VOA慢速英语2020--公象毕竟也不孤独

Male Elephants Are Not Loners After All

A group of elephants walk across an area in northern Botswana. Their ears move and their trunks sometimes touch the ground. As they pass, a camera, hidden in low plants, records the presence of each elephant.

What is special about this group? It is only males.

Female elephants are known to form tight family groups that are led by experienced females.

Males were thought to be loners - creatures that are often alone. They often leave their mother's herd¹ when they reach 10 to 20 years of age.

However, a new study shows that young males are not always loners.

Younger male elephants were seen following older males as they traveled from place to place. The findings support other research that suggests older males play an important part in elephants' complex society.

The study was published recently in Scientific Reports. Researchers studied videos of 1,264 sightings of male African elephants. The elephants were traveling toward Botswana's Boteti River in 2017 and 2018. They found that younger males rarely traveled alone. Older males most often led groups of mixed ages.

Diana Reiss is the director of the Animal Behavior and Conservation Program at Hunter College. Reiss was not involved in the new study.

"Mature male elephants often take a position at the front of the line when they are leading the group," she said.

Reiss added, "In human societies, grandparents are valued because they make really important contributions — helping² with childcare and passing down knowledge gained over decades...We're now learning this pattern is also true for some other long-lived mammals, including dolphins, whales and elephants."

This is the first study of African savannah elephants of its kind. A 2019 paper also used cameras to find similar male group actions among Asian elephants.

Scientists have long known more about breeding herds³ of female elephants, said Connie Allen, a biologist at the University of Exeter in Britain.

Allen was a co-writer of the new paper. She added that males have complex social lives, and their groupings are not only shaped by family ties.

When several young male elephants were introduced into a park in Pilanesberg, South Africa in the mid-1990s, they were very aggressive. They killed 40 white rhinoceros⁴. But their behavior changed after six older male elephants were added to the park.

"In some way, the older males create order," said Carl Safina, an ecologist at Stony⁵ Brook⁶ University. Safina also was not involved in the new study.

Mature male elephants are larger and have longer tusks⁷ – a kind of large tooth that sticks out of the mouth. They are often the target of hunters – both legal and illegal – in Africa.

Allen said that future conservation plans should consider the part that older males play. Males are more mysterious, she said, "but it turns out they aren't such loners."

I'm John Russell.

Words in This Story

trunk – n. the long, flexible nose of an elephant

herd – n. a group of animals that live or are kept together

mature – adj. not young : middle-aged⁸ or older

contribution – n. the act of giving something : the act of contributing

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

breeding –n. the process by which animals produce and care for their young; related to producing and caring for the young

conservation – n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

1 herd   

n.兽群，牧群；vt.使集中，把…赶在一起

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见，只是人云亦云。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 herds   

兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众

参考例句：

• Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
• There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。

4 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

5 stony   

adj.石头的，多石头的，冷酷的，无情的

参考例句：

• The ground is too dry and stony.这块地太干，而且布满了石头。
• He listened to her story with a stony expression.他带着冷漠的表情听她讲经历。

6 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

7 tusks   

n.（象等动物的）长牙( tusk的名词复数 )；獠牙；尖形物；尖头

参考例句：

• The elephants are poached for their tusks. 为获取象牙而偷猎大象。
• Elephant tusks, monkey tails and salt were used in some parts of Africa. 非洲的一些地区则使用象牙、猴尾和盐。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

8 middle-aged   

adj.中年的

参考例句：

• I noticed two middle-aged passengers.我注意到两个中年乘客。
• The new skin balm was welcome by middle-aged women.这种新护肤香膏受到了中年妇女的欢迎。