科学美国人60秒:Male Lemurs Are Masters of Musk

Ring-tailed lemurs are a chatty lot. They vocalize to exchange information. And they also communicate via a veritable smorgasbord of stinky secretions they use to mark their territory and advertise their romantic availability. But male lemurs, which have more scent glands than do females, are really masters of musk—because they sometimes mix their smelly secretions to produce a veritable bouquet of stank. And now researchers have a better idea why.
环尾狐猴们就是话唠。它们发声就是为了交换信息。而且它们也是用臭味的分泌物进行交流，这分泌物它们一般用作标记领地以及散发它们的求爱宣言。但雄性狐猴可比雌性狐猴的气味腺要多，它们才是真正的制香高手——因为它们常常混合它们那些臭味的分泌物然后弄出一些臭气十足的混合气。现在研究人员们已经对它们这么做的原因有了进一步的了解。

Male lemurs sometimes use the scent glands on their wrists to mark tree branches and saplings. Other times, they double down, rubbing their wrists against glands on their chests to create a foul and funky fusion. This special blend can then be smeared over objects or wiped onto their tails, which the males wave at their rivals in a display that scientists refer to as a “stink fight.”
雄性狐猴有时候用四肢关节涂抹气味腺体上的分泌物到树枝和嫩枝上做标记。其余时间它们就重复躺下，用关节涂抹腺体上分泌物到胸部并制造出一种恶臭混合物。这种特殊混合物随后就可以被用于涂抹在一些物体或者它们的尾巴上，在雄性们向它们的敌人挥舞时起到交流的作用，科学家们对此解释为臭气战。

But why create such a custom combination? Perhaps adding the oily exudate from the chest alters the information conveyed by the wrist. Or maybe it acts as a kind of preservative that makes the wrist signal longer lasting.
但是为什么要特别调制出这种混合臭呢?或许加入了从胸部分泌出的油状物后，可以改变关节涂抹到的臭气所代表的信息。又或者这种油状物起到一种防腐保存的作用，以便关节沾染的信号物质能够持续较长时间。

To find out, researchers gathered secretions from a dozen ring-tailed lemurs at the Duke Lemur Center in North Carolina. They then presented male lemurs with wooden dowels that were doused with either the wrist fragrance, the chest scent, or a mixture of the two. And they found that males spent more time sniffing the stick with the mixture, which suggests that the fragrant combination does contain more interesting information than the solo scents alone.
为了找寻答案，研究人员们从北卡莱罗纳州的杜克狐猴中心采集 了12只环尾狐猴的分泌物。然后它们把分别带有关节涂抹气味，胸部气味，以及两者混合气味的木钉放到雄性狐猴面前。结果他们发现雄性狐猴在混合气体的棍子前流连并且嗅探，这提示我们混合气确实比单独的气味含有更多更有趣的信息。

But the lemurs were even more interested in the odiferous amalgamation when it was left out to evaporate for 12 hours, licking the sticks to better access the dried volatile compounds. That observation supports the theory that mixing secretions actually boosts their staying power. The results are in the journal Royal Society Open Science.
但是狐猴在随后的12小时接触中，对散发出的混合气味更感兴趣，它们甚至舔这些木棍以便更好的接触到干燥的不稳定的混合气味。这项观察实验有力的支持了混合分泌物确实会促进狐猴停留状态的理论。该研究结果已发表在《皇家科学开放科学研究》杂志上。

So while a rose is a rose is a rose, the perfume of the ring-tailed lemur is a complex concoction, the subtle meaning of which lies in the nose of the beholder.
所以，尽管一支玫瑰是一支玫瑰时确实就是一支玫瑰的味道，环尾狐猴的香水可是混合调制物，里面蕴含的意味全靠周围人的鼻子去评判了。