课程咨询
托福培训

扫码免费领资料

内含托福全科备考资料

更有免费水平测试及备考规划

托福培训

扫码关注掌握一手留学资讯

回复XDF免费水平测试

科学美国人60秒:鳄鱼与鸟共生-托福听力下载

2016-12-02 12:09:00来源:科学美国人60秒

点击查看>>科学美国人60秒音频:鳄鱼与鸟共生

  科学美国人60秒中英文翻译:鳄鱼与鸟共生

  科学美国人60秒英文文本

  Florida's Everglades are home to lots of large wading birds, like egrets and herons.

  But the Glades also have lots of raccoons and possums.

  For the mammals, the birds'nests are an all-you-can-eat buffet.

  And when an invasion occurs, "sometimes thousands of birds will abandon their nests, and just leave, and there's littered remains of dead chicks and eggs that have been eaten."

  Lucas Nell, an ecologist at the University of Georgia.

  Nell says that, in order to seek protection from their furry foes, birds actually prefer to build their nests in plots of swamp with a resident alligator.

  In fact, in one study a graduate student planted fake alligators.

  And the birds seemed to prefer to build nests close to them.

  "Where there's a water source, there are alligators, so it's sort of this moat of protection around these colonies."

  Nell and his colleagues took to the Everglades at night, hunting for gators near and far from nests.

  "You have to use a spotlight and you see the little demon eyes shining out of the marsh."

  They lassoed the gators, pulled them into the airboat, and took blood samples and body measurements.

  Turns out the gators near bird colonies were 13 percent fatter.

  Which means this unusual arrangement may be mutually beneficial.

  The birds get protection.

  And the alligators?

  They feast on any chicks that get kicked out of the nest, as well as on the rest of the extra-productive swamp life, fertilized by all that guano.

  The findings are in the journal PLoS ONE.

  There is one drawback for adult birds who stray too close to their bodyguard: Gators are not discriminating diners.

  "I liken it less to a bodyguard situation, more like keeping some psychopathic murderer in your yard, to keep out cat burglars."

  中文翻译请点击下一页

托福辅导

关注新东方在线托福

托福机经·Official题目练习

考前重点突破·听说读写海量资料

更多资料
更多>>
更多内容

免费获取托福备考大礼包

微信扫描下方二维码 立即领取

托福辅导
更多>>
更多公益讲座>>
更多>>
更多资料