如何让暴躁狮子变成温顺小猫咪?(上)

This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是凯伦·霍普金。

They say that lions are the king of the jungle.

他们说狮子是丛林之王。

But a recent study shows that a single spritz of oxytocin--a hormone known to promote social bonding--renders even the most ornery alpha a total pussycat.

但最近的一项研究表明，喷一点催产素--一种已知的促进社会关系的激素--就能让最暴躁的狮子变成一只温顺的小猫咪。

The findings appear in the journal iScience.

这项研究结果发表在《iScience》期刊上。

The greatest thing about watching lions is--lions are so openly and extravagantly affectionate with each other.

观察狮子的最大好处是--发现狮子之间是如此的坦率和极尽的深情。

Craig Packer, director of the Lion Center at the University of Minnesota.

明尼苏达大学狮子中心的主任克雷格·帕克说。

He’s been traveling to the Serengeti since the 1970s to study the social behavior of these big cats.

自20世纪70年代以来，他一直在塞伦盖蒂平原研究这些大型猫科动物的社会行为。

They just rub each other with their foreheads, their chins are in each other’s faces.

它们只是用额头互相摩擦，用下巴贴着彼此的脸。

I mean they’re just really into each other.

他们真的很喜欢对方。

And then when they calm down and it’s time to go back to sleep--one will flop down and the other will flop on top of it.

当它们平静下来，就该回去睡觉了--一只会重重地趴下，另一只则会趴在这一只的上边。

So it’s very endearing.

狮子非常讨人喜欢。

I’ve always loved lions.

我一直很喜欢狮子。

Jessica Burkhart is a grad student in Packer’s pack.

杰西卡·伯克哈特是派克团队的一名研究生。

But what is it about lions that is so different than their closest relative the leopard, and then their next closest the tiger, who are completely solitary?

但是狮子与它们的近亲豹子以及它们的次近亲完全独居的老虎有什么不同呢?

And the first thing that came to mind was: oxytocin.

我首先想到的是催产素。

They call oxytocin the love hormone.

他们称催产素为爱情荷尔蒙。

But that sounds like Love Potion Number Nine.

但这听起来像是第九号爱情药水。

I prefer to think of it as the affection hormone.

我更倾向于认为它是情感激素。

If you have a nice warm hug, that burst of feeling you get, that’s oxytocin.

如果你得到了一个温暖的拥抱，你会有一种突如其来的感觉，那就是催产素。

And so the lions would be like a perfect example of a species where you want to see what you can do with the oxytocin.

狮子是一个你想看看催产素能做什么的完美例子。

They conducted the study at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa--where their first challenge was figuring out how to get the hormone into the lions.

他们在南非的一个野生动物保护区进行了这项研究，在那里，他们的第一个挑战是弄清楚如何让狮子摄入这种激素。

Jessica surprised me with this perfume sprayer, which I just thought was so ingenious and it worked out really really well.

杰西卡给了我惊喜，他使用了香水喷瓶，我觉得这太有巧妙了，而且效果非常非常好。

It’s like a little glass bottle with a long tip and then there’s a bulb.

它就像一个小玻璃瓶，有着长长的顶端，灯泡状的底端。

So I have to pump the bulb and then the tip is about six inches long.

所以我必须快速上下摇动灯泡状部分，顶端瓶口大约有6英寸长。