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Tenants who don't pay the rent are a bane of landlords everywhere.
不付房租的房客讓世界各地的房東頭疼。
And landlords who use heavy tactics to enforce payment are similarly a bane of tenants.
而使用高壓手段強制要求付款的房東同樣讓租戶痛苦。
Nor are these problems confined to human beings.
這些問題并不局限于人類。
Property-owning cichlid fish seem as ruthless about receiving what they are owed
和19世紀紐約下東區(qū)任何廉租房業(yè)主一樣，
as any 19th-century tenement holder in the Lower East Side of New York.
擁有房產(chǎn)的鯛魚似乎也會為了得到應得的東西而變得冷酷。
The fish in question, Neolamprologus pulcher, inhabit Lake Tanganyika in east Africa.
這種名為美新亮麗鯛的魚生活在東非的坦噶尼喀湖。
They are co-operative breeders, meaning that dominant individuals do the breeding and subordinates assist in various ways,
它們是合作繁殖者，也就是說，占優(yōu)勢的個體負責繁殖，而從屬的個體則以各種方式提供幫助，
in exchange for immediate survival-enhancing benefits that may lead to the ultimate prize of becoming dominant themselves.
作為交換，它們可以立即獲得提高生存能力的好處，而這些好處最終可能導致它們成為支配者。
In the case of N. pulcher the main benefit is having somewhere to live.
對于美新亮麗鯛而言，主要的好處就是擁有居住地。
Dwellings, in the form of shelters dug out from sand under rocks, are controlled by dominant pairs.
在巖石下用沙子挖出的庇護所形式的住所，是由支配者控制的。
These dominants permit subordinates to share their accommodation,
這些支配者允許從屬分享它們的住處，
and those subordinates pay for the privilege by keeping the property in good repair
這些從屬通過保持財產(chǎn)的良好維修和保護支配者的魚卵
and defending the dominants' eggs and fry against predators.
和魚苗免受捕食者的侵害來支付自己所能享有的特權(quán)。
Though co-operative breeding by vertebrates has evolved several times
盡管脊椎動物的合作繁殖已經(jīng)進化了好幾次
(famous examples include the meerkat mongooses of southern Africa and the scrub jays of Florida),
（著名的例子包括非洲南部的貓鼬貓鼬和佛羅里達的灌叢鴉），
the question of how rental payments are enforced has never been definitively settled.
但如何執(zhí)行租金支付的問題從未得到最終解決。
The presumption is that dominants punish subordinate defaulters.
有種假設是支配者會懲罰下級違反者。
But it is hard to prove, by observing wild animals, that this is what is happening.
但是通過觀察野生動物，很難證明這種假設。
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