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  3. 　　Southern long-finned pilot whales are marine mammals with a lot to say—and they may use vocalizations to outsmart a deadly foe

　　Southern long-finned pilot whales are marine mammals with a lot to say—and they may use vocalizations to outsmart a deadly foe

admin2022-02-15  5
问题 　　Southern long-finned pilot whales are marine mammals with a lot to say—and they may use vocalizations to outsmart a deadly foe. Cetaceans such as whales, dolphins and porpoises communicate through sound to find food and mates, to navigate and to interact socially. Their vocalizations vary between species and within communities. The animals can mimic artificial noise such as sonar, but nobody had previously recorded them matching other cetaceans’ sounds. A new study, however, found overlap in the cetacean sound book.
　　Researchers listened to 2,028 vocalizations of long-finned pilot whales off the coast of Australia, the first time sounds from the species in this region have been comprehensively described. They were surprised to hear 19 instances of vocalizations that resembled those of orcas—the whales’ oceanic rivals. " We found some calls that are, to the human ear, identical to the killer whale calls in the same area," says Christine Erbe, director of the Center for Marine Science and Technology at Curtin University.
　　Orcas compete for food with long-finned pilot whales and are potentially their predators. Evidence from orca stomachs shows they do occasionally eat pilot whales. But pilot whales can mob and chase orcas away, the only cetaceans seen defending themselves from the apex predator in this way. Mimicry could serve as an additional defense. " One hypothesis is that if they use similar sounds, they may not be recognized as prey," Erbe says. Pilot whales scavenging or eating orcas’ food remnants might go unnoticed if they use orca like calls. " This is all underwater, where light travels really poorly," she adds. " So these animals rely on sound for detecting their prey and predators and for navigating. " Long-finned pilot whales have shown an ability to distinguish between orca calls with different meanings. Cure suggests that instead of tricking orcas, the callers could instead be demonstrating a new orca sound to other group members.
　　Additional work would confirm whether mimicry is actually occurring. Researchers could pair their listening data with direct observations of the animals’ interactions in the wild or perhaps even play orca sounds and watch the whales’ reactions.
　　But if a future experiment used predatory sounds, it would need to be done very carefully. " A reaction to a predator can be very strong," Curt says. "In some protected areas, you are not allowed to do more than two predatory playbacks per year.
What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?
选项 A、Some marine mammals use sound to exchange messages.
B、Different species of cetaceans can communicate with each other.
C、Artificial noise does harm to cetaceans.
D、Australia is the main habitat of long-finned pilot whales.
答案A
解析 细节题。根据题干可定位至第一段和第二段。根据选项B可定位至第一段第三句，可知不同物种的叫声是不同的，故它们之间不能互相交流，排除选项B；根据选项C可定位至第一段第四句，文中并没有明确提到人工噪声对鲸类生物有害，无中生有，故排除选项C：根据选项D可定制至第二段第一句，无中生有，故排除；根据选项A可定位至第一段第二句，其中Some marine mammals对应whales，dolphins and porpoises，exchange messages对应communicate，是同义表达，故选项A正确。
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