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Biologists used to think turtles belonged to the"silent majority" of reptiles, meaning if turtles made sounds—no one was listening. One reptile guide from the 1950s went so far as to call them, quote, "deaf as a post."
生物學家曾經(jīng)認為海龜像大多數(shù)的爬行動物一樣不會發(fā)聲——這意味著，如果你說海龜會發(fā)聲的話，是沒有人會相信的。20世界50年代的一本爬行動物指南書上至始至終稱海龜為“全聾”生物。
But it turns out scientists just weren't listening hard enough. Because in recent years, biologists have identified at least 11 different sounds in the turtle repertoire <<sound>> recorded both in and out of the water. But what do they mean?
但事實上是科學家們沒能聽仔細。近年來，生物學家已辨別出海龜至少有11種聲音，并將這些聲音錄了下來。這些聲音有的錄自水里，有的錄自陸地。那么，它們的含義又是什么？
In the latest attempt to decode turtle talk, researchers tailed giant South American river turtles—Podocnemis expansa—in Brazil, over a two-year span. They recorded 220 hours of audio, capturing six of those 11 sounds. Two of the calls were extremely common—occurring during just about every turtle activity. Other calls the turtles made only during migration, or while nesting at night <<sound>>. The findings appear in the journal Herpetologica.
在最新一項研究中，研究人員為解讀烏龜?shù)穆曇簦瑢δ厦腊臀鞯囊恢痪藓育敗獋?cè)頸龜展開了逾期兩年的追蹤。他們錄下了長達220個小時的音頻，并捕捉到上述11種聲音中的6種。其中兩種聲音很普遍——幾乎出現(xiàn)在所有的海龜活動中。而其他聲音則是在海龜遷徙或晚上睡覺時發(fā)出的。該研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《蛙蛇學報》上。
The researchers still aren't sure what any of these sounds actually mean, or whether turtles can recognize each other by voice alone. All the more reason, they say, to use these sounds in playback experiments, which might get these talking turtles out of their shells.
研究人員還未弄清這些聲音的真正含義，還不能斷定海龜是否僅通過聲音就能進行相互識別。他們說，他們之所以要對這些聲音進行重復實驗，是為了讓海龜能說話的事實大白于天下。
