白貓頭鷹利用月光向獵物灌輸恐懼

白貓頭鷹利用月光向獵物灌輸恐懼

Imagine, if you will, that you're a rodent running a few late-night errands.

想象一下，如果你愿意的話，你是一只晚上要做幾件事的嚙齒動物。

Just a lone mouse in the moonlight.

只是月光下一只孤獨的老鼠。

Or so you think.

至少你是這么認(rèn)為的。

Suddenly, there's a slight stirring of air; the hair on your tail stands on end.

突然，有輕微的空氣吹來;你尾巴上的毛豎了起來。

You turn — and behold, a white owl silhouetted in the moonlight.

你轉(zhuǎn)過身來，看到一只白色貓頭鷹的剪影映在月光下。

Photo: FJAH/Shutterstock

It's a sight to freeze anyone in their tracks — which, according to new research, is exactly the point for these masters of moonlight hunting.

這是一種讓人駐足的景象——根據(jù)一項新的研究，這正是這些月光狩獵大師的目的所在。

White barn owls, a study published this month in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution suggests, may have evolved their unearthly plumage in order to instill terror in their prey.

本月發(fā)表在《自然生態(tài)與進(jìn)化》(Nature Ecology & Evolution)雜志上的一項研究表明，谷倉里的白貓頭鷹可能進(jìn)化出了它們神秘的羽毛，以便向它們的獵物灌輸恐懼。

The research team has been monitoring the same group of Swiss barn owls for more than two decades, tracking everything from their breeding patterns to hunting rituals. As they suspected, they found owls sporting darker plumages had trouble bringing home dinner on a moonlit night.

該研究小組對同一組瑞士倉鸮進(jìn)行了20多年的監(jiān)測，從它們的繁殖模式到狩獵儀式，什么都進(jìn)行了追蹤。正如他們所懷疑的那樣，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)長著深色羽毛的貓頭鷹很難在月光下帶回晚餐。

Even with an owl's unique feather design, which allows them to fly in dead silence, that pesky moon still gives them away to prey.

即使貓頭鷹有獨特的羽毛設(shè)計，能讓它們在死一般的寂靜中飛行，那討厭的月亮還是會把它們暴露給獵物。

But unlike their red-chested counterparts, white owls fared just as well on the hunt, moon or no moon.

但與紅胸貓頭鷹不同的是，無論有沒有月亮，白貓頭鷹在捕獵時都表現(xiàn)得很好。

Now, you might think that when hunting small, alert and very nervous animals at night, the last thing you want to do is wear white — under a full moon, no less.

現(xiàn)在，你可能會想，當(dāng)你在晚上獵捕小的、警覺的、非常緊張的動物時，你最不愿意做的事情就是穿白色的衣服——至少在滿月下是這樣。

As the team noted, a small rodent's typical defense strategy is to freeze at the whiff of danger. Don't move. Don't breathe. Maybe it won't see you.

正如研究小組所指出的，小型嚙齒動物的典型防御策略是一嗅到危險的氣息就立刻停止活動。不要動。不要呼吸。也許它不會看到你。

"Curiously," the researchers wrote in The Conversation, "On full moon nights and only when facing a white owl instead of a red one, rodents stayed frozen for longer.

“奇怪的是，”研究人員在對話中寫道，“在滿月之夜，只有當(dāng)面對一只白貓頭鷹而不是一只紅貓頭鷹時，嚙齒動物才會凍得更久。”

"We think voles behave that way when encountering a white owl because they're scared by bright light reflected from the white plumage."

“我們認(rèn)為田鼠在遇到白貓頭鷹時會表現(xiàn)出這種行為，因為它們害怕白色羽毛反射的強(qiáng)光。”

Just the sight of a white owl in moonlight caused voles to freeze in their tracks. (Photo: Ernie Janes/Shutterstock)

Barn animals are the most common of their kind, found in all parts of the world, In fact, they operate under no less than 22 aliases, including ghost owl, death owl and hissing owl. As if their names weren't scary enough, they don't even bother with the telltale owl hoot — preferring to make something closer to a long, drawn-out raspy scream.

谷倉里的動物是同類中最常見的，在世界各地都能找到，事實上，它們至少有22個別名，包括幽靈貓頭鷹、死亡貓頭鷹和嘶嘶叫的貓頭鷹。似乎它們的名字還不夠嚇人，它們甚至不介意貓頭鷹的叫聲——它們更喜歡發(fā)出一種接近長時間刺耳尖叫的聲音。

If there's just one part of the barn owl's body that hasn't evolved for the purpose of scaring the bejesus out of its prey, it's that face.

如果倉鸮的身體中只有一個部位沒有進(jìn)化到足以嚇跑獵物的程度，那就是那張臉。

These owls happen to own some of the most adorable heart-shaped faces in the animal kingdom.

這些貓頭鷹碰巧擁有動物王國里一些最可愛的心形臉。

Unless, of course, you see it up close and personal with a full moon at its back.

當(dāng)然，除非你近距離看到它，而且它的背后有一輪滿月。