雙語速讀：紅毛猩猩和美洲短吻鱷會使用工具，它們有多聰明？

Just How Smart Are they？

Tool use by animals is a subject of enormous controversy， for the simple reason that it‘s difficult to draw a line between hard-wired instinct and culturally transmitted learning。 Do sea otters smash snails with rocks because they’re intelligent and adaptive，

or are these mammals born with this innate ability？ Are elephants really using “tools” when they scratch their backs with tree branches， or are we mistaking this behavior for something else？

動物使用工具是一個極具爭議的話題，原因很簡單，很難在天生的本能和文化傳播的學習之間劃清界限。海獺用石頭砸蝸牛是因為它們聰明、適應性強，還是這些哺乳動物天生就有這種能力？ 大象真的是在用樹枝撓背的時候使用“工具”嗎 ？還是我們把這種行為誤認為是別的什麼 ？下面請繼續閱讀有關4種使用工具的動物文章； 你可以自己決定他們到底有多聰明。

American Alligators 美洲短吻鱷

Folks in the southeastern U。S。 have long known that alligators and crocodiles are smarter than other reptiles， like snakes and turtles。 Now， for the first time， naturalists have documented evidence of tool use by a reptile： the American alligator has been observed gathering sticks on its head during bird nesting season， when there is fierce competition for nest building materials。

Desperate， unwary birds see the sticks “floating” on the water， dive down to retrieve them， and are turned into a tasty lunch。

美國東南部的人們早就知道短吻鱷和鱷魚比其他爬行動物更聰明，比如蛇和烏龜。現在，博物學家首次記錄了爬行動物使用工具的證據： 人們觀察到美洲短吻鱷在鳥類築巢季節用樹枝頂著頭築巢，而築巢材料的競爭十分激烈。

絕望的、粗心的鳥兒看到樹枝“漂浮”在水面上，它們俯衝下來撿起樹枝，變成了美洲短吻鱷的美味午餐。

Orangutans 紅毛猩猩

In the wild， orangutans use branches， sticks and leaves the way humans use utensils， screwdrivers and power drills。 Sticks are the main all-purpose tool， wielded by these primates to pry tasty insects out of trees or dig seeds out of the neesia fruit；

leaves are used as primitive “gloves” （when harvesting prickly plants）， as umbrellas in driving rain， or， folded into tubes， as small megaphones that some orangutans use to amplify their calls。

There are even reports of orangutans using sticks to measure the depth of water， which would imply a cognitive ability far in advance of any other animal （though not all naturalists agree that this is the correct interpretation of this unique behavior）。

在野外，猩猩使用樹枝、樹枝和樹葉的方式就像人類使用餐具、螺絲刀和電鑽一樣。棍棒是主要的萬能工具，這些靈長類動物用棍棒從樹上撬出美味的昆蟲或從尼西亞果實中挖出種子； 樹葉被用作“手套”來使用（當收穫帶刺的植物時），下雨時使用樹葉當雨傘，或者摺疊成管狀，一些猩猩用它來放大它們的叫聲。

甚至有報道稱猩猩使用木棍測量水深，這意味著它們的認知能力遠遠領先於其他動物（儘管並非所有的博物學家都認為這是對這種獨特行為的正確解釋）。

註明：

英文來源：By Bob Strauss THOUGHT CO。 圖片來自於網路，如侵權請告知刪除！如果您心動，請點贊留言！謝謝！