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科学美国人60秒 SSS 倭黑猩猩妈妈监管儿子的私生活

时间:2020-03-17 02:38:40

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。

Some parents get overly involved in their kids' personal lives, but bonobo mothers take this tendency to the extreme. They fix up their adult sons with a female of their choosing, and they even keep other males from getting near their future daughter-in-law. The behavior may seem overbearing, but it boosts the odds1 they'll be surrounded by grandkids. That's according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

有些父母会过分介入孩子的私生活,但倭黑猩猩妈妈将这种倾向发挥到了极致。她们为自已的成年儿子安排她们选中的雌性,她们甚至阻止其他雄性接近她们未来的儿媳。这种行为可能看起来很蛮横,但却增加了她们儿孙满堂的几率。这是《当代生物学》期刊上一篇研究得出的结论。

Researchers studying wild bonobos in the Congo noticed that some females behaved a bit like males—fighting over fertile females and fending2 off some of the males who come a-courtin'. That observation struck primatologist Martin Surbeck as odd.

研究野生倭黑猩猩的研究人员注意到,一些雌性倭黑猩猩的行为有点像雄性,她们会为争夺有繁育能力的雌性而打架,还会阻挡前来求爱的其他雄性。这一观察结果让灵长类动物学家马丁·瑟贝克感到吃惊。

"So I just wondered, hey what is it actually of their business, no? Most of the mammals it's just a male business, this competition over the access to females."

“我只是想知道,嘿,她们到底在干什么?大多数哺乳动物都是雄性在争夺接近雌性的机会。”

To get to the bottom of this unusual activity, Surbeck, who is currently at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary3 Anthropology4, got DNA5 samples from the players in this melodrama6.

为了弄清这种不同寻常的行为,目前在马克斯·普朗克进化人类学研究所工作的瑟贝克,从这部传奇剧的主角身上提取了DNA。

"And so it became more apparent when we did the paternity analysis and it turned out these females were mothers of some males. And in this female-dominated society of bonobos the mother acts kind of like a social passport, allowing their sons to be more central in the group and therefore having more opportunities to interact with other females."

“当我们做父本分析时,答案变得愈加清晰,结果显示,这些雌性倭黑猩猩是一些雄性的母亲。在女性占主导的倭黑猩猩社会中,母亲的角色有点像是社交通行证,可以使她们的儿子在群体中处于更核心的地位,继而拥有更多与其他雌性互动的机会。”

And after the moms introduce their sons to the most desirable ladies, they make sure the couple won't be interrupted. As a result:

在母亲将自已最满意的雌性介绍给儿子后,她们还要确保这一对不被打扰。结果是:

"We found that males have about three times higher likelihood to sire offspring while their mom was still alive in the community."

“我们发现,当其母亲依旧在群体中存活时,雄性繁衍后代的可能性增加了3倍。”

In contrast, mothers of the closely related chimpanzees don't chaperone their sons. In fact, male chimps7 are less likely to sire offspring when their moms are around. Seems that chimps prefer privacy for their monkey business.

相比之下,作为倭黑猩猩的近亲,黑猩猩的母亲就不会陪护自已的儿子。事实上,母亲在身边时,雄性黑猩猩不太可能繁殖后代。看起来,黑猩猩在“房事”方面更注重隐私。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 odds n5czT     
n.让步,机率,可能性,比率;胜败优劣之别
参考例句:
  • The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
  • Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗?
2 fending 18e37ede5689f2fb4bd69184c75f11f5     
v.独立生活,照料自己( fend的现在分词 );挡开,避开
参考例句:
  • He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
  • Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系,提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网
3 evolutionary Ctqz7m     
adj.进化的;演化的,演变的;[生]进化论的
参考例句:
  • Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
  • These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。
4 anthropology zw2zQ     
n.人类学
参考例句:
  • I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
  • Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。
5 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句:
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
6 melodrama UCaxb     
n.音乐剧;情节剧
参考例句:
  • We really don't need all this ridiculous melodrama!别跟我们来这套荒唐的情节剧表演!
  • White Haired Woman was a melodrama,but in certain spots it was deliberately funny.《白毛女》是一出悲剧性的歌剧,但也有不少插科打诨。
7 chimps 2a09048610e52de775e2fe426c063f06     
(非洲)黑猩猩( chimp的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Chimps are too scarce, and too nearly human, to be routinely slaughtered for spare parts. 黑猩猩又太少,也太接近于人类,不可以作为人器官备用件说杀就杀。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命
  • And as nonprimates, they provoke fewer ethical and safety-related concerns than chimps or baboons. 而且作为非灵长类,就不会产生像用黑猩猩或狒狒那样的伦理和安全方面的顾虑。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 医学的第四次革命

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