十種身懷絕技的昆蟲(下)

Beetles

5.蜣螂

There are two reasons why dung beetles are included in this list: poop and astronomy. This might surprise you, but these two seemingly-unrelated subjects have been connected by these incredible creatures.

將蜣螂列入這項名單的原因有兩個：糞便和天文學。也許看到這兒你會非常吃驚，但是這兩件看似不搭邊的事情，卻在蜣螂身上被神奇地結合了。

Dung beetles live a very disgusting lifestyle. They collect animal wastes, roll it up into a ball, and use it for several purposes. They can use the ball as their homes, lay their eggs on it, or if they're hungry, snack on it. Now, what's amazing is that dung beetles have the incredible ability to roll their "dung balls" in a straight line even at night! Intrigued by this fascinating ability, Marie Dacke, a biologist from Lund University in Sweden, conducted an experiment. She placed the dung beetles in a planetarium, and watched as the insects were able to successfully roll their dung ball in a straight line by using the "entire starry sky" make the experiment more interesting, Dacke decided to show only the Milky Way Galaxy. Surprisingly, the dung beetles were still capable of rolling their precious dung balls in a straight line. The conclusion: dung beetles are great recyclers and incredible astronomers.

蜣螂的生活方式可以說令人作嘔。它們收集動物的糞便，把糞便滾成一個球。這個糞球對它們有很多用途，可以是它們的房子，育嬰室，或者供它們充飢的一大塊糕點。而令人驚奇的是，即使在伸手不見五指的夜裏，蜣螂也總是能沿一條直線滾動糞球。瑞典隆德大學的一位生物學家——瑪麗·達克——對蜣螂的這一奇特能力很好奇，並做了一項實驗。她把蜣螂放入天象儀投射出的"星空"，觀察蜣螂是否能沿直線滾動糞球。爲了使實驗更有趣，達克只投射出了銀河系。而令人驚歎的是，蜣螂依舊沿着一條直線滾動着它們心愛的糞球。由此得出結論：蜣螂是滾糞球的專家，同時，也是不可思議的"宇航員"。

onflies

4.蜻蜓

We humans have the amazing ability of selective attention. Right now, you're using this power to eliminate various distractions and focus on reading and understanding this list. For many years, scientists have believed that only primates possess this amazing ability. However, a new research shows that a specific winged creature in the insect world is also capable of selective attention—Dragonflies.

人類有個很神奇的能力，被稱爲"選擇性注意"。閱讀本篇文章時，你就是運用了這項能力，剔除其他影響，心無旁騖地將精力集中在閱讀和理解上。多年以來，科學家們相信只有靈長類動物才具有這一神奇的能力。然而，一項新的研究成果表明，一種特殊的帶翼昆蟲也會"選擇性注意"——蜻蜓。

Dragonflies have very small brains and yet, when hunting for food, they rely on selective attention. If a dragonfly sees a swarm of tiny insects, it's going to lock its attention on one prey alone. Through selective attention, it eliminates other potential prey within the swarm and focuses solely on its target. Dragonflies are very accurate when it comes to catching their prey. Their success rate is very high – 97 percent!

蜻蜓的大腦很小，然而，當追逐獵物時它們也依賴於"選擇性注意"。面對一大羣小蟲子的時候，蜻蜓只會專注於捕捉其中的一隻。通過"選擇性注意"，它剔除了這羣小蟲中其他小蟲的影響，只專注於捕捉它的目標獵物。蜻蜓在捕捉獵物時非常精準，成功率高達97%。

3.螞蟻

Ants have the amazing ability of always finding their way back home even if they've wandered far away in search for food. Scientists have long known that ants employ various visual cues to remind them of where their colony is. However, in some places, like deserts, where there are no distinct landmarks, how do ants manage to find their way back home? This is the same question that Dr. Markus Knaden, Dr. Kathrin Steck, and Prof. Bill Hanson of the Max-Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Germany tried to answer with a very simple experiment.

螞蟻很神奇的是，即使因爲外出覓食而遠離巢穴，它們也總能找到回去的路。科學家們早已經發現，螞蟻可以利用很多視覺線索來當作返回巢穴的路標。然而，在諸如沙漠等沒有明顯地標的地方，螞蟻又是怎樣找到回家的路的呢？德國馬克思慕朗科化學生態學研究所的馬庫斯·克納登和卡特琳·施特克博士，以及比爾·漢森教授曾做了一個簡單的實驗來回答這個問題。

For their experiment, the scientists used Tunisian desert ants. They placed four different odors around the entrance of the ants' nest, and made sure that the entrance was barely visible. After letting the ants associate the odors with their nest, they were then removed and then placed in a different location, one with no nest and no entrance. Only the four odors used previously in the first location were risingly, the ants went to the area where the odors were located (the same spot where the nest entrance should have been)! This experiment proved that ants can smell in stereo, which means that they can sense two different odors at the same time from two unique directions. Moreover, it also proved that in places, like deserts, ants don't rely on visual cues. They create an "odor map" of their environment by relying on their "stereo sense of smell". As long as the odor is there, they will always find their way back home.

實驗中，科學家們選用了突尼斯沙漠螞蟻。他們在蟻巢出口周圍散放了四種不同氣味的東西，並確保蟻巢出口很隱蔽，不容易被看見。當螞蟻已經將這四種氣味和蟻巢建立起了聯繫，科學家們就把這四樣東西從蟻巢出口附近移開，放置在沒有任何巢穴和入口的地方。令人吃驚的是，螞蟻爬到了這四樣東西被移動到的地方（並且是先前蟻巢入口應該在的那個點）！這個實驗證明，螞蟻的嗅覺是立體的，它們可以同時聞到兩個不同方位發出的不同氣味。同時這個實驗也證實了，在諸如沙漠的這些地方，螞蟻並不依賴於視覺線索。它們通過"立體嗅覺"描繪出了周邊環境的"氣味地圖"。只要氣味還在，它們就不會迷路。

oo Wasps

2.巫毒黃蜂

Voodoo wasps are called such because of their "magical" ability to turn their prey or enemies into "zombies". This might sound like something you'd see in a sci-fi flick, but scientists have proven that voodoo wasps are indeed capable of inducing other insects into a zombie-like state. What's more eerie is that, once the insects become zombies, voodoo wasps can control them.

巫毒黃蜂之所以被稱爲"巫毒黃蜂"是因爲它們像有"巫術"一樣，可以將它們的獵物或者天敵變成聽話的"殭屍"。這聽起來就像是科幻小說裏纔會出現的橋段，但是科學家們已經證實，巫毒黃蜂確實有這樣的能力，可以將其他昆蟲誘變成"行屍走肉"。更奇異的是，化身"殭屍"的昆蟲還會變成巫毒黃蜂最聽話的僕人。

Voodoo wasps lay their eggs inside the bodies of young geometrid caterpillars. The larvae inside the caterpillars survive by feeding on the bodily fluids of their host. Once the larvae achieve full development, they find their way out of the caterpillar's body by eating its skin. Then, they create a cocoon and attach themselves into a leaf or a branch. Here comes the slightly terrifying, yet equally fascinating part. The host the caterpillar doesn't leave the cocoon — instead of doing its usual business, the caterpillar acts as the cocoon's bodyguard, protecting it from various archers conducted an experiment which showed that infected caterpillars do become the "zombie bodyguards" of voodoo wasps by introducing stinkbugs. Caterpillars which were not infected didn't do anything to stop the stinkbug from going near the cocoon. On the other hand, infected caterpillars protected the cocoon by knocking the bug off the branch. Scientists don't know why the infected caterpillars protect the cocoon. However, they did find out that this incredible ability of voodoo wasps is crucial for their survival.

巫毒黃蜂將卵產在幼生期的尺蠖毛蟲體內，孵化出的黃蜂幼蟲以宿主的體液爲食。一旦幼蟲發育成熟，它們就咬破毛蟲的皮膚鑽出來，之後在樹葉或枝杈上結繭。至此，最可怕也是最精彩的部分就來了——尺蠖毛蟲非但沒有離開繭去繼續它的生活，反而像個保鏢一樣守在繭旁，替黃蜂幼蟲抵抗各種捕食者。研究人員引導臭蟲接近黃蜂幼蟲的繭，通過這個實驗證實了尺蠖毛蟲確實被蜂毒變成了"殭屍保鏢"。他們發現，正常的尺蠖毛蟲對臭蟲的行爲沒有任何反應，而中了蜂毒的尺蠖毛蟲則像保鏢一樣展開了攻擊。科學家們目前還沒有研究出爲什麼蜂毒可以使尺蠖毛蟲保護蟲繭，但可以肯定的是，巫毒黃蜂的這一能力對它們的生存是至關重要的。

ardier Beetle

1.放屁甲蟲

When it comes to defensive strategies in the insect world, nothing beats the Bombardier beetle. This creature has the incredible ability to fire a hot mixture of chemical solution strong enough to injure its enemies. The toxic solution sprayed by the beetle can reach an impressive temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit, or 100 degrees Celsius.

談到昆蟲的防衛策略，放屁甲蟲的本事絕對位居榜首。這種小蟲子有一項絕技，它們可以噴射出一種高溫的化學溶液混合物，以此來攻擊它們的天敵。值得一提的是，放屁甲蟲噴射出的有毒溶液溫度高達華氏212度，或者說攝氏100度。

But what's even more fascinating is the intricate design of the Bombardier beetle's body. You see, the two chemicals, hydrogen peroxide and hydroquinone, which this insect uses to injure its enemies are dangerous and fatal. If not stored and combined properly, these chemicals would cause the Bombardier beetle to explode! Were it not for their well-designed bodies, Bombardier beetles would have never existed. At the end of this insect's abdomen are two glands. These two glands separate the hydrogen peroxide from the hydroquinone. If the Bombardier beetle feels threatened, its sphincter muscles will squeeze the right amount of chemicals into a certain body part where they are mixed together with other toxic substances. The result is a hot mixture of toxic chemicals capable of hurting the Bombardier beetle's enemies.

更吸引人的是放屁甲蟲複雜的身體構造。它們用來抵禦天敵的兩種化學溶液。過氧化氫和對苯二酚，都是高危致命的化學品。如果儲存和混合不當，放屁甲蟲就會被炸得粉身碎骨。如果不是完美的身體構造，根本不會有放屁甲蟲這個物種的存在。在放屁甲蟲的下腹尾端有兩條腺體，分別儲存着過氧化氫和對苯二酚。當放屁甲蟲感受到威脅時，它們就會收縮括約肌，將適量的化學溶液擠壓進特殊的混合腔。最後將混合後的高溫有毒混合物噴射出體內，重傷天敵。

翻譯：程錦 來源：前十網