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Urban Birds Boast Big Brains

"头大"的城里小鸟

Cities have a lot to offer: theater, music, restaurants, birds. Yes, birds. But city birds are not like other birds. Because big cities are inhabited by birds with big brains. That’s according to a study in the journal Biology Letters.

城市里有什么？有剧院，音乐，酒店和小鸟。恩，有小鸟，但是城里小鸟跟其他地方的小鸟不一样。《生物学快报》杂志上的一项研究结果表明，居住在城里的小鸟脑袋更大。

It can take smarts to survive in the big city. Especially for birds. The urban environment is very different from the one in which their ancestors were born and fledged. But do city birds really need more gray matter to make it?

在大城市中生存需要有一定的智慧，尤其是鸟类。城市坏境和它们老祖宗的生长环境截然不同。但是就因为这样，城里小鸟就需要变得更聪明吗？

Scientists surveyed 82 species of passerine birds, including sparrows, pigeons and anything that perches, in and around 12 cities in central Europe. They classified the birds as those that breed in the heart of the city or those that avoid the hustle and bustle. And then they compared the bird brains.

科学家们调查了82种燕雀，包括麻雀，鸽子和所有在欧洲中心12座城市落脚的小鸟。他们将城市中心繁殖的小鸟和远离喧嚣的小鸟分开来比较它们的大脑。

The results? Birds that prosper on the city streets have larger brains than their pastoral relations. So it seems that novel environments, including urban landscapes, may select for street smarts—at least for birds that flock toward the city lights.

结果呢？在城市街道上生存的小鸟的脑袋比它们的乡下亲戚大得多。这似乎是在新鲜的环境下，比如说都市风景，具有街头智慧的小鸟才能生存，至少对于那些憧憬城市生活的小鸟来说是这样。

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