動物世界中那些不同物種間的親密合作(下)

ng Eye Gobies

5."導盲犬"蝦虎魚

Pistol shrimp are named and known for their ability to snap their claws so rapidly that it creates a high pressure jet of water which can ward off predatory fish or stun prey. Even as armed as their arms are, it's a big ocean outside a pistol shrimp's burrow where a hungry predator might come swooping in at any time. Compounding the danger, pistol shrimp do not have particularly good eyesight.

鼓蝦可以猛烈的閉合蝦鉗並噴射出高壓水流來驅趕捕獵的魚或振暈獵物並且因此得名。即使擁有這樣的武裝，在鼓蝦洞穴外的大海里，飢餓的狩獵者還是可能隨時發起突然襲擊。更危險的是，鼓蝦的視力並不太好。

This is where certain species of goby come in. Gobies, with their significantly better eyesight, act as the pistol shrimp's eyes. Much like a human being led by a seeing eye dog, the goby's tail fins remain in constant contact with the shrimp's antennae as the two go about daily activities. If a predator is seen, the goby's tail will signal the shrimp to retreat, which the goby will also do if the danger comes close enough. At night, the goby rests with the shrimp inside the free shelter provided by its tunnel. Pistol shrimp in such relationships will not go out without their goby assistants.

此時，蝦虎魚有了用武之地。視力很好的蝦虎魚扮演着鼓蝦眼睛的角色。就像導盲犬引導着人類一樣，在他們的日常活動中，蝦虎魚的尾鰭和鼓蝦的觸角保持着持續的接觸。一旦發現狩獵者，蝦虎魚的尾巴會向鼓蝦發出撤退的信號。即使當危險迫在眉睫時，蝦虎魚也會這樣做。在晚上，蝦虎魚和鼓蝦一起棲息在鼓蝦的隧道里，享受這一免費庇護所。鼓蝦是不會在沒有他們的蝦虎魚助手的陪伴下出門的，真是一對好基友啊

-Trained Spy Ravens

4.訓練有素的專業情報員——烏鴉

B.F. Skinner's operant conditioning has proven to be a very useful principle. Many applications have been derived from operant conditioning, including a seemingly innocuous tourist attraction that sprung up in Hot Springs, Arkansas in the 1960s. Called the I.Q. Zoo, this theme park featured animals trained to perform humanlike activities, such as chickens playing baseball, pigs playing the piano, and raccoons playing basketball.

著名心理學家斯金納提出的操控性反射理論實用有效，廣泛應用於多個領域。20世紀60年代，美國阿肯色州溫泉度假村曾開放過一個叫做智慧動物園的旅行聖地。這個主題動物園的特色是訓練一些聰慧的動物模仿人類的行爲，例如：小雞打棒球、小豬彈鋼琴以及可愛的浣熊打籃球。

The cheerful I.Q. Zoo was also a government-funded testing ground for other applications of animal training such as espionage research. Ravens proved to be a particularly good subject in this regard. In addition to being able to carry surprisingly heavy loads, the ravens' intelligence enabled them to be trained to do surprisingly specific tasks, even opening file drawers and carrying file folders. It was therefore a simple matter to teach ravens to fly to a certain location indicated with a laser pointer and deposit objects, including surveillance devices. Ravens could even be trained to take pictures with a special camera carried in the bird's beak. The animals would again be directed to a window with a laser pointer where they were trained to press the little spy camera against the window.

這家主題動物園是政府爲了開展諸如情報研究等其他動物培訓活動而投資建立的。烏鴉在情報探測方面極有天賦，是不二選擇。除了運載重物，烏鴉還可以完成其他一系列經驗的任務，例如：打開放置文件的抽屜並且帶走文件。因而對於馴養員來講，訓練烏鴉在激光燈或者地面標記物的指引下飛到特定的地點並非難事，因而烏鴉可以飛到人類放置好的檢測器上進行"情報採集"。烏鴉可以銜着相機拍照，同時可以在激光燈的指引下飛去窗邊拍下外面的一舉一動，活脫脫一個受過中央情報局訓練的專業情報員。

y Eel Tunnel Rats

3.隧道捕獵小能手——海鰻

Perhaps it's not too surprising to believe that coyotes, animals associated with pack hunting, might team up with badgers to catch prey, but what about two considerably less sociable fish? Groupers and moray eels are almost literally day and night when compared. Groupers hunt during the day out in the open. Of course, a prey animal pursued by a grouper can easily escape by hiding in a crevice or hole. Conversely, the more nocturnal morays sneak through narrow spaces in coral reefs to catch prey.

也許土狼與獾寫作捕獵物並沒有十分驚訝，若現在告訴你還有兩種不擅長"交際"的魚類互相合作，是不是會超乎想象呢？石斑魚和鰻魚其實差異很大。石斑魚白天外出捕獵，當然，光天化日之下。獵物很容易躲進幽暗處藏身；相反的，鰻魚在夜晚出沒，並經常溜進珊瑚礁的縫隙裏捕獵。

In the Red Sea, some groupers have learned to solicit assistance from morays. If a grouper's quarry takes shelter where the grouper can't reach, it will swim to a moray's den. The grouper shakes its head rapidly right at the mouth of the crevice, drawing the moray out despite the daytime hour. The moray is then led by the grouper to wherever the prey is hiding, a spot which the grouper will sometimes indicate with more shaking. The moray then enters the hole and kills the prey. Sometimes, the moray then eats the prey itself, but other times it gives it to the grouper. This sort of cooperative hunting has never before been observed in two different species of fish. Marine biologists have noted sufficient variability in the groupers' execution of moray leading to believe that it is in fact a learned behavior as opposed to instinct.

在紅海，有些石斑魚學會了找鰻魚尋求幫助。如果獵物躲進了自己無法進入的庇護所，石斑魚便游到鰻魚的"家"，並在鰻魚家門口快速搖頭讓鰻魚出家門，接着鰻魚就會在石斑魚的帶領下來到獵物的藏身之處一舉將其擒獲。鰻魚抓獲獵物後，偶爾會獨享來之不易的戰利品，當然更多時候，鰻魚會與石斑魚一同分享。這樣的合作形式之前從未出現在不同的魚類之中。生物學家表示，儘管這種合作形式並不符合鰻魚和石斑魚"不喜交際"的天性，但合作的確是後天可習得的。

Ants Give Caterpillars The Royal Treatment

2.食肉蟻給予毛蟲貴族待遇

Meat ants, also known as gravel ants, are an incredibly territorial species native to Australia. They fiercely patrol the very well-defined boundaries of their territories, which rarely overlap with other meat ant colonies. If this occurs, groups of ants will meet, stand on their front legs, and kick each other with their hind legs. This ritualized abdomen kicking can last for days, though few ants r species aren't treated as well. Other invertebrates encroaching upon the meat ants' territory are swarmed, killed, and sometimes eaten by the omnivorous ants. Large numbers of angry workers can drive off larger animals despite their lack of stingers; the ants release foul-smelling chemicals and will bite repeatedly. The areas around their colonies, which can span as much as 650 meters (2,100 ft), may become devoid of species that are unable to coexist with ain species of caterpillar, however, not only coexist but are welcomed by the meat ants. The caterpillars in question secrete a sugary fluid that the ants consume. As a result, meat ants will protect these caterpillars from predators. In some cases, the caterpillars are kept in the ants' colonies and carried to plants to feed. (Human farmers can also benefit from meat ant colonies; dead livestock dropped on a meat ant nest will be reduced to bones, a convenient method of disposal.)

食肉蟻也稱行軍蟻，是澳大利亞當地一種極具領土意識的動物。它們往往在特定區域巡邏，並且這個區域很少有其它食肉蟻羣出沒。如果真有此情況發生，將會有成羣螞蟻集聚一起，它們前肢站立，用後肢互踢。這種特定的互踢可以持續數天，然而很少有螞蟻死亡。如果其它無脊椎動物侵佔它們領土時，這些物種將會遭殃，它們會被圍剿，殺掉，甚至有時候會有一些雜食螞蟻吞食它們。這些螞蟻可以釋放特殊氣味的化學物質，並且反覆刺痛那些前來挑釁的物種，因此，這些食肉蟻儘管沒有刺，卻可以擊退比那些它們大的動物。然而，某些種類的毛蟲不僅和食肉螞蟻共處還受到它們的歡迎。 這些毛蟲分泌食肉螞蟻食用的含糖液體。因此，食肉螞蟻會保護這些毛蟲以免遭受天敵的威脅。 有時候，毛蟲被保存在螞蟻的巢穴並且被運到植物下來進食分泌物。 農民也能從食肉螞蟻的巢穴獲得便利。 家畜的屍體丟棄在食肉螞蟻的巢穴，將會變得只剩下骨頭，這就給農民處理家畜死屍提供了便利。

Tom The Whaling Killer Whale

1.捕鯨助手老湯姆

Twofold Bay, near Eden, Australia, is the third deepest natural harbor in the southern hemisphere and a known gathering point for whales; it is an ideal spot for whaling. During the 1860s, the Davidson family had a long-running and established whaling station on its shores.

位於澳大利亞的圖福德灣是南半球第三深天然港，而且是有名的鯨魚集散聖地，因此便成爲了捕鯨的理想之處。19世紀60年代，戴維森家族長期運營捕鯨業並且在海濱建立了捕鯨站。

Each year, as winter moved in so did a pod of orcas. Initially, the Davidsons feared that they would interfere and take whales for themselves, but something else happened. The pod, led by a male who would become known as Old Tom, would drive baleen whales into Twofold Bay and trap them there. Next, Old Tom would swim to the whaling station and jump and slap the water with his tail to get the whalers' attention. The whalers would then go out in their boats to catch the trapped whales. Some say the orcas even protected the men by driving away sharks. When a whale had been caught and killed, its body would be left tethered in the water overnight. Old Tom and his pod would eat the lips and tongues of the whales, leaving the more valuable parts to the Davidsons. This arrangement became known as the Law of the Davidsons and Old Tom's pod maintained their working relationship for three generations of the family. Old Tom died in 1930, and his skeleton is on display at the Eden Killer Whale Museum. Soon after Old Tom's death, his pod disappeared and was not seen again. No orcas have cooperated with whalers in such a way since.

每年冬天來臨，一羣逆擊戟鯨也會隨之而來。起初，戴維森家族擔心它們會干涉並佔有鯨魚，但是意想不到的事情發生了。鯨羣由一頭稱爲老湯姆的雄鯨帶領，老湯姆會將鬚鯨趕到圖福德灣並把它們圍困在那裏，接着它便會游到捕鯨站，用尾巴不斷拍打海面，跳躍着，以引起捕鯨人的注意。然後捕鯨者駕駛捕鯨船去捕殺被圍困起來的鬚鯨，一些人說逆戟鯨甚至會把鯊魚趕走來保護這些捕鯨的人們。一旦鯨被捕殺了，它將會被拴住在海水中保持一夜，老湯姆和它帶領的逆戟鯨羣會把捕殺的鯨的脣舌吃掉，而把最寶貴的部分留給戴維森家族。這就是有名的舌頭法則。戴維森和老湯姆帶領的鯨羣將這種工作關係維持了三代，老湯姆在1930年死了，它的骨架展覽在伊甸逆戟鯨博物館內。老湯姆死後不久，它帶領的鯨羣也永遠消失了，從此再也沒有逆戟鯨與捕鯨人合作用這種方式捕殺鯨魚了。

翻譯:哈利8=7 來源:前十網