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Ant Attack!
蚂蚁来袭！
Imagine this. You’re coming home to your gated community after a long day of work. As you stop to show the guard your ID, a mugger jumps out from behind a bush and grabs you by the mouth.
想象一下这样的情景：结束了一天的漫长工作之后，你走到了小区的大门前。正当你停下来给门卫看你的出入证时，有一人从灌木丛后跳出来，捂住你的嘴巴……
Okay, that last part sounded a little weird, but that’s pretty much the way it happens to sweat bees. These are the little metallic-looking critters who live in nests burrowed into the ground. Some bees go out foraging, but one stands by the entrance to the nest. She doesn’t let anyone in unless he can identify himself using a chemical tag. When the returning bee is waiting for the ID check, it's most vulnerable. And sure enough, entomologists have observed another species attacking at just that moment. Ectatomma ruidum–ants.
唔，好吧，后面一部分听起来是有那么一点奇怪，但汗水蜜蜂就经常碰到这样的事情。这些小生物有着金属色的外表，居住在掘至地面的蜂巢里。有的蜜蜂外出觅食，此时，就会有一只蜜蜂像守卫一样把守在蜂窝的入口处。她不会让任何不能通过特殊的化学标记亮出自己身份的蜜蜂进入蜂巢。然而，等待确认身份这一短短的时间却是他们最容易受到攻击的时候。事实也是如此，科学家们发现正是在等待确认身份的时候，汗水蜜蜂极易受到另一种生物——一种叫做Ectatomma ruidum的蚂蚁的攻击。
E. ruidum charges the waiting bee, grabs its mouthparts, hauls it away and kills it–now somebody else will be bringing home a little snack. What’s a bee to do? Two French researchers have recently spotted sweat bees changing their flight paths when an ant is lurking by the hole. According to the study, bees have been seen pulling up at the last minute and later try coming in from a different direction. Others land far away from the hole and then dash in on foot. Researchers found that even a dead ant with its odor removed is enough to spook the bees.
芮杜木会冲向等待着的蜜蜂，抓住他的口器，再将他拖到远处杀死——这个时候别的蜜蜂可能正在将食物运回蜂巢。那么，蜜蜂又将怎么防着这些蚂蚁呢?两名法国研究员近日指出，一旦发现有蚂蚁潜伏在蜂巢附近，蜜蜂们立刻会改变飞行方向。该研究还发现，蜜蜂会在最后一刻停下来，然后再试图从其他方向进入蜂巢。其他有的也会在离洞口较远的地方停下来，再徒步冲进蜂巢里面去。研究人员还发现，即使是一只死掉的气味散尽的蚂蚁都足以把蜜蜂们给吓破胆。
This is an impressive feat, showing that sweat bees are somehow able to understand the danger posed by ants. But it’s also eye-opening to realize how much strategy and counterstrategy is involved in the daily lives of even the smallest insects.
这样的事情相当令人吃惊，至少这告诉我们汗水蜜蜂能感知到由蚂蚁所发出的危险气息。从另一个方面说，这也让人大开眼界：战略与对策甚至被用在了最渺小的昆虫们的日常生活当中。
