科學60秒:"頭大"的城里小鳥
來源：滬江聽寫酷
2011-08-07 10:00
Cities have a lot to offer: theater, music, restaurants, birds. Yes, birds. But city birds are not like other birds. Because big cities are [--1--] by birds with big brains. That’s according to a study in the journal Biology Letters.
It can take smarts to survive in the big city. Especially for birds. The urban environment is very different from the one in which their ancestors were born and [--2--]. But do city birds really need more gray matter to make it?
Scientists surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows, pigeons and anything that [--3--], in and around 12 cities in central Europe. They classified the birds as those that breed in the heart of the city or those that avoid the [--4--]. And then they compared the bird brains.
The results? Birds that prosper on the city streets have larger brains than their [--5--]. So it seems that novel environments, including urban landscapes, may select for street smarts—at least for birds that flock toward the city lights.
Urban areas continue to spread. So to survive, our feathered friends may need to expand their minds as they spread their wings.
【視聽版科學小組榮譽出品】
It can take smarts to survive in the big city. Especially for birds. The urban environment is very different from the one in which their ancestors were born and [--2--]. But do city birds really need more gray matter to make it?
Scientists surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows, pigeons and anything that [--3--], in and around 12 cities in central Europe. They classified the birds as those that breed in the heart of the city or those that avoid the [--4--]. And then they compared the bird brains.
The results? Birds that prosper on the city streets have larger brains than their [--5--]. So it seems that novel environments, including urban landscapes, may select for street smarts—at least for birds that flock toward the city lights.
Urban areas continue to spread. So to survive, our feathered friends may need to expand their minds as they spread their wings.
【視聽版科學小組榮譽出品】
inhabited
fledged
perches
hustle and bustle
pastoral relations
"頭大"的城里小鳥
城市里有什么? 有劇院, 音樂, 酒店和小鳥. 恩, 有小鳥. 但是城里小鳥跟其他地方的小鳥不一樣. 《生物學快報》雜志上的一項研究結(jié)果表明, 居住在城里的小鳥腦袋更大.
在大城市中生存需要有一定的智慧, 尤其是鳥類. 城市壞境和它們老祖宗的生長環(huán)境截然不同. 但是就因為這樣, 城里小鳥就需要變得更聰明嗎?
科學家們調(diào)查了82種燕雀, 包括麻雀, 鴿子和所有在歐洲中心12座城市落腳的小鳥. 他們將城市中心繁殖的小鳥和遠離喧囂的小鳥分開來比較它們的大腦.
結(jié)果呢? 在城市街道上生存的小鳥的腦袋比它們的鄉(xiāng)下親戚大得多. 這似乎是在新鮮的環(huán)境下, 比如說都市風景, 具有街頭智慧的小鳥才能生存, 至少對于那些憧憬城市生活的小鳥來說是這樣.
