研究：奶牛会互相交谈，包括关于食物的

研究：奶牛会互相交谈，包括关于食物的

Cows are able to “commooonicate” with each other, a startling new study says.

一项令人吃惊的新研究表明，奶牛之间能够“交流”。

Published in Scientific Reports in December, the study notes that Holstein-Fresian heifer cattle are able to communicate with one another, using their own distinct moos. The researchers, including lead researcher Alexandra Green, took 333 samples of cow vocalizations and analyzed them using acoustic analysis programs. They discovered the cows are able to give cues in certain situations and express different emotions, including excitement, arousal, engagement and distress.

去年12月发表在《科学报告》(Scientific Reports)上的这项研究指出，霍尔斯坦-弗瑞斯(Holstein-Fresian)的小母牛能够利用自己独特的哞哞声彼此交流。包括首席研究员亚历山德拉·格林在内的研究人员采集了333个奶牛发声的样本，并使用声学分析程序进行了分析。他们发现，奶牛能够在特定情况下给出线索，并表达不同的情绪，包括兴奋、觉醒、参与和悲伤。

“We found that cattle vocal individuality is relatively stable across different emotionally loaded farming contexts,” Green said in a statement.

格林在一份声明中说:“我们发现，在不同的情绪农场环境中，牛的声音个性相对稳定。”

Positive signs were seen when the females were in heat and when there was anticipation of being fed. Negative contexts were spotted when they were denied access to food and during “physical and visual isolation from the rest of the herd.”

当母象处于发情期和期待被喂食时，就会出现积极的信号。当母象被拒绝进食时，以及“在身体和视觉上与其他象群隔离”时，就会出现消极的信号。

Cameron Clark, one of the study’s co-authors and Green’s academic supervisor, praised her research. “Ali’s research is truly inspired,” Clark said in the statement. “It is like she is building a Google translate for cows.”

该研究的共同作者之一、格林的学术导师卡梅伦?克拉克(Cameron Clark)称赞了她的研究。“阿里的研究确实很有启发，”克拉克在声明中说。“这就像她在为奶牛建立一个谷歌翻译。”

Previous research had revealed cows and their calves are able to communicate by keeping individuality in their lowing (the vocal sounds made by cattle), but Green’s research indicates that the individuality is kept throughout their entire lives and spread across the herd.

之前的研究表明，奶牛和它们的幼崽能够通过保持它们的低鸣声(牛发出的声音)进行交流，但格林的研究表明，这种低鸣声贯穿它们的一生，并在整个群体中传播。

“Cows are gregarious, social animals,” Green added. “In one sense it isn’t surprising they assert their individual identity throughout their life and not just during mother-calf imprinting. But this is the first time we have been able to analyze voice to have conclusive evidence of this trait.”

“牛是群居动物，”格林补充道。“从某种意义上说，他们在一生中坚持自己的个性并不奇怪，而不仅仅是在母牛犊的印记中。但这是我们第一次能够通过分析声音来得出这一特征的确凿证据。”

Green hopes that her research will be used by farmers and integrated into their routines to better understand their animals and improve their well being.

格林希望她的研究能被农民使用，并融入他们的日常生活，以更好地了解他们的动物，改善他们的生活。

“Individual distinctiveness is likely to attract social support from conspecifics, and knowledge of these individuality cues could assist farmers in detecting individual cattle for welfare or production purposes,” the researchers wrote in the study’s abstract.

研究人员在研究摘要中写道:“个体的独特性可能会吸引同类的社会支持，了解这些个体特征的线索可能有助于农民发现个体牛的福利或生产目的。”