黑猩猩曾被發(fā)現(xiàn)向樹扔石頭和毫無理由地大喊大叫

黑猩猩曾被發(fā)現(xiàn)向樹扔石頭和毫無理由地大喊大叫

Chimpanzees in West Africa have a song, and it goes like this - hoot loudly, and then throw a rock at a tree. Maybe twice. And then saunter away.

西非的黑猩猩有一首歌，它是這樣唱的——大聲地叫，然后向一棵樹扔石頭。也許兩次。然后就溜掉了。

Whatever it is our primate cousins are trying to do, we honestly have no idea. But a close look at their choice of instruments just might provide some clues, as the chimps have been observed throwing the rocks at certain types of trees.

不管我們的靈長類表親想做什么，我們真的不知道。但仔細觀察他們選擇的工具可能會提供一些線索，因為黑猩猩曾被觀察到用石頭砸某些類型的樹。

Primatologists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, who first observed this behaviour a few years ago, have now tossed some rocks of their own to determine whether rock-hurling would work as a type of communication.

德國馬克斯·普朗克進化人類學(xué)研究所的靈長類動物學(xué)家在幾年前第一次觀察到這種行為，現(xiàn)在他們已經(jīng)投擲了一些自己的石頭，以確定投擲石頭是否可以作為一種交流方式。

It's no secret that our primate relatives use stones for a variety of practical purposes, from extracting tortoise fresh from the can to casting them as weapons.

眾所周知，我們的靈長類親戚把石頭用于各種各樣的實際用途，從從罐頭里取出剛從罐頭里取出的烏龜，到把石頭作為武器。

In 2016, the Max Planck primatologists recorded chimpanzees from four wild populations in West Africa hooting excitedly and then throwing a single rock at the wide base of a large tree before running off.

2016年，馬克斯·普朗克靈長類動物學(xué)家記錄了來自西非四個野生種群的黑猩猩興奮地叫著，然后向一棵大樹寬闊的底部扔一塊石頭，然后逃跑。

Exactly why they did this wasn't at all clear. There's a sense of something cultural, even ritualistic about the practice. Stones had piled up at the bases of the regularly used tree-drums, suggesting there is something special about those particular instruments.

他們這樣做的確切原因完全不清楚。這是一種文化上的感覺，甚至是一種儀式。石頭堆積在經(jīng)常使用的鼓的底部，表明這些特殊的樂器有一些特別之處。

One possibility is that the clunk-crash noise of the collision communicates a message over long distances, similar to how Australian palm cockatoos might use sticks to bash out a beat in search of a mate.

一種可能性是，碰撞發(fā)出的碰撞聲在遠距離上傳遞了一種信息，就像澳大利亞棕櫚鳳頭鸚鵡在尋找配偶時可能會用棍子敲打一樣。

The researchers were also struck by the fact that the chimps that practiced 'accumulative stone throwing' (AST) didn't throw them at any old type of tree; they returned to the same species time and again.

研究人員還驚訝于這樣一個事實，即練習(xí)“累計扔石頭”(AST)的黑猩猩不會向任何一種古樹扔石頭;他們一次又一次地回到同一物種。

Maybe the wood had a special quality that carried sound through the forest, like some sort of chimp telegraph service? One that said 'stay clear of us' or 'check out my rock throwing skills, baby!'

也許木頭有一種特殊的性質(zhì)，能把聲音傳送到森林里，就像某種黑猩猩的電報服務(wù)?一個說“離我們遠點”或者“寶貝，看看我扔石頭的本事!”

We predicted that chimpanzee AST tree species produce sounds that have energy concentrated at lower frequencies and a greater resonance since these impact sounds would be optimal for long-distance communication, the team writes in their new report.

研究小組在他們的新報告中寫道:“我們預(yù)測，黑猩猩的AST樹會發(fā)出能量集中在較低頻率和更強共振的聲音，因為這些撞擊聲音最適合遠距離通信。”