黑猩猩为什么把昆虫涂在伤口上？

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。

Chimpanzees can make tools, they display emotions, and they can outfox humans at certain memory games.

黑猩猩能制造工具，能表达情感，还能在某些记忆游戏中战胜人类。

But chimps also resemble us in another way—they use medicine.

但黑猩猩与人类还有另一种相似之处——它们会使用药物。

They're known to eat tough leaves and bitter plants to purge parasites from their guts.

众所周知，黑猩猩以坚硬的叶子和苦涩的植物为食，以清除肠道中的寄生虫。

Now researchers have observed chimps applying a never-before-seen type of treatment—they snatched flying insects, and applied them to their wounds.

现在，研究人员观察到黑猩猩使用了一种前所未有的治疗方法——它们抓取飞虫，并将其涂在伤口上。

You can see this happening in a video they filmed at Loango National Park, in Central Africa.

他们在中非的卢安戈国家公园拍摄了一段视频，你可以从视频里看到这一切的发生。

Suddenly Suzee is sitting up.

突然苏茜坐起来了。

She's catching something from under a bush.

她从灌木下抓住了什么东西。

She's putting it between her lips. She seems to press it.

她把它放在她的嘴唇之间。她似乎在按压它。

And then she's grabbing the foot of her son with a wound, and then is applying the insect to the wound.

然后她抓住她儿子受伤的脚，然后把虫子敷在伤口上。

Simone Pika is a cognitive biologist at the University of Osnabrück, in Germany.

西蒙娜·皮卡是德国奥斯纳布鲁克大学的认知生物学家。

And part of the team that studies these chimps.

她也是研究这些黑猩猩团队中的一员。

She says it's possible the insects have antibacterial or soothing qualities—but this could also be a cultural practice. With no medical benefit at all.

她表示，这种昆虫可能具有抗菌或舒缓的特性，但这也可能是一种文化习俗。没有任何医疗好处。

Maybe an individual just found out that it's intriguing, I get a lot of attention, others come, I get some grooming ... and so it just resulted into a social behavior.

也许某只黑猩猩只是发现这很有趣，得到了很多关注，其他黑猩猩来了，得到了一些训练…… 这就导致了一种社会行为。

After all, Pika points out that humans perform plenty of rituals, with no obvious function.

毕竟，皮卡指出，人类有很多仪式，但却没有明显的功能。

Her team reported their findings in the journal Current Biology.

她的团队在《当代生物学》杂志上发表了他们的发现。

And they write that this could be an example of what's called "prosocial behavior."

他们写道，这可能是所谓的“亲社会行为”的一个例子。

They help each other and it's not just a mother helping her offspring and it's not somebody helping somebody to increase genetic benefits, but it's also individuals who are not related to each other.

它们互相帮助，不仅仅是母亲帮助后代，也不只是某只黑猩猩帮助某只黑猩猩来增加遗传效益，也有彼此没有关系的黑猩猩个体。

As for those insects?

至于那些昆虫呢?

The team has not yet identified any remains.

该团队尚未确认任何昆虫遗骸的身份。

Because it's tiny pieces and we are primatologists.

因为昆虫碎片很小，而我们是灵长类动物学家。

But now we have talked to entomologists and have an idea of how to find even smallest remains, and then there are also techniques to then identify the species.

但现在我们已经和昆虫学家谈过了，知道如何找到哪怕是最小的昆虫遗骸，也有了鉴定物种的技术。

If they do—they'll be able to learn more about what function this practice might have, if any.

如果他们鉴定出了昆虫物种，将能够更多地了解这种做法可能有什么功能，如果有的话。

And perhaps we humans will be able to learn some medicinal tricks from our primate cousins.

也许我们人类能够从我们的灵长类表亲那里学到一些医学技巧。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。