首页分享澳洲鹦鹉疯狂掠夺垃圾桶，还学会了开盖！

澳洲鹦鹉疯狂掠夺垃圾桶，还学会了开盖！

来源：萌宠菠菠乐园时间：2024-09-12 02:29

在澳大利亚悉尼周边的郊区，一场人与动物之间的大战正如火如荼地进行。

澳大利亚悉尼南部的居民与野生葵花凤头鹦鹉（Cacatua galerita）发生了意想不到的冲突——争夺家庭垃圾。

▲凤头鹦鹉正在打开一个垃圾桶。图源: The Guardian

虽然这听起来很滑稽，但研究人员表示，这场冲突展现出了“创新军备竞赛”的所有特点：人类和凤头鹦鹉陷入对抗的循环中，双方都试图去超越对方。

While this conflict may sound comical, researchers report that it shows all the signs of an "innovation arms race," in which humans and cockatoos become trapped in a cycle of confrontation as they continually try to one-up or outthink one another.

葵花凤头鹦鹉原产于澳大利亚，它们普遍体型大、寿命长、声音大，拥有很强的适应性，可以在各种环境中茁壮成长。但这种适应性，却让悉尼南部的居民吃尽了苦头。

▲葵花凤头鹦鹉。图源：livescience

这些聪明的凤头鹦鹉的主要动机是食物，它们和人类一样，是碳水化合物的忠实粉丝。

The main motivation for these clever cockatoos is food — like humans, the cockatoos are big fans of carbs.

为了获得它们最喜欢的零食，例如一些旧面包或火腿三明治碎片，机智的凤头鹦鹉学会了打开翻盖式垃圾桶来掠夺里面的东西，甚至赢得了一个不光彩的绰号——“垃圾鹦鹉”。

To get their favourite snacks, such as some old bread or pieces of a ham sandwich, the sharp-witted cockatoos have earned the unflattering nick name "trash parrots" after learning to open up flip-top garbage bins to pillage their contents. sharp-witted: /'ʃɑ:p'witid/ adj. 机智的 pillage: /'pɪlɪdʒ/ v. 掠夺

▲凤头鹦鹉掀开垃圾箱的盖子。图源：ABC

2018 年，网上分享的视频显示，机敏的小鸟们用喙或脚抓住垃圾箱盖的边缘，往铰链方向移动，最后把塑料盖完全从容器上掀开。

In 2018, videos shared online showed the resourceful birds grabbing onto the rims of bin lids with their beaks or feet, shimmying down toward the hinge and eventually flipping the plastic covers entirely off the containers.‍ resourceful：/rɪˈsɔːrsf(ə)l/ adj. 机敏的 hinge: /hɪndʒ/ n. 铰链

观看录像后，研究人员调查了凤头鹦鹉的行为。他们发现凤头鹦鹉是通过观察彼此来学习如何打开垃圾箱的，这是一种社会化学习。

After watching the footage, researchers investigated the behaviour and found that the cockatoos were working out how to open the bins by observing one another, which is known as social learning.

德国的行为生态学家克伦普博士（Barbara Klump）认为，在不同的群体里，它们有自己的特殊技巧。

Dr Barbara Klump, a German behavioural ecologist, believes that within each group they sort of have their own special technique.

▲凤头鹦鹉正在学习如何打开垃圾桶。来源：ABC

随着凤头鹦鹉在打开垃圾桶方面变得越来越有创新精神，居民们一直也在学习且互相教导，以用更有效的措施保护他们的垃圾箱。

As the cockatoos have become more innovative when it comes to opening bins, residents have also been learning — and teaching each other — to protect their bins with ever more effective measures.

调查表明，大约三分之二的受访者是从邻居或街上的人那里学习到保护垃圾箱的方法。

Surveys had suggested that about two — thirds of those surveyed had learned their protection method from a neighbour or people on their street.

居民们尝试了许多策略：将砖头和石头等重物放在垃圾桶盖上，把鞋子卡在把手上，把水瓶绑在垃圾箱盖上，用棍子卡住垃圾桶的铰链等。

Residents tried numerous tactics: placing heavy objects like bricks and stones on their bin lids, jamming shoes in handles, strapping bottles of water to the lids of bins, or using sticks to block the bin's hinges. strapping: /ˈstræpɪŋ/ v. 绑

▲居民把鞋子卡在铰链里。图源：ABC

▲居民把水瓶绑在垃圾箱盖上。图源：ABC

▲居民用棍子卡住垃圾桶，凤头鹦鹉打不开。图源：CNET

然而，并非所有的策略都有效。一旦凤头鹦鹉想出了对策，这些战术就没用了。

However, not all strategies are effective. These tactics were switched out once the cockatoos outsmarted them. tactics: /ˈtæktɪks/ n. 战术

▲凤头鹦鹉轻松解决压在垃圾桶上的砖块。图源：CNET

目前尚不清楚这场新的“军备赛”将如何收场，但看起来没有立即结束的迹象。

It is currently unclear how this new arms race will finish, but there is no immediate end in sight.

这些聪明可爱的小鸟为了吃到美味的“垃圾食物”，用它们的聪明才智和人类斗智斗勇，虽然创造了一系列的麻烦，但也给人们带来了许多快乐。

我先道歉，我知道它们引起了超多麻烦，但是它们真的太可爱啦！

比新任气候部长聪明。

图源：Daily Mail

克伦普总结道：随着城市的扩张，我们将与野生动物有更多的互动。凤头鹦鹉和其他居住在城市里的动物只是试图在我们创造的新环境中生存，希望人们能更好地理解和包容与我们共同生活的动物们。

Klump concluded as cities expand, we will have more interactions with wildlife. Cockatoos and other urban animals are just trying to survive in the new environment we have created, I'm hoping that there will be a better understanding and more tolerance for the animals that we share our lives with.

编辑：朱迪齐

实习生：颜诗婕

来源：Popular science CNET Live science Daily mail ABC The guardian