一項可愛的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，普通的海豚和我們一樣，都是“右撇子”

一項可愛的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，普通的海豚和我們一樣，都是“右撇子”

The vast majority of humans are right-handed, something that's hard-wired into the architecture of our brain. When it comes to animals, their 'sidedness' tends to vary a bit more - now, we have evidence that in dolphins, lefties are a minority, too.

絕大多數(shù)人都是右撇子，這是我們大腦結構中根深蒂固的東西。當涉及到動物時，他們的“側邊性”傾向于變化更多——現(xiàn)在，我們有證據(jù)表明，在海豚中，左撇子也是少數(shù)。

Researchers working with the Dolphin Communication Project in the US spent six years watching a population of common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) forage from the ocean floor, taking note of which way they tended to turn, and found the animals like to keep their right eye on the food.

美國海豚交流項目的研究人員花了6年時間觀察一群普通的寬吻海豚(Tursiops truncatus)在海底覓食，記錄它們的轉向，發(fā)現(xiàn)這些動物喜歡用右眼盯著食物。

Having a preference for one side of the body or the other is now understood to be common throughout the animal kingdom. Gorillas and chimpanzees favour their right hands, like us. But in most orangutans, as well as animals such as kangaroos and cockatoos, the paw or claw on the left is usually the dominant.

偏愛身體的一側或另一側現(xiàn)在被認為是整個動物界的普遍現(xiàn)象。大猩猩和黑猩猩和我們一樣喜歡用右手。但在大多數(shù)猩猩，以及袋鼠和鳳頭鸚鵡等動物中，左爪通常占主導地位。

Giraffes usually put out their left leg before their right when sinking down for a drink, and reindeer herds tend to move in a counter-clockwise direction. In fact, from lions to bats to chickens or even bees, it's looking like a lot of different animals have some sort of lateral bias.

長頸鹿在下潛喝水時，通常會先伸出左腿，再伸出右腿，馴鹿群則傾向于逆時針移動。事實上，從獅子到蝙蝠到雞，甚至蜜蜂，看起來很多不同的動物都有某種橫向偏見。

Such a bias makes sense when we consider that nervous systems usually consist of a left and right hemisphere. Not only does each half of the brain hold jurisdiction over the opposite half of the body, the left and right hemispheres also dominate in respective tasks in what is referred to as lateralisation.

當我們考慮到神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)通常由左腦和右腦組成時，這種偏見是有道理的。大腦的左半球和右半球不僅控制著身體的另一半，還控制著各自的任務，這就是所謂的“側化”。

To work out which way the dolphins of the common bottlenose variety lean while finding food, the researchers recorded the sounds and movements of just under 30 individuals off Bimini in The Bahamas.

為了弄清楚寬吻海豚在尋找食物時是如何傾斜身體的，研究人員記錄了巴哈馬群島比米尼附近近30只海豚的聲音和動作。

Specifically, they noted which way the animals turned while practising what's known as crater feeding – a nose-down method of foraging that involves scanning the sand for prey and buzzing the floor with their echolocation.

具體來說，他們記錄了這些動物在進行所謂的“火山口喂食”時的轉向方式。“火山口喂食”是一種用鼻子朝下的覓食方式，包括掃描沙子尋找獵物，并用回聲定位器在地板上發(fā)出嗡嗡聲。

In a tally of 709 pinwheel spins performed by several dozen dolphins, 705 steered left, using their right eye to look for a meal.

在幾十只海豚進行的709次旋轉中，有705只海豚向左轉，用它們的右眼尋找食物。

This suggests to the researchers that the left hemisphere of their brains does most of the processing prey-related sensory information, either of a visual nature or also involving echolocation.

這向研究人員表明，它們大腦的左半球處理大部分與捕食相關的感官信息，無論是視覺性質的，還是涉及回聲定位的。

Interestingly, the four 'left eyed' manoeuvres were all carried out by just one individual. While the statistics aren't exactly overwhelming, it could point to an atypical 'south paw' dolphin whose brain is lateralised differently to the others.

有趣的是，四個“左眼”動作都是由一個人完成的。雖然統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)并不能完全壓倒一切，但它可能指向一個非典型的“南爪”海豚，它的大腦側化與其他海豚不同。

This research was published in Royal Society Open Science.

這項研究發(fā)表在《英國皇家學會開放科學》雜志上。