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Crows, magpies and their relatives are known for their exceptional intelligence, which allows them to solve complex problems, us

admin2022-10-13  39
问题     Crows, magpies and their relatives are known for their exceptional intelligence, which allows them to solve complex problems, use tools or outsmart their conspecifics (同种个体). One capability, however, that we humans value highly, seems to be missing from their behavioral repertoire; generosity. An international team of researchers could now demonstrate that the social life of corvids (鸦科的鸟类) is a crucial factor for whether the birds benefit their group members or not.
    "Spontaneous generosity, without immediately expecting something in return, is a cornerstone of human society whose evolutionary foundations are still not fully understood. One hypothesis postulates (假设) that raising offspring cooperatively may have promoted the emergence of a tendency to willingly benefit group members in early human groups. Another hypothesis speculates that only increased tolerance towards group members and a reduced level of aggression made such generous behavior possible. While researchers found evidence for both hypotheses when investigating other non-human primates, results from other animal taxa (分类群) have so far been missing, " explains lead author Lisa Horn.
    That is why Horn and her colleagues tested generous behavior in multiple species from the crow family. Some of the tested species raise their offspring cooperatively, while others do not. Additionally, some of the species nest in close proximity with their conspecifics, thereby demonstrating their high levels of tolerance, while other species jealously guard their territories against other members of their own species. In the experiment, the birds operated a seesaw mechanism by landing on a perch, which brought food into reach of their group members. If the birds wanted to grab the food themselves, they would have had to leave the perch and the seesaw would tilt back, thereby moving the food out of reach again. Since the birds thus could not get anything for themselves the authors argued that only truly generous birds would continue to deliver food to their group members throughout multiple experimental sessions.
    It became evident that this behavior was displayed most strongly by these corvid species that work together to raise their offspring cooperatively. Among male birds, the researchers also found evidence for the hypothesis that high tolerance towards conspecifics is important for the emergence of generous behavior. Males from species that commonly nest in very close proximity to each other were particularly generous. These results seem to support the hypotheses that raising offspring cooperatively and increased levels of tolerance may have promoted the emergence of generous tendencies not only in humans, but also in other animals. "What fascinates me the most is that in animals that are so different from us evolutionary mechanisms very similar to the ones in our human ancestors seem to have promoted the emergence of generous behavior, " concludes Horn.  
Why does Horn take corvids as the research object?
选项 A、Because corvids are well-known for their intelligence.
B、Because Horn wants to test the hypotheses on non-primates.
C、Because corvids can raise their descendants cooperatively.
D、Because corvids’ levels of tolerance are higher than other birds.
答案B
解析 由题干中的Horn take corvids as the research object定位到第三段第一句。推理判断题。由该句中的that可知，题干涉及的原因在前文中。第二段最后一句说，虽然研究人员在调查其他非人类灵长类动物时发现了这两种假说的证据，但到目前为止，对其他动物分类群的研究结果还是缺失的，由此可以推知，霍恩想要在非灵长类动物中检验这些假设，这是其选择鸦鸟类为研究对象的原因，故B为正确答案。
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