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Chimps show other chimps how to use tools. My roommate showed me some tricks to make better scrambled eggs.
猩猩向其它猩猩展示如何使用工具。我的室友向我展示如何做更好的炒雞蛋。
Group members teaching each other is called cultural transmission.
一個群體間互相學習叫做文化傳播。
And a study finds that cultural transmission is behind the spread of a hunting technique among humpback whales off New England.
一項研究發(fā)現(xiàn)文化傳播落后于新英格蘭海岸線座頭鯨之間捕食技巧的傳播。
The research is in the journal Science.
這項研究發(fā)表在《科學》雜志上。
It's called "lobtail" feeding: a humpback whale slaps the surface of the water with its tail.
這就是所謂的“挑尾”捕食：一條座頭鯨用尾頁拍打海水表面。
The resulting bubbles pen in prey fish, which the whales gobble up.
由此產(chǎn)生的泡沫將獵物圍起來，于是座頭鯨便狼吞虎咽吃掉獵物。
Researchers first saw lobtail feeding in 1980.
研究人員于1980年首次觀察到這種“挑尾”捕食。
Within 30 years, 37 percent of observed humpbacks had picked up the technique.
30多年間，所觀察的座頭鯨中有37%學會了這種技巧。
To create mathematical models for the spread of lobtail feeding, researchers used 27 years of data from whale-watching boats in the Gulf of Maine.
為了創(chuàng)建“挑尾”捕食傳播的數(shù)學模型，研究人員利用了27年來在緬因灣賞鯨船上收集的數(shù)據(jù)。
And the models that included cultural transmission as a factor best matched the data.
將文化傳播作為參考因素的數(shù)學模型與數(shù)據(jù)的匹配結果最理想。
Those models assumed that humpback whales that spend more time with lobtail feeders were more likely to pick up the method themselves.
模型顯示花更長時間進行“挑尾”捕食的座頭鯨更有可能是自學的。
Clearly, whales are capable of sophisticated social interactions—and we've only seen the tip of the tail.
很明顯，鯨類有能力進行復雜的社會互動，但我們只觀察到拍打的尾巴。
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