日本雪猴如何减压？泡温泉
日本雪猴非常有名——就猴子来说。这群日本猕猴在北部生活，靠近1998年举办了冬奥会的多雪山区长野。
Others of their species live even farther north, farther than any other nonhuman primate, so they are able to adapt to winter weather.
这一物种还有一部分生活在更偏北的地区，在所有非人灵长类动物中是最北的，因此它们也能够适应冬季的天气。
But the source of this troop’s fame is an adaptation that only they exhibit: soaking in hot spring bathing pools. Their habitat is full of natural hot springs that tend to be over 140 degrees Fahrenheit, a temperature that is apparently uncomfortable for the monkeys.
但这个群落的名气却来自于一种只有它们能展现出来的适应力：在温泉浴池中泡澡。在它们的栖息地，温泉比比皆是，往往还超过了140华氏度(约合60摄氏度)，这样的温度对猴子来说显然是不舒服的。
It wasn’t until 1963 that a young female macaque was first observed bathing in a pool built by a hotel, with the water cooled to a temperature comfortable enough for humans and monkeys.
直到1963年，人们才头一次看到一只年轻的母猴子在酒店建造的一个温泉池中泡澡，池水已经冷却到了对人类和猴子来说都适宜的温度。
At first, one or two monkeys joining human visitors were a curiosity , but eventually they became a nuisance and health hazard, and a park was built with hot spring pools at a comfortable 104 degrees Fahrenheit, for monkeys only.
起初有一两只猴子加入时，人类游客还挺好奇，但当它们最终变成了一个麻烦和健康威胁时，人们便建起了一座温泉公园，将池水温度保持在舒适的104华氏度(约合40摄氏度)，供猴子专用。
The monkeys have been a long time tourist attraction and favorite of photographers, and it looked like they were trying to stay warm. Only recently have scientists investigated this behavior by measuring levels of stress hormones and observing the effects of social structure.
这些猴子向来都能吸引游客，也是摄影师的最爱，它们看起来像是想要取暖。但直到最近才有科学家通过测量压力激素、观察社会结构的效应，对这种行为进行了研究。
Rafaela S.C. Takeshita and her colleagues at Kyoto University collected and tested the monkeys’ feces for levels of glucocorticoids, which increase with stress. The cold is known to cause levels of these hormones to go up. They published their results in the journal Primates.
拉斐拉·S·C·竹下(Rafaela S.C. Takeshita)和她的京都大学同事收集了猴子的粪便，对其进行糖皮质激素水平测试，糖皮质激素水平会随压力增加。已知寒冷会促使这种激素水平上升。他们在《灵长目动物》(Primates)期刊上发表了这一成果。
As expected, during the periods when the monkeys were bathing, stress levels were down. Another indication of the value of bathing to the macaques was that the higher-ranking females spent more time in the pools.
正如所料，在猴子泡澡期间，压力水平下降。另一个能表明泡澡对猕猴重要性的地方是，地位较高的母猴在池水里的时间更长。
Dr. Takeshita said that the males are usually on the periphery of the troop at this time of year and did not spend much time bathing, so she only studied the females.
竹下称，在一年中的这段时间，公猴通常在群落的次要位置，不会花太多时间泡澡，因此她只对母猴进行了研究。
She also said she was inspired by the monkeys, in a nonscientific way.
她还表示，猴子在一个非科学层面也带给了她启发。
“I confess that during my research, many times after, I jumped into one of the hot springs pools,” the ones for humans, that is.
“我承认，在我的研究期间，有很多次做完研究之后，我都会扎进一个温泉浴池中，”不过，是人用的温泉。
