評(píng)論
打印
Traitorous Fish Throw Friends to The Wolves, Newscientist, July 11st, 2013
叛逆的魚(yú)兒寧愿犧牲朋友來(lái)保全自己，新科學(xué)家科技雜志，2013年7月11日
If you're being chased by a hungry bear, you're more likely to escape if you have a friend running alongside you.
如果你被一只饑餓的熊追趕，在你有朋友在身邊的情況下，你會(huì)更容易逃脫。
That way, the bear might kill your friend instead of you.
這樣一來(lái)，這只熊可能會(huì)殺了你的朋友，而不是你。
In this situation, you're not really running away from the bear.
在這種情況下，你并沒(méi)有真正逃離這只熊。
You're just trying to run faster than your friend.
你只是試圖比你的朋友跑得更快。
It could be worse. You could try to trip your friend up or even break their leg, except you're probably too decent to do that.
這會(huì)讓情況更糟。你可以試圖絆倒你的朋友或打斷他的腿，不過(guò)你可能太正直以至于不會(huì)那樣做。
But a South American fish has no qualms.
但南美有一種魚(yú)卻并毫無(wú)顧忌。
At first glance, this small fish looks pretty innocuous, and many people in South America keep them as pets.
乍一看，這些身材嬌小的魚(yú)兒看起來(lái)并無(wú)傷害力，許多南美洲人都將其作為寵物來(lái)飼養(yǎng)。
However, they are a bit of a nuisance. "There's a big problem with fish entering hydroelectric power station machinery. "says Robert Young of the University of Salford in the UK.
然而，它們也會(huì)有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)讓人討厭。英國(guó)索爾福德大學(xué)的羅伯特·楊說(shuō)“當(dāng)魚(yú)進(jìn)入水力發(fā)電站設(shè)備中時(shí)，就會(huì)帶來(lái)很大的問(wèn)題。”
So a few years ago, Young and his fellows started investigating ways to deter the fish from getting into the machinery.
所以幾年前，楊和他的同事開(kāi)始研究如何阻止魚(yú)群進(jìn)入設(shè)備。
To their surprise, they discovered that the astyanax bimaculatus turned on each other if a predator approached.
令他們吃驚的是，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)如果有捕食者接近時(shí)，這種大頭麗脂鯉會(huì)自相殘殺。
Small fish often protect themselves by swimming in large groups, making it hard for predators to target a specific fish.
小魚(yú)通常會(huì)成群結(jié)隊(duì)地在水中游泳來(lái)保護(hù)自己，這可以使捕食者很難瞄準(zhǔn)某一個(gè)特定的魚(yú)兒。
In theory, all animals that could become prey have an incentive to attack their fellows when the group is threatened.
但從理論上講，當(dāng)群體受到威脅時(shí)，所有可能成為犧牲者的動(dòng)物都有襲擊它們同伴的動(dòng)機(jī)。
Young says other species might betray each other in the same way, but perhaps nobody has managed to ob-serve this behaviour yet.Thank you.
楊說(shuō)，其他的物種也可能會(huì)以同樣的方式背叛對(duì)方，但也許是因?yàn)樯形从腥擞^察到這種行為。謝謝。
