科学美国人60秒 SSS 加利福尼亚蓝鲸歌唱的秘密

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

During the summer, blue whales in the Northeastern Pacific spend their days feeding on massive amounts of tiny plankton² called krill.

在夏季，东北太平洋的蓝鲸以大量称为磷虾的微小浮游生物为食。

In fact, krill is all they eat.

事实上，他们以吃磷虾为食。

“It really is remarkable³ that such a small animal is able to sustain the largest life form that’s ever existed on this planet.”

“如此小的动物能够维持这个星球上有史以来最大的生命形式，这真的很了不起。”

Stanford University marine⁴ ecologist Will Oestreich.

斯坦福大学海洋生态学家威廉·奥斯特赖希。

“And to maintain themselves at that body size, they have pretty extreme feeding habits.”

“为了保持这样的体型，它们有非常极端的进食习惯。”

A blue whale consumes many tons of krill every day.

一头蓝鲸每天要消耗数吨磷虾。

Eating keeps the ocean giants occupied during daylight hours, when they dive hundreds of feet below the surface, where krill congregate⁵ in dense⁶ swarms⁷.

当蓝鲸白天潜入地表以下数百英尺，这里是磷虾密集聚集的地方，进食使海洋巨兽忙得不可开交。

But at night, when their prey⁸ disperse⁹, the whales start to sing.

但是到了晚上，当它们的猎物散去时，鲸鱼开始唱歌。

“And they’ll sing for 10, 12 hours straight.”

“他们会连续唱 10、12 个小时。”

The song you just heard was sped up 10 times.

你刚刚听到的歌曲被加速了 10 倍。

“Which brings the sound up more into human hearing range.”

“这使声音更接近人类的听觉范围。”

Speeding up the song enables researchers to more easily study whales’ deep and resonant¹⁰ songs, which can be heard by other whales across vast distances in the ocean.

加快歌声速度使研究人员能够更轻松地研究鲸鱼发出的深沉而嘹亮的歌声，这些歌声可以被海洋中相隔很远的其他鲸鱼听到。

“It’s very likely that song in blue whales is related to some sort of reproductive function, whether that’s attracting a mate or warding¹¹ off other males.”

“蓝鲸的歌声很可能与某种生殖功能有关，无论是吸引配偶还是躲避其他雄性。”

Since 2015, the Monterey Bay Aquarium¹² Research Institute has been recording¹³ the songs of blue whales with an underwater microphone attached to the seafloor.

自 2015 年以来，蒙特雷湾水族馆研究所一直在用连接在海底的水下麦克风录制蓝鲸的歌声。

“24/7, 365 days a year, giving an audio feed of all of the sounds being produced in and around Monter.

“一年365天，每天24小时，每天24小时，提供Monter及其周边所有声音的音频信息。 ”

When Oestreich and his team analyzed¹⁴ the blue whales’ singing behavior across seasons, they noticed an unusual pattern.

当奥斯特赖希和他的团队分析蓝鲸跨季节的歌唱行为时，他们注意到了一种不寻常的模式。

As summer gave way to fall and winter, the whales changed when they sang.

随着夏天让位于秋天和冬天，鲸鱼在唱歌时发生了变化。

“There was more song during the daytime than during the nighttime.”

“白天的歌比晚上多。”

To learn more, the scientists tagged individual whales to keep tabs on both their feeding and singing behavior.

为了了解更多信息，科学家们对个别鲸鱼进行了标记，以密切关注它们的进食和歌唱行为。

As summer krill concentrations wane¹⁵, the whales begin a long southward migration¹⁶ to their breeding grounds off the coast of Mexico and Central America.

随着夏季磷虾密度的下降，鲸鱼开始向南迁移到墨西哥和中美洲海岸附近的繁殖地。

“Once they start migrating, feeding at depth isn’t really a part of the equation anymore.

“一旦它们开始迁徙，在深海觅食就不再是问题的一部分了。 ”

So they switch their primary time of song production to the daytime.”

因此，他们将主要的歌曲制作时间改为白天。”

Knowing when to leave is crucial.

知道什么时候离开很重要。

“It’s really critical that the timing¹⁷ of this transition from feeding to migration be synched with other things happening in their habitats.”

“从进食到迁徙的过渡时间与栖息地中发生的其他事情同步，这一点非常重要。”

The researchers think the seasonal¹⁸ change in singing patterns signals the start of migration, which means ...

研究人员认为，歌唱模式的季节性变化标志着迁移的开始，这意味着......

“We’re now able to determine when the population has switched from feeding to migration.”

“我们现在能够确定人口何时从进食转变为迁徙。”

The study is in the journal Current Biology. (William K. Oestreich et al., Animal-borne metrics enable acoustic¹⁹ detection of blue whale migration).

该研究发表在《当代生物学》杂志上。 （威廉·奥斯特赖希等人，动物传播指标使蓝鲸迁徙的声学检测成为可能）。

The blue whale song recording is courtesy of John Ryan and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

蓝鲸歌曲录音由 约翰·瑞安 和蒙特雷湾水族馆研究所提供。

Blue whales are endangered, but being able to monitor what they’re up to in real time could be a boon²⁰ to conservation efforts—if we’re willing to listen.

蓝鲸濒临灭绝，但如果我们愿意倾听的话，能够实时监控它们的活动可能对保护工作大有裨益。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 congregate   

v.(使)集合，聚集

参考例句：

• Now they can offer a digital place for their readers to congregate and talk.现在他们可以为读者提供一个数字化空间，让读者可以聚集和交谈。
• This is a place where swans congregate.这是个天鹅聚集地。

6 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

7 swarms   

蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They came to town in swarms. 他们蜂拥来到城里。
• On June the first there were swarms of children playing in the park. 6月1日那一天，这个公园里有一群群的孩子玩耍。

8 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

9 disperse   

vi.使分散；使消失；vt.分散；驱散

参考例句：

• The cattle were swinging their tails to disperse the flies.那些牛甩动着尾巴驱赶苍蝇。
• The children disperse for the holidays.孩子们放假了。

10 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

11 warding   

监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Magina channels a powerful warding magic damping the negative effects of spells. 敌法师用守护魔法来抵御负面法术的攻击。
• Indeed, warding off disruption is the principal property of complex systems. 的确，避免破损解体是复杂系统主要的属性。

12 aquarium   

n.水族馆，养鱼池，玻璃缸

参考例句：

• The first time I saw seals was in an aquarium.我第一次看见海豹是在水族馆里。
• I'm going to the aquarium with my parents this Sunday.这个星期天，我要和父母一起到水族馆去。

13 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

14 analyzed   

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

参考例句：

• The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 wane   

n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦

参考例句：

• The moon is on the wane.月亮渐亏。
• Her enthusiasm for him was beginning to wane.她对他的热情在开始减退。

16 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

17 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

18 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

19 acoustic   

adj.听觉的，声音的；(乐器)原声的

参考例句：

• The hall has a fine acoustic.这个大厅的传音效果很好。
• Animals use a whole rang of acoustic, visual,and chemical signals in their systems of communication.动物利用各种各样的听觉、视觉和化学信号来进行交流。

20 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。