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
53
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
Christmasisthetimetomakethebelovedonesfeelspecial.Ahugandakisswouldprobablybemorethanenoughbutgiftsare
TheDifferenceBetweenSpokenandWrittenEnglishI.Thedefinitionofspeechandwritingtwo【T1】______methodsofcommunicatio
随机试题
通讯的安全依靠( )来保证。
Cushing综合征可出现的临床表现有
在酵解过程中催化产生NADH和消耗无机磷酸的酶是
涉嫌抢劫罪的张某在审查起诉期间准备委托辩护人,下列人员中,谁可以接受委托作他的辩护人?()
玉米糯质胚乳基因WX和黑绿菌基因V通常是连锁(即位于同一条染色体上)遗传的,然而一位学者发现一个品种中也能有自由组合,其原因是()。
随着时代的进步,生态文明越来越得到国际社会的普遍认同,正如国外学者所指出的.“没有环境保护的繁荣是推迟执行的灾难”;不保护环境,经济就会陷人“增长的极限”:通过保护环境优化发展.经济则会有“无限的增长”。对“没有环境保护的繁荣是推迟执行的灾难”的准确理解是
中国某企业与新加坡某公司拟在中国组建一家具有法人资格的中外合作经营企业,双方草签了合同。合同约定的以下事项中,哪些是符合我国法律规定的?()
一件工作,甲单独做需10天完成,乙单独做需12天完成,丙单独做需15天完成。现由甲、丙合做2人,余下的工作按照甲十一天,乙冉接替甲十一天,丙再接乙十一天,然后甲再接替丙干一天,乙再接替甲干一天……如此循环,则完成这件工作共需多少天?()
设曲线L为从点A(1,0)到B(0,1)再到C(-1,0)的折线,则=_______。
Aftertryingtomollify(平息)itscriticsinrecentyearsbyofferingbetterhealthcarebenefitstoitsemployees,Wal-Martissub
最新回复
(
0
)