为了脱险，这些蝙蝠会像蜜蜂一样嗡嗡叫(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。

Have you ever found yourself stuck in what felt like a never ending game of “stop copying me”, in which one person keeps repeating what the other one says.

你有没有发现自己曾陷入了一场没完没了的“停止模仿我”的游戏中，在这个游戏中，一个人不停地重复另一个人说的话。

You probably figured that the person parroting you was just trying to be annoying.

你可能会认为模仿你说话的人只是想惹恼你。

But some critters might use vocal mimicry to save their skins.

但有些小动物可能会通过模仿声音来保全自己的性命。

In a recent study, researchers found that certain bats buzz like bees--a sound that could discourage owls from eating them.

在最近的一项研究中，研究人员发现某些蝙蝠会像蜜蜂一样嗡嗡叫，这种声音可以阻止猫头鹰吃掉它们。

The work appears in the journal Current Biology.

这项研究发表在《当代生物学》期刊上。

The idea dates back to over two decades ago.

这个想法可以追溯到二十多年前。

Danilo Russo is a professor of ecology at the University of Naples Federico Segundo in Italy.

丹尼洛·罗素是意大利那不勒斯费德里科塞贡多大学的生态学教授。

I was working for my PhD and I happened to capture some greater mouse-eared bats.

我在攻读博士学位的时候碰巧捕捉到了一些大点的鼠耳蝠。

When I took these bats out of the net, when I handled them, they invariably buzzed like wasps or hornets.

当我把这些蝙蝠从网里拿出来，当我触碰它们时，它们总是会像黄蜂一样嗡嗡叫。

But what was the point of this unusual auditory outburst?

但爆发出这种不寻常的声音的意义是什么呢?

Was it an involuntary squeak of distress?

这是一种无意识的痛苦的吱吱声吗?

A warning cry to fellow roost mates?

这是对栖息处同伴的警告声吗?

Or maybe, Russo wondered, was it a clever attempt to trick potential predators into thinking that they might want to back off if they don’t want to wind up with a face full of bee stings?

或者，罗素想，这可能是一次聪明的尝试，目的是欺骗潜在的捕食性动物，让它们认为，如果它们不想满脸都被蜜蜂蜇伤，那他们最好退开。

Of course, the idea was attractive, but it was not very easy to test.

当然，这个想法很值得研究，但要测试这个想法并不容易。

And it took me a long time to design the right experiment.

我花了很长时间来设计正确的实验。

The first thing the researchers did was compare the sounds made by mouse-eared bats with those made by hymenopterans--insects like bees and wasps.

研究人员做的第一件事是比较鼠耳蝙蝠与膜翅目昆虫(如蜜蜂和黄蜂)发出的声音。

So we recorded four species of stinging hymenopterans in the field. As well as these buzzing bats in hand.

我们在野外记录了四种会蜇人的膜翅目昆虫。还有手里这些发出嗡嗡声的蝙蝠。

And then we tested statistically whether these different buzzes could be similar enough to fool a predator.

然后，我们进行了统计测试，看看这些不同的嗡嗡声是否足够相似，足以骗过捕食性动物。