《外刊精读》大熊猫在马粪中打滚来保暖

正文 Giant pandas roll in horse manure to keep warm, study finds 研究发现：为了保暖，大熊猫会在马粪中打滚  Giant pandas have been seen smearing themselves with horse manure in the wild, and the sweet smell of scat isn't the only reason — it appears the manure helps them tolerate low temperatures, according to a study. 一项研究发现，大熊猫在野外会给自己涂上马粪。马粪的甜味并不是唯一的原因，它似乎还能够帮助大熊猫御寒。  Unlike insects that make a beeline for faeces, digging for olfactory cues to locate food, attraction to excrement across mammal species is rare. But researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences observed that a giant panda subspecies in China's Qinling Mountains tended to seek out and sniff fresh horse manure and then roll over it. 不同于会径直奔向粪便的昆虫（它们靠嗅觉搜寻线索、定位食物），粪便在哺乳动物当中鲜有吸引力。不过中国科学院的研究人员注意到，中国秦岭的一个大熊猫亚种会去寻觅并嗅出新鲜的马粪，然后在上面打滚。  The researchers set up infrared cameras in the wild between July 2016 to June 2017 and captured 38 events of this rolling behaviour, which mostly occurred when the ambient temperature was less than 15C. 2016 年 7 月至 2017 年 6 月，中科院的研究人员在野外设置了红外相机，捕捉到了 38 次熊猫在马粪中打滚的行为，而且该行为通常都发生在环境温度低于 15℃ 的时候。  The behaviour also appeared to be linked to droppings that were less than 10 days old. When the scientists compared fresh manure to older excrement, they found that the fresh faeces was rich in two compounds: beta-caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide. 熊猫的这种行为似乎还和那些不到 10 天的新鲜粪便有关联。科学家对比了新鲜粪便和“陈年”粪便后发现，新鲜粪便中富含两种化合物：β-石竹烯和石竹烯氧化物。  Dr. Simon Girling, the head vet at Edinburgh zoo, which houses the UK's only two giant pandas, said the study was insightful given that most research papers focus heavily on olfaction and pheromones in faeces. 爱丁堡动物园拥有全英仅有的两只大熊猫，该园的首席兽医西蒙·格林博士说，鉴于大多数研究论文都非常关注（动物的）嗅觉以及粪便中的信息素，此次研究非常有见地。  "It starts to unlock our understanding of the biology of this particular species and how it can adapt," he said. 他说：“这项研究让我们得以开始了解熊猫这一物种的生理特征，以及它适应环境的奥秘。”  He cautioned that horse faeces could carry salmonella bacteria. "But potentially if it was possible to isolate these compounds in a safe way, that may well be something that could be used as an enrichment tool." 他告诫人们说，马粪可能会携带沙门氏菌。“但未来如果有可能安全地将这些化合物分离出来的话，那么这些化合物很有可能被当作一种增强（保暖能力）的工具来使用。”