科學(xué)家們在給牛涂上斑馬條紋后，它們被咬的幾率降低了50%

科學(xué)家們在給牛涂上斑馬條紋后感到很驚訝——它們被咬的幾率比平常少了50%

Every once in a while, researchers come up with the most outrageously ingenious ideas that prove once and for all that imagination is just as important as intelligence when it comes to science. These are the types of ideas you’d more often see in Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland than in real life. Or at least that’s what you’d expect.

每隔一段時(shí)間，研究人員就會(huì)想出最驚人的創(chuàng)意，一勞永逸地證明，在科學(xué)領(lǐng)域，想象力和智力一樣重要。這些是你在劉易斯·卡羅爾的《愛麗絲漫游仙境》中比在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中更?？吹降挠^點(diǎn)?；蛘咧辽龠@是你所期望的。

Scientists conducted a study showing that there’s a far better way to protect cows from pesky biting flies than using pesticides. That method involves painting the cows with zebra-like stripes, which help camouflage the animals from annoying pests. Researchers tested their theories on 6 Japanese Black cows by either painting zebra-like stripes (black-and-white, see cow ‘a’), painting only black stripes (cow ‘b’) or leaving the dark fur unpainted (cow ‘c’). By liberally applying paint, scientists have effectively created a temporary zebra-cow hybrid (a zow or a cowbra if you’ll permit me) that lives a far happier life thanks to not being bitten countless times each day. The cows are happy. The farmers are happy. And the flies are miserable. It’s _mootastic_ all ‘round.

科學(xué)家進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究表明，有一種比使用殺蟲劑更好的方法來保護(hù)奶牛免受討厭的蒼蠅叮咬。這種方法包括在奶牛身上畫上類似斑馬的條紋，這有助于保護(hù)奶牛免遭討厭的害蟲傷害。研究人員在6頭日本黑奶牛身上測試了他們的理論，他們的測試方法是:要么畫斑馬狀的條紋(黑白相間，參見cow a)，要么只畫黑色的條紋(cow b)，要么不畫深色的皮毛(cow c)。通過大量的涂漆，科學(xué)家們已經(jīng)創(chuàng)造出了一種臨時(shí)的斑馬和奶牛的雜交品種(如果你允許的話，我可以把它叫做zow或者cowbra)，由于沒有每天被咬上無數(shù)次，它的生活要快樂得多。奶牛們很高興。農(nóng)民們很高興。蒼蠅很可憐。這是一個(gè)很有爭議的問題。

Dear Pandas, after you’re done with this post, check out Bored Panda’s previous article about a baby zebra that was born with white spots instead of stripes. I’m sure you’ll love it.

親愛的熊貓們，當(dāng)你看完這篇文章后，去看看Bored Panda之前的一篇文章吧，這篇文章是關(guān)于一只出生時(shí)身上沒有條紋，只有白色斑點(diǎn)的小斑馬的。我相信你會(huì)喜歡的。

a.

b.

c.

According to the Japanese researchers who conducted the striped-cow study, their findings are important because they show that pesticides are not as effective at keeping away pests as painting stripes on cows’ fur with non-toxic materials. It’s cheaper. It’s healthier. It’s environmentally friendly. What’s not to like?

進(jìn)行條紋奶牛研究的日本研究人員表示，他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)很重要，因?yàn)樗鼈儽砻鳎瑲⑾x劑在驅(qū)趕害蟲方面不如用無毒材料在奶牛毛皮上畫條紋那樣有效。它是便宜的。它是健康的。它是環(huán)保的。有什么不喜歡的?

Scientists painted Japanese Black cows with black-and-white stripes to make them look like zebras

科學(xué)家們在日本的黑奶牛身上畫上黑白條紋，使它們看起來像斑馬

Scientists recorded how often the moo-moos would repel biting flies and determined that zebra-stripes “significantly” lowered the number of pest attacks. Thus, we have available an alternate way of protecting our bovine buddies from aggressive flies that doesn’t require spraying everything in sight with pesticides.

科學(xué)家們記錄了mooo -moos驅(qū)趕蒼蠅的頻率，并得出結(jié)論，斑馬條紋“顯著”降低了害蟲襲擊的次數(shù)。因此，我們有了另一種方法來保護(hù)我們的?；锇槊馐芄粜陨n蠅的侵害，而不需要在看到的任何東西上噴灑殺蟲劑。

The study showed that zebra-like black-and-white stripes were significantly better at deterring flies than just black stripes or no stripes at all

研究表明，與只有黑色條紋或完全沒有條紋相比，類似斑馬的黑白條紋能更好地阻止蒼蠅

There are several main theories about what black-and-white zebra stripes do. For example, some scientists believe that the stripes help zebras hide from flies and other pests, while others think that the stripes work as camouflage and help the animals remain unnoticed by some predators. However, a third theory is that the stripes are, in fact, a natural cooling system that helps zebras stay fresh in the searing African heat.

關(guān)于黑白斑馬條紋的作用，有幾種主要的理論。例如，一些科學(xué)家認(rèn)為條紋有助于斑馬躲避蒼蠅和其他害蟲，而另一些人認(rèn)為條紋是一種偽裝，幫助動(dòng)物不被一些捕食者發(fā)現(xiàn)。然而，第三種理論認(rèn)為，事實(shí)上，條紋是一種自然冷卻系統(tǒng)，幫助斑馬在非洲炎熱的天氣中保持新鮮。

So, dear Readers, what do you think of the zebra-like stripe study? Would you like to see more zebra-striped cows wandering the fields in the future? What do you think is the main purpose of a zebra’s stripes? Share your insights with everyone in the comment section below.

那么，親愛的讀者們，你們怎么看待像斑馬一樣的條紋研究呢?你想在將來看到更多的斑馬條紋奶牛在田野里游蕩嗎?你認(rèn)為斑馬條紋的主要目的是什么?在下面的評論區(qū)與大家分享你的見解。

More info: Public Library of Science (PLOS)

Image credits: plos.org