SSS 2011-04-27
时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(四)月
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute.
Cities have a lot to offer: theater, music, restaurants, birds. Yes, birds. But city birds are not like other birds. Because big cities are inhabited by birds with big brains. That's according to a study in the journal Biology Letters.
It can take smarts to survive in the big city. Especially for birds. The urban environment is very different from the one in which their ancestors were born and fledged. But do city birds really need more gray matter to make it?
Scientists surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows, pigeons and anything that perches 1, in and around 12 cities in central Europe. They classified the birds as those that breed in the heart of the city or those that avoid the hustle 2 and bustle 3. And then they compared the bird brains.
The results? Birds that prosper 4 on the city streets have larger brains than their pastoral relations. So it seems that novel environments, including urban landscapes, may select for street smarts—at least for birds that flock toward the city lights.
Urban areas continue to spread. So to survive, our feathered friends may need to expand their minds as they spread their wings.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkin.
- Other protection can be obtained by providing wooden perches througout the orchards. 其它保护措施是可在种子园中到处设置木制的栖木。
- The birds were hopping about on their perches and twittering. 鸟儿在栖木上跳来跳去，吱吱地叫着。
- It seems that he enjoys the hustle and bustle of life in the big city.看起来他似乎很喜欢大城市的热闹繁忙的生活。
- I had to hustle through the crowded street.我不得不挤过拥挤的街道。