螞蟻為什么總能找到回家的路英語(yǔ)閱讀
Next time you need directions, maybe ask an ant. Because these clever little critters are such masters of navigation that some can find their way home… whether they’re walking forward, backward, or sideways. That’s according to a study in the journal Current Biology.
下次，當(dāng)你需要辨別方向時(shí)，也許可以問(wèn)問(wèn)小螞蟻。因?yàn)檫@些聰明的小東西真是擅長(zhǎng)導(dǎo)航——無(wú)論是向前向后或者走小路，有些螞蟻總能找到回家的路呢。該研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《當(dāng)代生物學(xué)》雜志。
Ants often travel long distances—well, for them—when they’re searching for food to bring back to their nests. And their built-in GPS appears to function just fine even when they wind up having to travel in reverse because they’re dragging a huge morsel. But how do these backward bugs know where they’re going?
螞蟻通常會(huì)出行很遠(yuǎn)的距離——好吧，對(duì)它們來(lái)講算是很遠(yuǎn)了——當(dāng)它們外出尋找食物回家的時(shí)候。它們身體里內(nèi)置的定位系統(tǒng)即使在它們因?yàn)槔粋�(gè)巨大的食物碎屑而不得不結(jié)束旅行掉頭回家的時(shí)候也能正常發(fā)揮功能。但是這些向后掉頭的小東西是如何知道它們要去的方向呢?
To find out, researchers went to Spain to mess with some desert ants. They found an active nest and surrounded it with barriers that forced the foraging ants to follow a particular path back home. Once the ants were familiar with the maze, the researchers would scoop them up…h(huán)and them a cookie crumb…and then put them back in a different location…one that required taking a 90 degree turn to get to the nest.
為了找尋答案，研究人員們?nèi)ノ靼嘌莉}擾了一下某些沙漠地帶的螞蟻。結(jié)果他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，一個(gè)有活力的巢穴以及圍繞著巢穴的一些屏障會(huì)迫使這些覓食的螞蟻循著一條特殊的路徑返家。一旦這些螞蟻熟悉了這種迷宮式的`路線， 研究人員們就會(huì)把它們拿起來(lái)，給它們一塊餅干碎屑，然后把它們?cè)俜诺搅硪粋�(gè)不同的位置，這里需要調(diào)轉(zhuǎn)90度角的方向才能返回巢穴。
What the researchers saw was that the ants that were carting a small, easy-to-carry crumb would dash forward with confidence and were able to hook a right and head on home. Presumably because they could see where they were going and recognized the route.
研究人員們發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些螞蟻會(huì)抓著小塊的容易攜帶的食物碎屑向前猛沖，并能找到正確的回家方向。或許因?yàn)樗鼈兡茏R(shí)別它們要去的地方的位置和路線。
But some of their nest-mates were given a cookie crumb so large that they had to travel aft-first, pulling their prize behind them. These ants would set off in the correct general direction. But those that stuck with going in reverse would miss the turnoff to the nest.
可是有些同伴負(fù)責(zé)運(yùn)送大一些的食物碎屑，它們就不得不跟著前面的走，后面拽著食物。這些螞蟻可以行駛在正確的方向上，可是那些跟在它們后面的向原來(lái)行駛方向走的螞蟻們就不能掉頭回家。
Some of the rearward ants, however, stopped to get their bearings. They would drop the cookie and turn around to take a look at the landscape. This quick peek allowed the six-legged savants to reset their inner maps. So that after turning back around to grab their cookies they headed in the right direction, even going back-end first.
某些在后面的螞蟻，會(huì)停下去搜索方向。它們會(huì)扔下食物，向四周察看一下。這種快速察看可以使這些六條腿的小工們重新設(shè)置它們已知的地圖。然后它們轉(zhuǎn)回去拿起食物再朝著正確的回家路線行進(jìn)，甚至能追上前面的同伴。
The ants-in-reverse appear to use celestial cues…like the position of the sun…to keep them on the straight and narrow. When the researchers used a mirror to make it look like the sun was on the other side of the sky, the beleaguered backward ants would turn tail for the opposite direction.
這些反轉(zhuǎn)的螞蟻貌似參考了天空上的物質(zhì)定位，比如太陽(yáng)的位置，使它們保持走一條細(xì)直線。但研究人員用一面鏡子模擬太陽(yáng)放在天上的另外一個(gè)位置時(shí)，這些向后走的受到方向困擾的螞蟻，會(huì)調(diào)頭朝向相反的方向走了。
So ants integrate a lot of information…about local landmarks, the position of the sun, and where their bodies are situated in space…to successfully bring home the bacon… all while going backwards.
所以螞蟻是整合了許多信息的，比如位置地標(biāo)、太陽(yáng)的方位，還有它們自己的身體在天地間的位置，然后才能成功把肉帶上，全部調(diào)頭回家。
Lead author Antoine Wystrach, a CNRS researcher at the University of Toulouse 3, adds:
該文章的第一作者Antoine Wystrach，是在圖盧茲第三大學(xué)的一位法國(guó)科研中心的研究人員，他補(bǔ)充道：
“This behavior is interesting in itself, as it implies a synergy between at least three types of memory: the long-term memories of the route sceneries, the memory of the new direction to follow, and the memory of the cookie left behind.”
這個(gè)行為本身很有趣，因?yàn)樗凳玖嗽谥辽儆腥N類(lèi)型的記憶之間的協(xié)同現(xiàn)象，路線周邊的長(zhǎng)期記憶，跟隨的向新方向走的記憶，還有后面帶著食物的記憶 。
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