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Chivalrous Crickets Benefit from Protecting Mates

Jiminy Cricket may not actually hold the door open for his lady friends, but he can still be chivalrous: researchers from the University of Exeter discovered that when threatened by predators, a male field cricket will protect his mate by letting her enter their burrow first. The work is published in the journal Current Biology.
小蟋蟀家的门,可不会为女性朋友们永远敞开,但当她们遭到袭击时,彬彬有礼的蟋蟀男士们立即展开保护行动,让女士先钻进自己的小洞避难,这项研究由埃克塞特大学研究者提供,并在《现代生物》刊物上发表。

Using microphones and infrared cameras, researchers monitored a Spanish cricket population for three seasons. They identified each cricket with a tiny numbered nametag and a DNA fingerprint taken from a sample of its leg. This Big Brother scrutiny revealed the details of cricket relationships, from their courtship time to how they conducted their affairs.
三个季度内,研究员们通过麦克和红外摄像头紧密观察一支西班牙种群的蟋蟀。研究员对每一只蟋蟀编号,并从腿部取样做DNA脚印标记。对这一群蟋蟀做完仔细标记后,从蟋蟀求爱到结婚的一系列,研究员确定了蟋蟀的家族血统关系。

Previous studies of crickets’ behavior examined them in a lab setting, where males acted aggressively towards other males and mates alike. In the wild, however, males still brawled with rivals. But they formed long-term relationships by protecting, not dominating, their partners.
之前在实验室设备里研究了蟋蟀行为,雄性间更趋向于暴力,即使是同家族间雄性都很冲动。而野外的蟋蟀,虽然雄性间暴力仍然存在,但家族间的蟋蟀更互相保护并长期维护家族关系。

So why guard his gal? A gentlemanly cricket fosters a longer relationship, with more mating and more offspring. So chivalry may not be dead—but it’s not entirely altruistic either.
蟋蟀为什么保护自己的女朋友?因为蟋蟀通过绅士风度来赢得交配和繁衍后代机会,由此来维护自己的家族关系,所以拥有绅士风度就拥有永远 —— 但这不完全就可以说绅士蟋蟀就是大公无私的。

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