火烈鳥復雜的社會生活包括朋友、敵人甚至是友敵

火烈鳥復雜的社會生活包括朋友、敵人甚至是友敵

When you think of flamingos, you likely picture groups of them, their long legs half-submerged in the water. If you look closer, you'll notice two, three or more individuals clustering, so that the large mass seems to be made up of groups. Just like people at a beach or a park, flamingos have their squads too.

當你想到火烈鳥的時候，你可能會想到它們成群結隊的樣子，它們的長腿一半浸在水中。如果你仔細觀察，你會注意到兩個、三個或更多的個體聚集在一起，所以這個巨大的群體似乎是由群體組成的。就像在海灘或公園里的人們一樣，火烈鳥也有自己的小隊。

Look closely at a flock of flamingos, and you'll notice groups hanging out together. (Photo: Aneesh Kotwal/Shutterstock)

That makes sense, since according to a new study published in Behavior Processes, the social lives of flamingos rival that of humans.

這是有道理的，因為根據發(fā)表在《行為過程》雜志上的一項新研究，火烈鳥的社會生活可與人類媲美。

Over five years, researchers have kept track of four different captive flamingo species — Caribbean, Chilean, Andean and lesser flamingos — at the Slimbridge Wetland Centre, part of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), the leading wetland conservation charity in the U.K. During that time they observed their relationships. It was already known that like many species of birds, flamingos pair-bond and stay bonded to their mates over time, and that was backed up by the researchers' observations.

在過去的五年中，研究人員在斯姆布里奇濕地中心對四種不同的圈養(yǎng)火烈鳥進行了跟蹤研究，它們分別來自加勒比海、智利、安第斯山脈和較小的火烈鳥。斯姆布里奇濕地中心隸屬于英國領先的濕地保護慈善機構——野禽和濕地信托基金會(WWT)。人們已經知道，火烈鳥和許多鳥類一樣，會隨著時間的推移配對并保持與配偶的親密關系，這一點得到了研究人員的觀察結果的支持。

Flamingos have more complex social lives than you might guess and their relationships are long-lasting. (Photo: Ondrej Prosicky/Shutterstock)

But they also noticed friendships between same-sex flamingos, and kept track of groups that would hang out together over and over again. Also notable was that some flamingos would avoid certain individuals, indicating they definitely have preferences about who they spend time with. The relationships (both friends and enemies) were maintained over time, which is especially relevant as flamingos can live up to 50 or 60 years.

但他們也注意到了同性火烈鳥之間的友誼，并記錄下了一遍又一遍一起閑逛的群體。同樣值得注意的是，一些火烈鳥會避開某些個體，這表明它們對與誰在一起有明確的偏好。這種關系(包括朋友和敵人)是長期保持的，這一點尤其重要，因為火烈鳥可以活到50或60歲。

"Our results indicate that flamingo societies are complex. They are formed of long-standing friendships rather than loose, random connections," lead author of the study, Dr. Paul Rose, of the University of Exeter, told ZME Science.

“我們的研究結果表明，火烈鳥的社會是復雜的。它們是由長期的友誼而不是松散的、隨機的聯(lián)系形成的。”

Rose and his colleagues also kept track of the flamingos' health (they did this by examining their feet), to see if that had any bearing on their relationships. Even when they weren't well, the sickly flamingos continued to socialize, which likely means that time with other flamingos is important. Flamingos may even depend on a best friend or friends when times get tough.

羅斯和他的同事們還記錄了火烈鳥的健康狀況(他們通過檢查它們的腳來記錄)，看看這是否對它們的關系有影響。即使身體不好，體弱多病的火烈鳥也會繼續(xù)進行社交活動，這可能意味著與其他火烈鳥在一起的時間很重要。在困難的時候，火烈鳥甚至可能依賴于一個或幾個最好的朋友。

This information deepens our understanding of flamingo relationships and how we can help facilitate them, explain the study's authors.

這項研究的作者解釋說，這些信息加深了我們對火烈鳥關系的理解，以及我們如何幫助它們。

"These results are helpful for those working with captive flamingos to consider the number of birds housed so that an array of opportunities for choice of associate and/or breeding partner are available in zoo-housed flocks."

“這些結果有助于研究圈養(yǎng)火烈鳥的人員考慮被圈養(yǎng)的火烈鳥的數量，以便在動物園圈養(yǎng)的鳥群中提供選擇伙伴和/或育種伙伴的一系列機會。”

It also reminds us that the animals we share this planet with often have complex, interesting lives of their own, and they deserve the space and protection they need to keep living them.

這也提醒我們，與我們共同生活在這個星球上的動物通常都有自己復雜而有趣的生活，它們理應得到生存所需的空間和保護。