科学美国人Scientific American EP375 |黑猩猩把昆虫涂在伤口上

Christopher Intagliata: Chimpanzees can make tools, they display emotions, and they can outfox humans at certain memory games. But chimps also resemble us in another way—they use medicine. They're known to eat tough leaves and bitter plants to purge parasites from their guts.  


Now researchers have observed chimps applying a never-before-seen type of treatment—snatching flying insects, and applying them to their wounds. You can see this happening in a video they filmed at Loango National Park, in Central Africa.


Simone Pika: Suddenly Suzee is sitting up. She's catching something from under a bush, she's putting it between her lips, she seems to press it. And then she's grabbing the foot of her son with a wound, and then is applying the insect to the wound.


Intagliata: Simone Pika is a cognitive biologist at the University of Osnabrück, in Germany. And part of the team that studies these chimps.


She says it's possible the insects have antibacterial or soothing qualities—but this could also be a cultural practice. With no medical benefit at all. 


Pika: Maybe an individual just found out that it's intriguing, I get a lot of attention, others come, I get some grooming ... and so it just resulted into a social behavior.


Intagliata: After all, Pika points out that humans perform plenty of rituals, with no obvious function. 


Her team reported their findings in the journal Current Biology. [Alessandra Mascaro et al., Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild]


And they write that this could be an example of what's called "prosocial behavior."


Pika: They help each other and it's not just a mother helping her offspring and it's not somebody helping somebody to increase genetic benefits, but it's also individuals who are not related to each other.


Intagliata: As for those insects? The team has not yet identified any remains. 


Pika: Because it's tiny pieces and we are primatologists. But now we have talked to entomologists and have an idea of how to find even smallest remains, and then there are also techniques to then identify the species.


Intagliata: If they do—they'll be able to learn more about what function this practice might have, if any. And perhaps we humans will be able to learn some medicinal tricks from our primate cousins.

【参考译文】

克里斯托弗-英塔利亚塔 黑猩猩可以制造工具，它们表现出情感，在某些记忆游戏中它们可以胜过人类。但黑猩猩在另一个方面也与我们相似--它们使用药物。众所周知，它们吃坚硬的树叶和苦涩的植物来清除内脏中的寄生虫。 


现在，研究人员观察到黑猩猩使用一种从未见过的治疗方法--捕捉飞虫，并将其涂抹在伤口上。你可以在他们在非洲中部的Loango国家公园拍摄的视频中看到这种情况。


西蒙娜-皮卡：突然间，苏西坐了起来。她从灌木丛下抓起一个东西，把它放在嘴唇之间，她似乎在按压它。然后她抓住她有伤口的儿子的脚，然后把昆虫放在伤口上。


英塔利亚塔：西蒙-皮卡是德国奥斯纳布吕克大学的一名认知生物学家。也是研究这些黑猩猩的团队的一员。


她说，这些昆虫可能具有抗菌或舒缓的特性--但这也可能是一种文化习俗。完全没有医疗效益。


皮卡。也许一个个体只是发现这很有趣，我得到了很多关注，其他人来了，我得到了一些梳理......所以它只是形成了一种社会行为。


英塔格利塔。毕竟，皮卡指出，人类进行大量的仪式，没有明显的功能。


她的团队在《当代生物学》杂志上报告了他们的发现。[亚历山德拉-马斯卡罗等人，《野外黑猩猩对自己和他人伤口的昆虫应用》] 。


而且他们写道，这可能是所谓的 "亲社会行为 "的一个例子。


皮卡。他们互相帮助，这不仅仅是母亲帮助她的后代，也不是某人帮助某人来增加遗传利益，而是也有相互没有关系的个体。


英塔格利塔。至于那些昆虫？团队还没有确定任何遗体。


皮卡：因为是很小的碎片，而我们是灵长类动物学家。但现在我们已经和昆虫学家谈过了，对如何找到哪怕是最小的遗骸有了想法，然后也有了技术，然后可以确定物种。


Intagliata：如果他们做到了--他们将能够更多地了解这种做法可能有什么功能，如果有的话。也许我们人类将能够从我们的灵长类表亲那里学到一些药用的技巧。