動物世界：捕獲芳心需要借一些緊張氣息

Male splendid fairy-wrens in Australia prefer to make their calls after a predator makes its, and females pay more attention when the calls are linked。

澳大利亞的雄性華麗細尾鷦鷯一般會在聽到捕食者的警告叫聲後發出迴應叫聲，而雌性鷦鷯則對這種接連發出的迴應叫聲特別敏感。

It’s one of the oldest moves in teen dating. Head to a scary movie. As soon as the scary music kick in, your date cuddles closer for comfort. Well, some birds may have the same idea. Splendid fairy-wrens are small, sexually promiscuous birds native to Australia. It turns out that males get the attention of potential mates by making their move after a predator announces its presence. The research was published in the journal Behavioral Ecology。

青年人約會時經常去看恐怖電影，也會聽那些令人驚悚的配音。當毛骨悚然的音樂響起時，你的同伴可能就會靠得更近，以此尋求一些安全感……小鳥同樣用這樣的策略。“華麗細尾鷦鷯”是一種體型嬌小，經常更換交配的產於澳大利亞的小鳥。最近的研究表明，這種鳥類的雄鳥在捕食者發出警告聲音後，發起行動以引起獲取雌鳥的關注。這一研究結果發表在了《行爲生態學》雜誌上。

[Bird sound] That’s the sound of butcherbirds, which prey on splendid wrens. Every time male wrens hear that cry, they sing this in response [wren sound]. Researchers say the calls become layered atop one another, almost like a duet。

咕咕咕，這是伯勞鳥的叫聲。伯勞鳥的獵物就是華麗細尾鷦鷯。當雄性鷦鷯聽到伯勞鳥的這種聲音，他們就會做出迴應，嘰嘰嘰。研究人員表示，鷦鷯的迴應聲緊跟伯勞鳥的警告聲，很像二重奏。

The scientists tested the response of female wrens by playing recorded bird calls. They played just the male fairy-wren call. Then they played the trill of the wrens singing immediately after the butcherbirds. The females became significantly more alert—looking to the sound or singing in response—after hearing the two calls together than they did if they heard just the wren. And so for both teens and wrens, a bit of fear might help a guy get the chick。

研究人員利用錄音的方式，調查了雌鳥對此的反應。研究人員首先只播放了雄鳥的普通叫聲，然後播放了伯勞鳥的警告聲及雄鳥立即做出的迴應聲。結果雌鳥在聽到後者時，做出的迴應很強烈，會立即尋找叫聲的方向，並同樣發出迴應叫聲。所以，無論是青年鷦鷯還是青年人，利用一下恐懼，就會幫你捕獲芳心。