【英语时差8,16】毒血蟑螂

（单词翻译）

 Blood And Guts¹ Crickets As bugs² go, crickets are pretty harmless. Loveable, even. Except, maybe, for African armoured ground crickets. When attacked, these little buggers vomit³ and squirt toxic⁴ blood through crevices⁵ on their backs and under their legs. Scientists have known about the bleeding and vomiting⁶ for a long time. And they’ve known in a general way that these are defense⁷ mechanisms⁸ for crickets and several other kinds of insects, including many beetles⁹. But scientists didn’t know exactly what triggers the bleeding and vomiting, or how well it works to deter¹⁰ predators¹¹. Australian researchers seem to have figured it out by attacking ground crickets with tweezers¹². When grabbed from the side, the crickets chirped¹³ and tried to bite. They also sometimes squirted blood–which is pale green and has a sharp, bitter smell, by the way. But when the crickets were grabbed from above and couldn’t bite, then the green, smelly blood really started to flow. The insects also threw up their most recent meal. So how well do bleeding and vomiting work to fend¹⁴ off predators? Pretty well. The researchers put some crickets in a cage with hungry bearded dragon lizards¹⁶. As soon as the lizards attacked, the crickets oozed¹⁷ blood and vomited¹⁸. One lizard¹⁵ with a bleeding cricket in its mouth dropped it and backed off. Other lizards didn’t even bother trying. One problem, though, is that crickets are prone¹⁹ to cannibalism²⁰. So while bleeding and vomiting may help fend off outside predators, a cricket covered in its own blood and guts is in danger of getting eaten by its own kind.

转自可可英语