VOA慢速英语--新发现甲虫分泌物:能为食物保鲜

New Findings: Beetle¹ Uses 'Gut² Goop' to Protect Its Food

Like all good parents, some beetles³ go to great lengths, or do a lot, for their offspring. To humans, though, some of this beetle behavior can be surprising or even gross.

To feed their future offspring, beetles look for dead animals, like mice or birds. But before burying the animals for safe keeping, the insects clean the skin and roll the body into a ball. Then they cover the body in a thick liquid sometimes called goop. (Technically it is called "gut secretions⁵.")

Scientists used to think this goop was only used to slow the decaying process. Now, however, they think it does more than that. It might also hide the smell of the decaying body and create another smell that tricks other competitors in search of food.

The leader of the research, Stephen Trumbo, said this goop "helps them to hide their resource from others. They try to keep everyone away."

Trumbo studies animal behavior at the University of Connecticut. The findings were recently published in a study appearing in The American Naturalist⁶.

Not surprisingly, these beetles are called burying beetles. And in nature, they are not the only the creatures who try to trick their competitors or animals they hunt. Take for example a flower called the Corpse⁷ flower. It produces rotting smells to appeal to insect pollinators. This makes sure the flower will continue to live on.

In nature, there is much competition for food. When an animal dies, other animals that feed on dead bodies, called scavengers, race to find the bodies. Scavengers -- such as burying beetles, vultures, opossums, maggots, and others -- use many different senses and body parts to do this. Burying beetles, for example, use special antennae⁹ to find the remains¹⁰ from far away.

Burying beetles are large, about two-and-half centimeters long. They are black with orange markings. Their gut secretion⁴ -- the goop they put on the dead bodies -- is antibacterial and slows down the decaying process.

Trumbo and his team carried out experiments to try to answer one main question: Can the goop also cover the decaying smell and prevent other animals from finding the food?

To do this, they looked at burying beetles found in the forests of North America. They collected the gases that come off dead hairless mice – a popular food source for the burying beetle.

The researchers then compared the gases coming off the bodies of the untouched mice (without goop) with the gases coming off the ones prepared by the burying beetles (with goop.)

The bodies with the beetle goop gave off much less of a strong-smelling compound that usually brings other burying beetles. The scientists also found an increase in another kind of gas found in decaying bodies. That gas is known to deter¹¹ other insects that feed on dead animals.

Next, they dropped off the dead mice in a Connecticut forest. Results of the experiments showed that the beetle's competitors were less likely to discover the mice that were covered in goop.

Daniel Rozen is a biologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands. He was not involved in the research. But he said of the findings: "If you can deter other scavengers, even for a little bit of time, it can buy you a lot."

Words in This Story

offspring – n. the young of an animal or plant

gut – n. the internal organs of an animal

secretion – n. biology : a substance produced and given off by a plant or animal part

decay – v. to be slowly destroyed by natural processes : to be slowly broken down by the natural processes that destroy a dead plant or body

pollinator – n. an agent such as an insect that pollinates flowers

scavenger⁸ – n. an animal that feeds on dead or decaying material

antennae – n. a thin sensitive organ on the head of an insect, crab¹², etc., that is used mainly to feel and touch things

deter – v. to cause (someone) to decide not to do something : to prevent something from happening

1 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。

2 gut   

n.[pl.]胆量；内脏；adj.本能的；vt.取出内脏

参考例句：

• It is not always necessary to gut the fish prior to freezing.冷冻鱼之前并不总是需要先把内脏掏空。
• My immediate gut feeling was to refuse.我本能的直接反应是拒绝。

3 beetles   

n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Beetles bury pellets of dung and lay their eggs within them. 甲壳虫把粪粒埋起来，然后在里面产卵。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• This kind of beetles have hard shell. 这类甲虫有坚硬的外壳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

4 secretion   

n.分泌

参考例句：

• Is there much secretion from your eyes?你眼里的分泌物多吗？
• In addition,excessive secretion of oil,water scarcity are also major factors.除此之外，油脂分泌过盛、缺水也都是主要因素。

5 secretions   

n.分泌（物）( secretion的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lysozyme is an enzyme found in egg white, tears, and other secretions. 溶菌酶是存在于卵白、泪和其他分泌物中的一种酶。 来自辞典例句
• Chest percussion and vibration are used with postural drainage to help dislodge secretions. 在做体位引流时要敲击和振动胸部帮助分泌物松动排出。 来自辞典例句

6 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

7 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

8 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

9 antennae   

n.天线；触角

参考例句：

• Sometimes a creature uses a pair of antennae to swim.有时某些动物使用其一对触须来游泳。
• Cuba's government said that Cubans found watching American television on clandestine antennae would face three years in jail.古巴政府说那些用秘密天线收看美国电视的古巴人将面临三年监禁。

10 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

11 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

12 crab   

n.螃蟹，偏航，脾气乖戾的人，酸苹果；vi.捕蟹，偏航，发牢骚；vt.使偏航，发脾气

参考例句：

• I can't remember when I last had crab.我不记得上次吃蟹是什么时候了。
• The skin on my face felt as hard as a crab's back.我脸上的皮仿佛僵硬了，就象螃蟹的壳似的。