, hoofed animals, but there's usually an obvious purpose to it—the birds are getting a free meal while their mount is getting the gnats picked off. The genet doesn't seem to be doing it for any particular reason save perhaps the thrill of the ride.

公園裏的攝像機是被用來觀測黑犀牛的數量，但是人們卻捕捉到了一些奇怪的現象。其中的一隻本地麝貓很明顯地騎在棲息在它們領地內的大型食草動物的背上，但沒有人能對此做出解釋。這隻麝貓似乎並不需要任何一支犀牛來做伴，但是卻被看到經常騎在不同的犀牛以及水牛的背上悠閒放風，並且好像也沒有任何的目的性地想要去哪兒。很多例子已經表明鳥類會經常降落在大型有蹄類的動物背上，但通常這樣做都是有很明顯的目的性——當它們的坐騎將小蚊蟲拍打下來時，它們便可有一頓免費獲得的午餐。麝貓們這樣的行爲似乎並沒有什麼目的性，可能純粹是享受騎行帶來的刺激感受。

odile Tears

3.鱷魚的眼淚

The whole idea of crocodile tears is pretty bizarre. Lore has long held that crocodiles cry when they eat, presumably because they feel bad for killing another animal. It's a phrase that's been used throughout literature to refer to insincere expressions of emotion. The earliest reference to the phenomenon is thought to come from a 1400s text called The Voyage and Travel of Sir John Mandeville, which discusses crocodiles and their tendency to cry as they eat humans.

鱷魚的眼淚這種說法讓人聽起來會覺得很怪異。傳說中鱷魚在獵食的時候會流眼淚，可能是因爲它們覺得對殺死另一種動物感到愧疚。事實上，這是一個被長期用於文學作品中的諺語，指的是假惺惺的情感。最早的關於此類現象的記載是一篇15世紀的文章，名叫《曼德維爾先生的航海旅遊》。文章中討論了關於鱷魚這種物種，並且也提到了它們在吃掉其它動物時會流眼淚的傾向。

The idea of crocodile tears as scientific fact has been incredibly hard to prove, as most crocodiles aren't the easiest animals to study up close and also tend to eat in the water. Dismissed as a myth for a long time, the nonexistence of crocodile tears seemed to be confirmed in a questionable study conducted in the last century in which a researcher attempted to see if he could get a crocodile to cry by rubbing onions in its eyes. It didn't 's only been fairly recently that University of Florida zoologists studying crocodile cousins—alligators and caimans—have found that it's not a myth at all, and they really do cry while they're eating. They're just not sure why. It's been generally accepted that it's not an emotional response but rather a physiological phenomenon. The tears might be caused by the sounds that the animals make while they're eating, air passing through the chambers in their skulls, or the pressure that's needed to bite through their prey. It could also be a defensive mechanism, like our own tears, and that their eyes are producing tears as a way of protecting the eye during the fighting that goes on while they're catching and holding their prey. A definitive explanation might be reached with more research, but there's one massive problem in the way. In order to get a good look at what's going on, someone needs to train crocodiles to feed on land. And since they're killing machines with lightning-fast jaws and deadly teeth, no one's volunteered just yet.

要找到關於鱷魚的眼淚這一說法的科學依據非常非常難，因爲作爲兇猛異常的動物，鱷魚不是很容易接近並進行仔細觀察研究的動物，它們也習慣於在水中進餐。作爲一個很久未解的謎題，上世紀的一個可疑的試驗可能證明了鱷魚並不會流眼淚的說法。試驗中，一名研究員將洋蔥摩擦在鱷魚的眼睛裏，想以此來看鱷魚是否會流淚。結果是它並沒有流淚。直到最近，弗羅裏達大學的動物學家對鱷魚的近親——短吻鱷和凱門鱷進行了研究。它們發現這種說法根本不是一個謎題，它們在吃東西的時候確實是會流眼淚，只是不知道流淚的原因而已。大家普遍接受的說法是鱷魚流眼淚並不是真的愧疚而流淚，而是生理上的現象。它們的眼淚可能是被它們吃掉的動物的叫聲而引起的。在它們吃東西時，空氣進入它們頭骨的腦腔內，或者產生足夠的壓力來讓它們來咬動它們的獵物。這種現象也可能是防禦性的原理，就像我們流淚一樣，鱷魚的淚腺分泌出眼淚來保護它們與獵物搏鬥中容易受傷的眼睛。要得出一個徹底的結論的話還需要進行更多的研究，但是這中間還有一個大問題。爲了更好地觀察鱷魚的狀態，必須有人訓練它們在陸地上進食。但由於鱷魚是擁有閃電般咬合速度與致命尖牙的兇殘捕食利器，到目前爲止，還沒有人自願去完成這一艱鉅的任務。

hs Trek To The Toilet

2.跋涉到廁所的樹懶

When you think of the sloth, there's pretty much nothing about the animal that suggests it's willing to put any kind of effort into anything. Except, researchers have found, pooping.

一提到樹懶，大家想到的可能就是這種動物幾乎是懶得做任何事情，除了一件事，那是最近研究員才得出的結果，那就是拉屎。

Most of the sloth's life is spent in the treetops. It's where the food is, it's where they sleep, and it's the safest place for the slow-moving creatures. But once a week, a sloth will make the slow, laborious journey to the ground in order to poop. Once it's finished, it'll head back up into the trees. No one's sure why they go through all the trouble of heading down to the ground; not only does it take a lot of energy, but it's not the safest activity, either. It would be a lot easier just to stay in the trees, out of the reach of predators on the ground, and do what they need to do. There's one main theory about why they do this, and it has to do with the bugs that live in their fur. Sloth fur is pretty disgusting, and it's full of sloth moths. Researchers have suggested that the sloths make the long trip to the ground so that the moths can lay their eggs in the poop, and then, once the bugs hatch, they can head back up to the sloth that most likely hasn't wandered too far problem with that theory comes when you're trying to figure out just what good this is doing the sloth. There hasn't been any proof discovered to indicate that the sloths are getting any benefits out of being home for a lot of bugs. The moths foster a habitat for algae that covers the sloths' fur, but there doesn't seem to be any real benefit in that, either.

樹懶生命中大部分時間是在樹上度過的，這也是對於像樹懶這樣行動緩慢的動物來說最安全的方法。但是每星期都有一次，樹懶會緩慢而又艱辛地挪動到地面，目的就是爲了拉屎。一旦解決了人生大事，它便又會慢慢地爬回樹頂去了。沒有人知道爲什麼樹懶會如此大費周章地爬到地面，不光是因爲這樣做要消耗很多體力，還要面臨着被捕食者發現的危險。如果就呆在樹上遠離捕食者的地方完成它們要完成的事兒那該多好。樹懶的這種行爲目前有一種解釋，原因是與在它們皮毛中的蟲子有關。樹懶的皮毛散發着惡臭並且長滿了蛾子。研究人員認爲樹懶長途跋涉到地面就是爲了讓身上的蛾子在糞便中產卵，一旦蛾子孵出來，它們便會找到頭頂不遠處的樹懶再寄生到它們的身上。那麼這樣一來就有了一個問題，樹懶這麼做到底有什麼好處呢？目前爲止對於樹懶要作爲蛾子的宿主會得到什麼益處還沒有科學的解釋。這些蛾子可以爲水藻製造一個棲息地，這個棲息地會覆蓋整個樹懶的皮毛。然而，這並不能爲樹懶帶來什麼實質性的好處。

le Elephant Bullies

1.恃強凌弱的母象

There are few groups thought to be as cooperative as elephants. They help raise each others' young, they protect each other, and they mourn each other when they die. But recently, more observation into the behavior of elephants—particularly female elephants—has suggested that things aren't all rosy-colored at the watering hole, and researchers aren't sure why.

像大象一樣互相協作的動物羣體不常見。它們互相照顧各自的後代，互相保護對方，並且爲同伴的去世而哀悼。但最近的一項關於象羣行爲的觀察研究–特別是母象們——告訴我們事情並不是大家想象的那樣美好。研究人員也不清楚爲什麼結果不是之前人們想象的那樣。

In 2013, researchers were staking out a watering hole that was frequented by several family groups of elephants, but behavior at this watering hole was far from what scientists have come to expect from elephant family groups in the wild. While high-ranking females would go out of their way to help other females or help their babies when they got themselves into trouble, they were also going out of their way to block specific females, seemingly chosen at random, from getting to the watering hole. They were going so far as to slap them around and shove their babies out of the way. The behavior was so pronounced that some females were more interested in keeping their companions and babies away from the water than they were in drinking for themselves. It got so bad, continuing day after day, that researchers watched the ostracized females and their young grow steadily weaker and weaker. It was a far cry from the extended family support system that's often observed in elephant groups. Looking out for each other only makes sense. After all, it's how the group survives into the next generation. Why exactly some of the female elephants have chosen very specifically to target other members of their family group is not known. It could be a population density factor or access to food and water, but other studies have indicated that elephants have no problem sharing with other species.

2013年，研究人員祕密監視了好幾個象羣會經常光顧的水源地，但是象羣們在此處的表現與他們之前所設想的相去甚遠。當等級高的母象們全心幫助其它同伴或它們的小象時，這些母象同時也排擠其它特定的母象們，看起來這些被排擠對象都是隨機選擇的，目的就是組織它們到達水源地。它們會拍打這些母象，也會將它們的小象趕出水源地。很明顯的是這些母象更專注於將自己的伴侶和小象驅趕出水源地，而不是專注於自己能夠飲水。這種現象長此以往，越來越糟，以至於研究者們發現被排擠的母象們和它們的小象逐漸地身體情況變弱。母象們的這種行爲和大家所觀察到的象羣之間互相幫助的情形大爲不同。只有互相關照是說得通的。畢竟，這是關係到象羣如何能繁衍到下一代的問題。爲什麼一些母象們選擇特定的羣體進行排擠是目前我們不得而知的問題。這可能是因爲象羣密度過多因素或是獲得食物和水的因素，但也有其他研究表明象羣是可以與其他物種進行食物分享的。

翻譯：齊墨； 校對：candy 來源：前十網