首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Vibrations in the ground are a poorly understood but probably widespread means of communication between animals. It seems un
Vibrations in the ground are a poorly understood but probably widespread means of communication between animals. It seems un
admin
2014-03-03
78
问题
Vibrations in the ground are a poorly understood but probably widespread means of communication between animals.
It seems unlikely that these animals could have detected seismic "pre-shocks" that were missed by the sensitive vibration-detecting equipment that clutters the world’s earthquake laboratories. But it is possible. And the fact that many animal species behave strangely before other natural events such as storms, and that they have the ability to detect others of their species at distances which the familiar human senses could not manage, is well established. Such observations have led some to suggest that these animals have a kind of extra-sensory perception. What is more likely, though, is that they have an extra sense—a form of perception that people lack. The best guess is that they can feel and understand vibrations that are transmitted through the ground.
Almost all the research done into animal signalling has been on sight, hearing and smell, because these are senses that people possess. Humans have no sense organs designed specifically to detect terrestrial vibrations. But, according to researchers who have been meeting in Chicago at a symposium of the society for Integrative and Comparative Biology, this anthropocentric approach has meant that interactions via vibrations of the ground (a means of communication known as seismic signalling) have been almost entirely over-looked. These researchers believe that such signals are far more common than biologists had realized—and that they could explain a lot of otherwise inexplicable features of animal behaviour.
Until recently, the only large mammal known to produce seismic signals was the elephant seal, a species whose notoriously aggressive bulls slug it out on beaches around the world for possession of harems of females. But Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell of Stanford University, who is one of the speakers at the symposium, suspects that a number of large terrestrial mammals, including rhinos, lions and elephants also use vibration as a means of communication. At any rate they produce loud noises that are transmitted through both the ground and the air—and that can travel farther in the first than in the second. Elephants, according to Dr. O’Connell-Rodwell, can transmit signals through the ground this way for distances of as much as 50km when they trumpet, make mock charges or stomp their feet.
A seismic sense could help to explain certain types of elephant behaviour. One is an apparent ability to detect thunderstorms well beyond the range that the sound of a storm can carry. Another is the foot-lifting that many elephants display prior to the arrival of another herd. Rather than scanning the horizon with their ears, elephants tend to freeze their posture and raise and lower a single foot. This probably helps them to work out from which direction the vibrations are travelling—rather as a person might stick a finger first in one ear and then in the other to work out the direction that a sound is coming from.
In the past decade, many insects, spiders, scorpions, amphibians, reptiles and rodents, as well as large mammals, have been shown to use vibrations for purposes as diverse as territorial defense, mate location and prey detection. Lions, for example, have vibration detectors in their paws and probably use them in the same way as scorpions use their vibration detectors—to locate meals.
Dr. Hill herself spent years trying to work out how prairie mole crickets, a highly territorial species of burrowing insect, manage to space themselves out underground. After many failed attempts to provoke a reaction by playing recordings of cricket song to them, she realized that they were actually more interested in her own footfalls than in the airborne music of their fellow crickets. This suggests that it is the seismic component of the song that the insects are picking up and using to distribute themselves.
Whether any of this really has implications for such things as earthquake prediction is, of course, highly speculative. But it is a salutary reminder that the limitations of human senses can cause even competent scientists to overlook obvious lines of enquiry. Absence of evidence, it should always be remembered, is not evidence of absence.
What is the basic difference between animals and men in perception?
选项
A、Animals can detect seismic "pre-shocks".
B、Animals can detect storms before they take place.
C、Animals can sense others of their species at distances.
D、Animals can sense vibrations transmitted through the groun
答案
D
解析
选项A、B、C都是动物对于震动具有感知能力后相应的行为表现,但最本质的区别是选项D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/0bpO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Ithadoccurredtoherearlythatinherposition—thatofayoungpersonspending,inframedandwiredconfinement,thelifeof
BillGates,thenstillMicrosoft’sboss,wasnearlyrightin2004whenhepredictedtheendofspamintwoyears.Thankstoclev
WaltWhitmanhelpedtopromotethedevelopmentof______.
ThevenerableAugustaNationalGolfClubhasbeenplayinghosttotheMastersTournamentsince1934.Butthisyearitisalsopl
WhomakesthefinaldecisionwhetherapersoncanentertheUnitedStates?
WhatisthecapitalofBritain?
Inbusiness,manyplacesadoptacreditsystem,whichdatesbacktoancienttimes.Atpresent,purchasescanbemadebyusingcr
ThedarksmokethatcomesoutofStacksorfromaburningdumpcontainstinybitsofsolidorliquidmatter.Thesmokealsocont
TheHistoryofAmericanIndiansWhenEuropeansdiscoveredtheWesternhemisphere,theydiscoveredaraceofpeople.【1】____call
______isthehighestmountaininBritain.
随机试题
关于刑罚执行。下列说法错误的是:
先总后分法适用于单件生产的产品,先分后总法适用于成批生产的产品。()
沈某,女,38岁。症见午后或夜间发热,不欲近衣,手足心热,烦躁,少寐多梦,颧红,盗汗,口干咽燥,尿少色黄,大便干结,舌质红,苔少,脉细数。其治法是
某城市规划建设4车道高速公路,全长80km,设计行车速度为80km/h,路基宽度为24.5m。全线有互通式立交5处、跨河特大桥1座(1750m),大桥5座(共1640m)、隧道4座(共3800m),其中单洞长隧道l座(2400m)。公路位于规划未建成区,起
下列()应列入建筑安装直接工程费中的人工费。
基于互联网的项目信息门户是()。
克隆羊时,将甲羊的卵细胞去掉细胞核,将乙羊(雄性)耳缘细胞的细胞核植入甲羊的去核卵细胞中,再将重组细胞移植到丙羊的子宫中,丙羊生出丁羊。下列关于丁羊的判断,正确的是()。
以下叙述中正确的是()。
A、Shehasn’tfinishedthereading.B、Shedoesn’twanttopleaseanyone.C、Shedoesn’tlikethebook.D、Shewouldnothandinthe
中国国家深海基地(theChinaNationalDeepSeaCenter)将于明年对中国和世界开放以进行深海探索。基地将占地26公顷(hectare),征用海域62.7公顷。该中心将作为一个连接科学家需求与技术研究及发展的桥梁。基地将为深海设
最新回复
(
0
)