Think humans are at the top of the food chain? Not quite, in parts of Africa. Lions have attacked over 1000 people in Tanzania in the last 20 years. Two thirds of those attacks were ___1___, and the victims were eaten. But there does seem to be a way to lower the risk of becoming dinner—avoid going out before moonrise on the nights following the full moon. So says a study in the journal Public Library of Science One. [Craig Packer et al, Fear of Darkness, the Full Moon and the Nocturnal Ecology of African Lions]

Researchers ___2___ the timing of nearly 500 of those lion attacks against the phases of the moon. And they found that the odds of being ___3___ by a lion were highest on nights following the full moon—nights when the moon rises late, providing hours of darkness for lions to ___4___.

And previous studies have found that the fatter the moon, the slimmer the lion. Probably because the bright nights make hunting harder. So lions are hungriest around the full moon too—and more willing to ___5___ two-legged prey, as soon as they're provided the cover of darkness. The authors speculate that humans may be afraid of the dark because this situation has long been true. Seems like a bit of a stretch. But you won't find me strolling the Serengeti after a full moon.
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽出品】
fatal plotted devoured stage a strike pounce on
人類處于食物鏈的最高級么？在非洲某些地區(qū)可就不一定了。過去20年間，坦桑尼亞地區(qū)的獅子襲擊了1000多人。2/3的攻擊都是致命的，遇襲的人類也就成了獅子的盤中餐了。不過，要降低成為獅子盤中餐的方法還是有的——滿月之后那幾晚月出之前千萬別出門?！豆部茖W(xué)圖書館?綜合》上的某篇報道如是說。 研究人員根據(jù)月相盈虧繪制出進500頭獅子發(fā)動攻擊的時間表，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)，滿月之后的幾個夜晚被獅子吞食的幾率最高——這幾晚月出比較晚，這也就為獅子們趁天黑埋伏突襲提供了好幾個小時的時間。 之前有研究表明，月亮越大月圓，獅子就越瘦弱。可能明亮的夜晚給獅子獵食帶來比較大的困難，因此，滿月前后也是獅子最饑餓的時候——也就最可能在夜色掩護下對人類下手。筆者推斷，人們怕黑，是怕被獅子獵食。雖然看似言過其實，不過我可不會傻到滿月之后在賽倫蓋蒂平原上瞎逛送死……