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Pack rat. The name is synonymous with hoarding.
林鼠的名字與囤積，貯藏同義。
And researchers have learned that pack rats can actually increase the range of foods they’re able to eat because of their collection of gut bacteria.
研究人員發現這種小動物通過收集腸道細菌實際上可以增大進食食物的范圍。
Pack rats live in the American Southwest, where they nosh on the native vegetation.
生活在美國西南部林鼠以原生植物為食。
Some of these plants produce protective toxins, for example the junipers in the Great Basin desert or the creosote bushes of the Mojave.
這些原生植物中有一些自身會產生保護性毒素，就像在美國西南部大盆地沙漠中的杜松或者是莫哈韋的石炭酸灌木。
But pack rats seem to eat these noxious shrubs with impunity.
而林鼠似乎吃下這些有毒物質后身體并沒有出現問題。
The researchers found that pack rats from the Mojave harbor gut bacteria that can break down creosote.
研究人員發現莫哈韋港口的林鼠所收集的腸道細菌可以分解木榴油。
When antibiotics depleted the pack rats’ gut bacteria, the animals suddenly found creosote nearly indigestible.
當研究人員用抗生素來耗盡林鼠體內的腸道細菌，研究人員突然發現林鼠幾乎難以消化掉其體內的木榴油。
Further, the researchers found that they could take pack rats from the Great Basin—the ones that eat juniper—and give them the ability to eat creosote.
此外，研究人員還發現他們可以將大盆地沙漠中進食杜松的林鼠帶到莫哈韋沙漠，賦予它們消化木榴油的能力。
All they needed was a fecal transplant, which supplied the necessary gut bacteria from their Mojave-based neighbors.
它們所需要的就是腸道細菌，這些必需菌將會由莫哈韋沙漠地區所居住的居民提供。
The work appears in the journal Ecology Letters.
這項研究已經在《生態學通訊》雜志上發表。
The findings show the importance of gut bacteria for eating some otherwise dicey foods.
這項研究結果表明食用危險食物時腸道細菌的重要作用。
They could also allow farmers to expand the diet of their livestock.
這些腸道細菌還可以幫助農民擴大牲畜的食用食物范圍。
Cows with the right gut bacteria could feast on what was formerly feh.
有了適合的腸道細菌，牛就可以盡情享用以前不能消化的食物。
