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We all know that elephants aren’t really scared of mice. But a new study shows that they’re really not crazy about something even smaller: ants. In fact, elephants dislike ants so much that they avoid acacia trees that ___1___ the tiny, six-legged nectar-suckers.
On the savanna, acacia trees growing in regions that get a lot of elephant traffic tend to get eaten. But researchers noticed that one species of acacia was not much ___2___ by elephants. And that the untouched acacia was a favorite ant habitat.
So the scientists ___3___ the ant-covered acacia of their bodyguard bugs, and sure enough, the elephants chowed down. In addition, when the insects were placed on previously ant-free acacias, the elephants took a pass.
But how can teeny, tiny ants ___4___ a big old elephant, which is, after all, about a billion times more massive? The answer is in the trunk. Or rather, not in the trunk. Because, as you can probably relate, elephants really hate to have ants up their noses.
The research is published in the journal Current Biology. And it suggests that adding ants could help ___5___ wooded areas on the savanna. Because ants will ruin any picnic, even for pachyderms.
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大象不是真的害怕小老鼠，这个大家都知道。不过，最新研究表明，大象真的要被比更小的东西给折腾疯了：那就是蚂蚁。事实上，大象很讨厌蚂蚁，它们从不往这些爱吮吸花蜜的六条腿的小东西驻扎的金合欢树下走。 金合欢生长在热带稀树大草原中大象常出没的地区，很容易被吃掉。不过研究人员发现，有一种并没有受到大象的“青睐”。而这被“冷落”的金合欢正是蚂蚁们的安乐窝。 于是，科学家们就把这些树上的蚂蚁保镖清理干净，大象们立马就吃上了。科学家们又把蚂蚁放到原本不出蚂蚁的金合欢树上，大象们见了扭头就走~ 可是小小的蚂蚁怎么可能让大象望而却步呢？毕竟大象的块头可要比蚂蚁大上无数倍呀！答案就在象鼻子里，或者——象鼻子上吧。因为大象真的很讨厌有蚂蚁在鼻子上爬来爬去，想必你也有同感吧~ 这项研究发表在《当代生物学》期刊上，文中提出，多养蚂蚁有助于保持热带稀树大草原上的林地，因为蚂蚁们会毁掉动物们的野餐，即使是大象这种厚皮动物的也不例外。