蚂蚁也爱垃圾食品
Urban Ants Love Junk Food Almost As Much As Humans
蚂蚁也爱垃圾食品
Dropped a chip or cookie on the pavement? Don't bother picking it up especially if you live in an urban area like Manhattan. That's because according to a team of researchers led by North Carolina State University's Clint Penick, some industrious ants will soon carry it away. For believe it or not, many city ants have come to love junk food almost as much as humans do!
薯条或曲奇掉到人行道上了？在曼哈顿这样的大城市中，不要急着把它捡起来。因为北卡罗莱纳州立大学进行的一项研究证明：辛勤的蚂蚁们会很快把它伴奏。信不信由你，越来越多在城市生存的蚂蚁开始像人类一样，喜欢上垃圾食品。
The team began by collecting 100 specimens of 21 ant species that dwell across Manhattan - from sidewalks to medians, as well as parks. They then measured the levels of carbon 13 in the bodies of each species. That's because foods containing corn and sugar cane, which is pretty much all processed food as well as meat, contain a considerable amount of this isotope.
该研究小组先后从人行道、主干道和公园里收集了在曼哈顿生活的21种蚂蚁的100个样本。然后检测C13在每个种类中的含量。发现它们的食物含有大量C13同位素，其中包括加工过的玉米、蔗糖还有肉类。
They discovered that the Tetramorium ant species that live in the nooks and crannies of city pavements across the world had the highest level of C13. Those that dwell in parks and lawns had considerably lower levels of the isotope. While these findings were not surprising, the high levels of C13 in the ginatus ant species, certainly was, given that they live close to humans. The researchers believe this could be because the ants are recent migrants and have yet to acquire a taste for junk food.
他们发现生活在全球各个城市角落与缝隙的克氏铺道蚁体内含有最多C13元素，而那些生活在公园和草坪的蚂蚁体内含量则相对较少。这样的结果并不那么两人吃惊，ginatus蚂蚁体内含C13也多，因为它们生活的最靠近人类。对这个结果，研究者称这种蚂蚁虽是最近迁徙过来的，但也开始品尝垃圾食品了。
Penick believes that adapting to human food is probably the reason the ants are able to thrive in an area where their natural diet of dead insects is scarce. The researchers now plan to test if the tiny insects show a preference for human junk food even when their normal diet is readily available - so stay tuned!
Penick相信蚂蚁开始习惯人类食物，也许是因为它们具有在自然食物比如说昆虫等资源缺乏时还保持快速繁殖的能力。研究者最近打算调查一下那些自然食物资源丰富的小昆虫是否会喜欢人类垃圾食品。敬请期待吧！
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