Magpies Teach Scientists an Unexpected Lesson喜鵲給科學(xué)家上了意想不到的一課

Science experiments don’t always go as planned， butthat doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. Recently，Australian scientists learned something unexpected aboutmagpies when they tried to attach2 trackers3 to them to learn more abouttheir habits.

科學(xué)實驗并不總是按計劃進(jìn)行的，但這并不意味著你不能從中學(xué)到東西。最近，澳大利亞科學(xué)家在給喜鵲戴上追蹤器以了解它們的習(xí)性時，發(fā)現(xiàn)了一些意想不到的情況。

The birds the scientists aimed to study were Australian magpies. They’remedium-sized black and white birds from the same bird “family”as crows andbluejays. They are known to be quite clever. They live in groups of up to 12birds and work together to protect the area they live in.

科學(xué)家們研究的鳥類目標(biāo)是澳大利亞喜鵲。它們是中等大小的黑白色鳥類，與烏鴉和冠藍(lán)鴉屬于同一“家族”。人們都知道它們很聰明。它們會12 只左右為一群，共同保衛(wèi)它們生活的地區(qū)。

The researchers want to try a new tracker on the magpies. They hoped tolearn more about how far the birds flew and what they did during a normal day.The scientists are worried that magpies may have a hard time adjusting4 as theworld warms up because of climate change.

研究人員想在喜鵲身上試驗一種新的追蹤器。他們希望更多地了解這些鳥飛了多遠(yuǎn)，以及它們在平常的一天里做了什么?？茖W(xué)家們擔(dān)心喜鵲可能很難適應(yīng)氣候變化導(dǎo)致的全球變暖。

It’s hard to find trackers that work well with small and medium-sizedbirds. Either the trackers are too heavy， or don’t last long enough. The newtrackers were light and could be recharged5 without wires6 while they were stillon the birds.

找到適合中小型鳥類的追蹤器很困難。追蹤器要么太重，要么續(xù)航時間不夠長。新型的追蹤器很輕，而且安裝在鳥身上時可以不用電線充電。

To keep the trackers on the birds without causing flying problems， theresearchers developed a special harness7. It had a special release controlledby magnets8. This was meant to allow the scientists to free the birds fromthe harnesses at a special magnetic bird feeder， without having to catch thebirds again.

為了讓追蹤器在不影響鳥類飛行的情況下跟蹤鳥類，研究人員開發(fā)了一種特殊的背帶。它有一個由磁鐵控制的特殊釋放裝置。這樣做的目的是為了讓科學(xué)家們在一個特殊的有磁性的喂鳥器上把鳥兒從束帶中解放出來，而無需再次捕捉鳥兒。

There was just one problem—the birds didn’t like the trackers.

只有一個問題———鳥兒不喜歡追蹤器。

The researchers placed trackers on five magpies using their special harnesses.But just ten minutes after setting up the last magpie， they noticed something unusual：an adult female magpie was helping another magpie get free from its harness.

研究人員使用特殊的背帶給五只喜鵲戴上了追蹤器。但就在安置完最后一只喜鵲十分鐘后，他們注意到一件不尋常的事：一只成年雌喜鵲正在幫助另一只喜鵲掙脫背帶。

In a few hours， most of the other magpies had also been freed from theirharnesses. By the third day， none of the birds had trackers anymore. “The birds aresmarter than us，”said one of the scientists.

幾個小時后，其他大多數(shù)喜鵲也掙脫了背帶。到了第三天，所有的鳥兒身上都沒有追蹤器了?！傍B類比我們聰明?！逼渲幸幻茖W(xué)家說。

The scientists were disappointed about the trackers， but they realized that themagpies had taught them something else： that magpies are able and willing to helpeach other out， even if the bird who is helping doesn’t get a reward.

科學(xué)家們對這些追蹤器感到失望，但他們意識到喜鵲教會了他們別的東西：喜鵲有能力也愿意互相幫助，即使幫助的鳥得不到獎勵。

This is called “rescue9 behavior”， and it’s not that common in the animalworld， especially among birds. The researchers think this is the first time rescuebehavior has been reported for Australian magpies.

這被稱為“救援行為”，在動物世界中，尤其是在鳥類中并不常見。研究人員認(rèn)為，這是關(guān)于澳大利亞喜鵲救援行為的首次報告。

The scientists think the birds might have thought the trackers wereparasites. They don’t know how the magpies solved the difficult problem ofgetting the harness off. They also don’t know if it was just one magpie or severalwho removed the harnesses.

科學(xué)家們認(rèn)為鳥類可能以為這些追蹤器是寄生蟲。他們不知道喜鵲是如何解決掙脫背帶這一難題的。他們也不知道卸下了背帶的是一只喜鵲還是幾只喜鵲。

The researchers are glad they’ve learned about the rescue behavior ofmagpies. But now they need to try again to figure out a good way to track theseclever birds.

研究人員很高興他們了解了喜鵲的救援行為。但現(xiàn)在他們需要再次嘗試找到一種追蹤這些聰明鳥類的好方法。

（英語原文選自：kidsnews.com.au）