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Ants Protect Acacia Trees from Elephants

We all know that elephants aren’t really scared of mice. But a new study shows that they’re really not crazy about something even smaller: ants. In fact, elephants dislike ants so much that they avoid acacia trees that harbor the tiny, six-legged nectar-suckers.

大象不是真的害怕小老鼠，這個(gè)大家都知道。不過(guò)，最新研究表明，大象真的要被比更小的東西給折騰瘋了：那就是螞蟻。事實(shí)上，大象很討厭螞蟻，它們從不往這些愛(ài)吮吸花蜜的六條腿的小東西駐扎的金合歡樹(shù)下走。

On the savanna, acacia trees growing in regions that get a lot of elephant traffic tend to get eaten. But researchers noticed that one species of acacia was not much bothered by elephants. And that the untouched acacia was a favorite ant habitat.

金合歡生長(zhǎng)在熱帶稀樹(shù)大草原中大象常出沒(méi)的地區(qū)，很容易被吃掉。不過(guò)研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)，有一種并沒(méi)有受到大象的“青睞”。而這被“冷落”的金合歡正是螞蟻們的安樂(lè)窩。

So the scientists stripped the ant-covered acacia of their bodyguard bugs, and sure enough, the elephants chowed down. In addition, when the insects were placed on previously ant-free acacias, the elephants took a pass.

于是，科學(xué)家們就把這些樹(shù)上的螞蟻保鏢清理干凈，大象們立馬就吃上了?？茖W(xué)家們又把螞蟻放到原本不出螞蟻的金合歡樹(shù)上，大象們見(jiàn)了扭頭就走~

But how can teeny, tiny ants repel a big old elephant, which is, after all, about a billion times more massive? The answer is in the trunk. Or rather, not in the trunk. Because, as you can probably relate, elephants really hate to have ants up their noses.

可是小小的螞蟻怎么可能讓大象望而卻步呢？畢竟大象的塊頭可要比螞蟻大上無(wú)數(shù)倍呀！答案就在象鼻子里，或者——象鼻子上吧。因?yàn)榇笙笳娴暮苡憛捰形浵佋诒亲由吓纴?lái)爬去，想必你也有同感吧~

The research is published in the journal Current Biology. [Jacob Goheen and Todd Palmer, ZSmpa which includes video] And it suggests that adding ants could help preserve wooded areas on the savanna. Because ants will ruin any picnic, even for pachyderms.

這項(xiàng)研究發(fā)表在《當(dāng)代生物學(xué)》期刊上，文中提出，多養(yǎng)螞蟻有助于保持熱帶稀樹(shù)大草原上的林地，因?yàn)槲浵亗儠?huì)毀掉動(dòng)物們的野餐，即使是大象這種厚皮動(dòng)物的也不例外。

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