撰文/播音 Christopher Intagliata克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔
翻译 张清越
审校 潘磊
Songbirds produce a rich repertoire of sounds: songs, of course, but also chatter calls, flight calls and alarm calls: like this high-pitched warning from a black-capped chickadee: <>. But chickadees aren't the only ones endowed with chirping abilities. Turns out a certain type of caterpillar can, too. <> Once again, the bird, then the caterpillar. <> Sounds pretty darn similar.
鸟类能发出一系列多种多样的声音：歌唱声，交谈声，飞行声和警告声。比如说，黑顶山雀的高频叫声就是警告声。鸟类不是唯一会叽叽喳喳地叫的，研究证明一种确定类型的毛毛虫也能发出类似的声音。
" Yeah it's pretty crazy." Jessica Lindsay is a biologist at the University of Washington. She says this species, the North American walnut sphinx caterpillar, makes the sound using tiny pairs of breathing holes, called spiracles. "They compress themselves lengthwise like an accordion and so that compression pushes air out of the spiracles, making whistling sounds."
“这真疯狂。”华盛顿大学的生物学家杰西卡·林赛（Jessica Lindsay）说道。她表示，这种北美胡桃天蛾的幼虫可以通过用一对微小的气孔来发出声音。“它们把自己的身体像手风琴一样纵向收缩，从而把空气压出气孔，发出口哨一般的声音。”
A cool coincidence, for sure. But here's where it gets interesting. Lindsay then played the caterpillar whistle through a speaker near a bird feeder. And the birds—of many different species—dove for cover. "Sometimes we'd see nuthatches flicking their wings, which is a big sign of distress for them. Sometimes it would take a really long time to return to feeding, which is a big indicator that they were taking that whistling noise pretty seriously."
多有意思的巧合，但更有趣的是，当林赛在一个鸟类喂食器旁边用音响播放这种毛毛虫的口哨声时，周边各式各样的鸟类都俯冲下地寻找掩护了。“有时我们能看见五子雀扑棱它们的翅膀，这是一种强烈不安的表现。有时它们需要很长时间才能重新恢复进食。这是一个有力的证据说明鸟类对毛毛虫的口哨声是有反应的，而且是非常严肃直接的反应。
And whereas the birds were unperturbed by the song of a house finch—a control sound—they responded to the caterpillar whistles with almost the same urgency as when they heard that real alarm call <> from a chickadee. Suggesting the caterpillars… are onto something. "They're basically using bird speak to say that there's a dangerous predator in the area and that the birds better get into cover."
这些鸟类对家雀的鸣叫声毫不受干扰，却对毛毛虫的口哨声产生了类似听到同类真正的警告声时的剧烈反应。毛毛虫吹“口哨“恐怕另有所图。“它们本质上就是在用鸟语说，这里有危险的捕食者，所有鸟类最好寻找掩护。“
Lindsay presented the results at the International Symposium on Acoustic Communication by Animals in Omaha. [Jessica Lindsay and Erick Greene, Whistling Caterpillars Mimic the Alarm Calls of their Predators]
林赛在奥马哈的国际动物声学传播研讨会上展示了她的研究结果。
Previous work suggests the caterpillars whistle when pecked at by birds. And they sometimes squeal, too: <> Suggesting they may have more than one scare tactic, to worm their way out of trouble.
之前的研究工作表明，北美胡桃天蛾幼虫在被鸟类捕食时会发出口哨声，有时候也会发出尖叫声。它们可能准备有多种恐吓策略，来帮助自己摆脱困境。
京公网安备11010502039775号
信息网络传播视听节目许可证0111611号
国家科技基础条件平台
