-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.
It’s good to be the Queen. You get fed and cared for and generally treated like royalty1. But if you’re a blue butterfly caterpillar2, you can get the same benefits by just pretending to be queen. Because these crafty3 caterpillars4 trick ants into feeding them—by mimicking5 the sound of their queen.
Ants are social creatures whose colonies contain a queen ant, and hordes6 of worker ants who feed the queen and take care of all her young. Blue butterfly caterpillars have come up with clever ways to exploit that system. These parasitic7 caterpillars take up residence in the nests of red ants. And they mooch free meals in part by waggling their heads to beg for food like all the other ant grubs.
But that’s not all. Scientists using sophisticated recording8 equipment were able to listen to the caterpillars chatter9. And found that the interlopers imitated the sounds of an adult queen. The report’s in the February 6th issue of the journal Science.
The reason it’s better to be mistaken for royalty and not just some other grub is that in times of stress, ants will even feed their young to the queen. So if it’s eat or be eaten, caterpillars are clearly making the sound choice.
Thanks for the minute for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.
1 royalty | |
n.皇家,皇族 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 caterpillar | |
n.毛虫,蝴蝶的幼虫 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 crafty | |
adj.狡猾的,诡诈的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 caterpillars | |
n.毛虫( caterpillar的名词复数 );履带 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
5 mimicking | |
v.(尤指为了逗乐而)模仿( mimic的现在分词 );酷似 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
6 hordes | |
n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 );部落 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
7 parasitic | |
adj.寄生的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
8 recording | |
n.录音,记录 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
9 chatter | |
vi./n.喋喋不休;短促尖叫;(牙齿)打战 | |
参考例句: |
|
|