科學技術
Animal behaviour
動物行為
Cold-blooded cunning
狡猾的冷血動物
Reptiles are more intelligent than previously thought
爬行動物的智商比人們之前想象的要高
IT IS no compliment to call someone lizard-brained.
如果某人被稱為蜥蜴腦,那可不是什么恭維的說話。
The reptilian mind is usually equated in the human one with traits like aggression, dominance and sexual appetite.
爬行動物的頭腦通常情況下與人腦相同,也具有侵略、支配和性欲的特性。
That analysis was given currency in the 1960s when Paul MacLean theorised that the human brain has three levels,
這種分析在20世紀60年代得到流行,當時保羅?麥克萊恩從理論上推斷人腦具有三個層次,
the most basic—both functionally and literally—being the “reptilian” part, composed of structures called basal ganglia.
人腦最基本的層次—從功能和字面上理解與"爬行"動物相同,它由基底神經(jīng)節(jié)結構組成。
MacLean's analysis is not much believed now by neuroscientists,
麥克萊恩的分析并不為現(xiàn)在的神經(jīng)學家所認同,
but it has stuck in the popular imagination.
但它始終存在于大眾的意識中,
And it has also, subliminally, affected research.
并一直對科學研究有著潛在的影響。
For, until recently, no one had actually thought to ask by experimentation just how intelligent reptiles really are.
直到最近,人們都沒有真正想過要通過實驗測得爬行動物的智商到底如何。
That omission has just been corrected by Manuel Leal and Brian Powell of Duke University, in North Carolina—and the result is intriguing.
北卡羅萊納州杜克大學的Manuel Leal和Brian Powell對這一疏忽進行了糾正—其研究結果激發(fā)了人們濃厚的興趣。
In a paper published in Biology Letters Dr Leal and Dr Powell suggest that lizards are at least as intelligent as tits, a group of birds that has been well examined in this respect.
Leal博士和Powell博士發(fā)表在生物學快報上的論文表明蜥蜴的智商絕對不比山雀低,研究人員在此方面曾對這組鳥類有過很好的研究。
In their study, the two researchers put a species called Anolis evermanni through a triathlon of cognitive tests of the sort used on tits.
在他們的實驗中,兩名研究人員讓一個叫熱帶樹蜥的動物成功通過一個三項全能的認知測試,這種實驗曾用于山雀。
First, the reptiles had to learn how to extract a tasty grub from a container.
首先,爬行動物必須學會如何從容器中獲取甜美的食物。
Then, they were taught to associate the grub with a particular colour.
然后教它們?nèi)绾螌⑹澄锱c一種特定顏色相關聯(lián)。
Finally, they were taught to dissociate it from that colour and learn that a different colour was the giveaway.
最后教它們將食物與那種顏色脫離聯(lián)系并學會一種不同顏色代表的是免費美食。
The lizards were able to manage all three tasks with ease—matching the performance of tits in similar tests.
蜥蜴能輕松地完成三項任務—在相同測試中與山雀的表現(xiàn)不分伯仲。
Indeed, in getting at the grubs several of them worked out a form of behaviour never seen in nature,
實際上,在獲取食物之時,有幾只蜥蜴表現(xiàn)出的行為方式是在自然界中沒出現(xiàn)過的,
employing their snouts as levers to lift an obstacle.
它們用鼻子作為手段將障礙物移走。
Having established that lizards are at least as clever as birds at such simple tasks, Dr Leal hopes to go on and explore the evolutionary forces behind lizard intelligence.
在確定了蜥蜴完成簡單任務時至少和鳥類同等聰明之后,Leal博士希望將實驗進行下去并探索蜥蜴智力背后的進化力量。
He does, however, have a problem—and it is one that might help to explain why, besides phylogenetic prejudice, the lizard mind has not been properly investigated before.
而他的確有一個疑問,這個疑問也許對解釋以下問題有所裨益,那就是除去對物種的偏見之外,還有什么原因使得人們之前未展開適當?shù)难芯縼頊y定爬行動物的智商。
Tits, being warm-blooded, have to eat a lot and thus have a strong incentive to collaborate with researchers in such experiments.
山雀屬于溫血動物,它必須吃大量的食物以維持身體的能量,這就使它們具有強烈的動機與研究人員配合進行這種實驗。
The average lizard, by contrast, is happy to consume a single grub a day.
相比之下,平均每只蜥蜴一天中只樂意享受一次美食。
It may therefore be some time before the next paper appears on the subject.
因此,下一篇與此主題相關的論文可能需要很長時間才能發(fā)表。