Some animals don't want to run the risk of getting infected by disease-carrying and itchy ticks and mosquitoes, so they use their own form of insect repellent.
有些动物不想冒被携带疾病、发痒的蜱虫和蚊子感染的风险,因此它们使用自己的驱虫剂。
Various species of capuchin monkeys from South America and some species of lemurs from Madagascar have been observed hunting the slinky millipede Orthoporus dorsovittatus, biting and crushing the worm in their hands, and then coating their fur with the oozing goo from its insides.
人们观察到,来自南美的各种卷尾猴和来自马达加斯加的一些狐猴,会捕猎柔软的千足虫Orthoporus dorsovittatus,它们会用手咬住并压碎这种蠕虫,然后用蠕虫内部渗出的粘液涂在它们的皮毛上。
They did this more during seasons when mosquitoes and other biting insects were more abundant.
在蚊子和其他叮咬昆虫更丰富的季节,他们会更频繁地这样做。
And in 2003, scientists discovered that these millipedes secrete toxic chemicals called benzoquinones which actively repel mosquitoes.
2003年,科学家发现这些千足虫会分泌一种叫做苯醌的有毒化学物质,可以有效驱除蚊子。
"Does this mean they know what they are doing? Not necessarily. They could just be doing do it because it feels good," says Emory University evolutionary biologist Jacobus De Roode. "But we do know the behavior helps against bites and infections."
“这是否意味着它们知道自己在做什么?未必。它们可能只是因为感觉良好而这样做,”埃默里大学进化生物学家雅各布斯·德鲁德说。“但我们确实知道这种行为有助于防止叮咬和感染。”
In a 2022 study on chimpanzees in Gabon, scientists observed a total of 76 different times chimps accidentally wounded themselves.
在2022年对加蓬的黑猩猩进行的一项研究中,科学家观察到黑猩猩总共有76次不同时间意外受伤。
In 19 of those cases, the chimps tended to their wound in an unusual way -- with squished insects.
在其中19个案例中,黑猩猩以一种不寻常的方式处理伤口--用压碎的昆虫。
A chimp called Freddy, who had a day-old wound on his left arm, was spotted snatching a leaf and using his mouth to pluck off an unidentified insect, then pressing it softly against the gash.
一只名叫弗雷迪的黑猩猩的左臂上有一个伤口已经一天了,有人发现它抓起一片叶子,用嘴叼掉一只身份不明的昆虫,然后轻轻地将它压在伤口上。
Chimps did this for each other as well: one chimpanzee female caught an insect and handed it over to another unrelated chimpanzee male, who then applied it to the open wound of another unrelated male.
黑猩猩之间也这样做:一只雌性黑猩猩抓住一只昆虫,并将其交给另一只无关的雄性黑猩猩,然后雄性黑猩猩将其涂在另一只无关的雄性的开放性伤口上。
These behaviors weren't "just a coincidence," says Simone Pika, a comparative biocognition researcher at the University of Osnabrück, but they don't know whether this behavior indeed helps to increase wound healing.
奥斯纳布吕克大学的比较生物认知研究员西蒙娜·皮卡表示,这些行为“不仅仅是巧合”,但它们不知道这种行为是否确实有助于促进伤口愈合。
It may just be a social custom the chimpanzees of that community have learned, she says, but given the "unambiguous context" of the wounds, there's reason to believe this is a medication behavior.
她说,这可能只是该群体的黑猩猩学到的一种社会习俗,但考虑到伤口的“明确背景”,有理由相信这是一种药物行为。
In Mexico City Universidad Nacional Anutónoma de México behavioral ecologist Constantino de Jesús Macías García's students found that the most common man-made item local birds used to make their nests were cigarettes.
在墨西哥城墨西哥国立阿努托诺马大学,行为生态学家康斯坦丁诺·德·赫苏斯·马西亚斯·加西亚的学生发现,当地鸟类用来筑巢的最常见的人造物品是香烟。
Since nicotine, derived from tobacco, is occasionally used as a parasite repellent for garden pests, his team tested whether birds were lining their homes with shreds of cigarettes for this purpose.
由于从烟草中提取的尼古丁偶尔被用作花园害虫的寄生虫驱避剂,因此他的团队测试了鸟类是否会为此目的在家中铺上烟丝。
In an experiment with over 50 bird nests of local house finches and house sparrows, the team found that nests with the cellulose from smoked cigarette butts attracted significantly fewer mites, lice, and ticks than their non-smoker counterparts.
在对50多个本地家雀和家麻雀的鸟巢进行的实验中,研究小组发现,与不吸烟的鸟巢相比,使用来自烟蒂的纤维素的鸟巢所吸引的螨虫、虱子和蜱虫要少得多。
They also found that exposure to those cigarette butts damages the red blood cells of both bird chicks and adults, but that the chicks weigh more -- indicating health -- the more cigarette butts are used in the construction of their nests.
他们还发现,接触这些烟头会损害雏鸟和成鸟的红血球,但在筑巢时使用的烟头越多,雏鸟的体重就越重(显示健康)。
"Although toxic, the net benefit is positive," says Jesús Macías García, suggesting this is a form of prophylaxis (practice to prevent disease) for urban birds.
“虽然有毒,但净效益是积极的”,德·赫苏斯·马西亚斯·加西亚说,他认为这是城市鸟类的一种预防措施(预防疾病的做法)。
He thinks cigarettes are used in lieu of aromatic plants that these birds would have available in nature.
他认为香烟是用来代替这些鸟类在自然界中可以获得的芳香植物的。
When monarch butterflies contract the potentially lethal, wing-deforming disease Ophryocystis elektroscirrha, they eat types of milkweed species that contain higher levels of cardenolides which are toxic to the disease's spores inside their body.
当帝王蝶感染了可能致命的、使翅膀变形的疾病Ophryocystis elektroscirrha时,它们会吃含有较高水平的强心烯内酯的马利筋品种,而强心烯内酯对它们体内的疾病孢子有毒。
In experiments, when given a choice, female monarchs chose to lay eggs on the more toxic milkweed, and the probability that their eggs would be infected dropped.
在实验中,当有选择时,雌性帝王蝶选择在毒性更强的马利筋上产卵,它们的卵被感染的可能性就会下降。
"These mothers basically make choices based on the future infection of their offspring," says De Roode. "Now, does this mean intentionality? Not necessarily, but it does mean that the cause for their behavior is infection. They may not know they are infected, their bodies may simply prefer the more bitter plants."
“这些母亲基本上是根据后代未来感染的情况做出选择,”德鲁德说。“现在,这是否意味着故意为之?不一定,但这确实意味着它们的行为原因是感染。它们可能不知道自己被感染了,它们的身体可能只是更喜欢更苦的植物。”
But given the growing body of research suggesting a wide variation in the examples of medication in the animal world, De Roode's take is that medication in the animal world is much more widespread than previously thought.
但鉴于越来越多的研究显示动物世界中的药物治疗例子存在很大差异,德鲁德认为动物世界中的药物治疗比以前想像的要广泛得多。
"It's been common from the beginning of time, as soon as there were animals, as soon as there were parasites, there would have been ways for animals to take care of them," says De Roode. "And so the bigger picture is that it's extremely common, yet very much under-explored."
“这从一开始就很常见,只要有动物,只要有寄生虫,动物就会有办法照顾它们,”德鲁德说。“所以更大的情况是,它非常常见,但尚未得到充分探索。”