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 unl
Vibrations in the ground are a poorly understood but probably widespread means of communication between animals. It seems unl
admin
2019-11-02
74
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 traveling — 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.
Which of the following mammals is sure to use vibration as a means of communication?
选项
A、Elephant seal.
B、Elephant.
C、Rhino.
D、Lion.
答案
A
解析
可以肯定的是下列哪种哺乳动物使用震动作为交流手段?文中明确提到至今能确定的使用震动作为交流手段的大型哺乳动物是海象,参考第三段首句,而其他动物仅是“怀疑”具有这一能力,但未得到证实。故答案为A。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/nAbK777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
Christmasisthetimetomakethebelovedonesfeelspecial.Ahugandakisswouldprobablybemorethanenoughbutgiftsare
Christmasisthetimetomakethebelovedonesfeelspecial.Ahugandakisswouldprobablybemorethanenoughbutgiftsare
Christmasisthetimetomakethebelovedonesfeelspecial.Ahugandakisswouldprobablybemorethanenoughbutgiftsare
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
随机试题
80年代中期“寻根文学”思潮中的重要作品,同时也是作者突破自身思维模式的一次嬗变的作品()
关于冲突,以下说法正确的有()
美国甲公司从日本乙公司进口一批蔬菜,合同约定货到验收后付款。货物到达目的港,甲公司提货验收后,发现货物总重量短少20%,单个重量也不符合合同规定。根据《联合国国际货物销售公约》的规定,下列有关本案的表述哪一项是错误的?
(2007年)王律师为扩大业务范围采用的下列哪一做法是错误的?()
企业销售产品一批,货款未收,这项业务引起会计要素中()。
关于有限合伙企业财产出质与转让的特殊规定,下列说法正确的有()。
下列关于办公资源管理的叙述错误的是()。
订立劳动合同所依据的客观情况发生重大变化,致使劳动合同无法履行,应变更相关的内容。下列属于可以变更劳动合同的客观情况的是()。
材料一《公务员法》第十四条第二款规定,公务员职位类别按照公务员职位的性质、特点和管理需要,划分为综合管理类、专业技术类和行政执法类等类别。国务院根据本法,对于具有职位特殊性,需要单独管理的,可以增设其他职位类别。各职位类别的适用范围由国家另行规定。第十五条
On5thDecember,1945;fivebombersfromaUnitedStatesNavalAirStationleftFortLauderdale,Florida,onaroutinetraining
最新回复
(
0
)