啄木鸟的叫声：我有我节奏

Humans can recognize each other by voice alone. I sound different from other 60-Second Science reporters, for example. In fact, lots of nonhuman animals, of all types, use voices to distinguish familiar individuals…including frogs, fish, lemurs, and penguins.

人类只能通过语音来识别对方。例如我听起来与其他60秒科学记者有所不同。事实上，很多非人类的动物，都是用声音来区分熟悉的物种，青蛙，鱼，狐猴和企鹅都是如此。

And that unique audio fingerprint extends to a sound you may have heard in the forest on occasion: <>...the drumming of a woodpecker.

这种独特的音频指纹可以延伸到在森林里听到的声音：“啄木鸟的叫声”。

Researchers recorded multiple drum rolls, <> from 41 great spotted woodpeckers—colorful red, white and black birds—living in Polish forests. They then used audio software to analyze them.

研究人员记录了多个声音进行分析，“啄木鸟声”——41种常见的啄木鸟，有着五颜六色的红色、白色和黑色，生活在波兰的森林里，然后使用音频软件来分析它们。

And they found that the length of the drumrolls, and the spacing between beats varied enough from bird to bird to tell the woodpeckers apart by drumming alone. The study is in the journal PLOS ONE. [Micha? Budka et al., Vocal individuality in drumming in great spotted woodpecker—A biological perspective and implications for conservation]

他们发现，鼓槌的长度和节拍之间的间距，在鸟与鸟之间是有很大差别的，通过单独的叫声来告诉啄木鸟。这项研究结果发表在PLOS One杂志上。

The scientists say this fact might be useful to woodpeckers, in identifying each other. And to conservation biologists, trying to tease one bird from another in a recording, for example, to count individuals in a given area. The birds’ head-banging could thus do away with that research headache.

科学家们说，这个事实可能对啄木鸟在识别对方时是有用的。对于保护生物学家来说，试图在录音中挑逗另一只鸟，例如计算特定地区的个体。因此，鸟类的头部撞击可以消除这种头痛。