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Blackjack, slot machines, good ol’ Texas hold’em. People love to gamble. And we’re not the only ones. A new study shows that pigeons will also ____1____ a sure thing in the hopes of a big payoff. The work appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.
Theories about foraging say that animals should stick with the proverbial bird in the hand, especially when it comes to food. Eating is key to survival, so clever critters shouldn’t take unnecessary chances. But these new findings suggest that pigeons don’t always play it safe.
Scientists set up _____2___ in which pigeons could place their bets on one of two symbols. Peck at symbol 1 and you get three food pellets. Never more, never less. Symbol 2 was the wildcard. Choose that one and 20 percent of the time, you’ll ____3____: 10 food pellets. The rest of the time you’ll get nothing. But the lure of the big win was too hard to resist: pigeons chose to gamble more than 80 percent of the time, even though, on average, that path ____4____ fewer pellets.
Perhaps it’s the joy of a pleasant surprise. Because even for ____5____, hitting the lottery is a hoot.
pass up an avian casino hit the jackpot paid out a literal bird brain
二十一點、吃角子老虎機和德州撲克——人們都喜歡賭博，但喜歡賭博的不只是人。一項新研究顯示，鴿子也會為了獲得更大的回報而放棄一些近在眼前的好處。這項研究刊登在《皇家科學月刊》上。 覓食理論告訴我們，動物會貫徹所謂的“一鳥在手勝于雙鳥在林”這種諺語，面對食物時更是堅定不移。吃東西是生存的關鍵，因此聰明的動物不會冒不必要的險。但是新的研究表示鴿子并不會總是謹慎行事。 科學家們搭建了一個空中賭場，讓鴿子們在兩個標志之間“下賭注”。在標志1處，鴿子可以啄食三粒食物，就三顆，不多也不少。而標志2處是個未知領域。如果選擇了這個地方，鴿子就有20%的可能中頭獎：得到十粒食物。其余80%的情況則不會得到任何東西。但是頭獎的誘惑太難抵擋了：80%的情況下鴿子都會選擇賭一把。雖然這個選擇平均來講得到的食物更少。 可能這是個讓人感到愉悅的驚喜。因為就算在鳥兒那毫無想象力的腦袋瓜里面，賭博都是一個誘人的陷阱。