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 u
Vibrations in the ground are a poorly understood but probably widespread means of communication between animals. It seems u
admin
2012-03-23
88
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 signaling 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 signaling) 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 behavior.
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 Uruversity, 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 behavior. 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.
The possible attitude of researchers in the Chicago symposium towards the anthropocentric approach is
选项
A、positive.
B、neutral.
C、uncertain.
D、negative.
答案
D
解析
第3段第3句句末提到,anthropocentric approach意昧着通过地表振动进行交流这一现象几乎被完全忽视了,即这样的研究方法不能有效地发现并反映科学真相,可知研究人员对此持否定态度,应选D。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/wmiO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
A、Musicalnoisefromtheneighborhood.B、Noisefromfactories.C、Noiseoncampus.D、Air-craftnoise.D
"Therearetoomanystudentsovercrowdingcoursesandcontributingnothingtosociety,"saysProfessorEdwardMishan,explaining
"BabyBoom"referstothegreatincreaseofbirthratebetween______.
Antarcticahasactuallybecomeakindofspacestation—auniqueobservationpostfordetectingimportantchangesintheworld’s
Soilqualityisoneofthemostbasicandperhapsleastunderstoodindicatorsoflandhealth.Soilsupportsplantgrowthandrep
A、theU.S.hasdetectedanIranianspyservicenetworkB、theU.S.hasbrokenthecodesusedinIranianspycommunicationsC、the
At5:30inthemorningwearedeepinadarkforestonanislandinthemiddleofthePanamaCanal.We’vebeenoutwalkingforo
Lovecantolerateimperfection.Inaloverelationshiptherearetimesofboredom,timeswhenImayfeellikegivingup,timeso
I’vecometotheSanJoseofficeparkwhereeBayishousedtonosearoundandfigureoutwhatmakesthisbusinessapparentlyimm
ScotlandYardistheheadquartersofthe______.
随机试题
旅游中间商
A.硝普钠B.硝酸甘油C.酚妥拉明D.普萘洛尔抑制β受体,减慢心率,降低心排量的是
两组呈正态分布的数值变量资料.但均数相差悬殊,若比较离散趋势,最好选用的指标为
项目完工且贷款账户关闭后,世界银行将进行独立的()。
某公司正考虑建设一个新项目。根据市场调查和财务部门测算,项目周期为5年,项目现金流量已估算完毕,公司选择的贴现率为10%,具体数据见项目现金流量表及现值系数表。该项目的净现值为()万元。
学生中心课程理论的代表人物是()。(2015·山西)
中(1)班的轩轩小朋友在王老师组织活动时,一会玩从家里偷偷带来的机器人玩具,一会儿拉旁边女孩的头发,一会儿踢前面小朋友的屁股。王老师发现后,当众指责轩轩:“本来就笨,还不好好听。”还罚他不准参加接下来的户外体育游戏,于是轩轩哇哇大哭。巡视的刘园长听见了,赶
在农业部门中所存在的“肥田出瘪稻”现象体现的是经济学中的()。
阅读下面的材料,回答后面的问题。材料一:在某市一务不足400米长的步行街上,清洁工人清理出人们吐掉的口香糖约15公斤。某市公交公司无人售票公共汽车3年间收到的残币假钞竞高达50万元。一孕妇在参加某事业单位录用考试后上了专门接送考生的大客车,全车考生没有一
Somemoderncitiesareusuallyfamousforpeoplewholiveaverylongtime.
最新回复
(
0
)