大鲨鱼竟然爱听爵士乐

While for many people sharks bring to mind the Jaws theme music, it seems sharks themselves prefer jazz.

一提到大白鲨，你很可能首先想到的是电影《大白鲨》那骇人的主题曲。但是，大白鲨好像更喜欢爵士乐。

Far from mindless eating machines, new research from the Macquarie University Fish Lab has shown sharks are much more sophisticated than most people imagine.

据麦考瑞大学鱼类研究室的最新研究成果，大白鲨其实远不是我们想象中那种只会吃人的、冷血的动物，它比我们大多数想象的都要复杂地多。

Researchers trained baby Port Jackson sharks to associate music with a foodreward. When played a jazz song, the sharks learnt to go to a feeding station for a tasty treat.

"Sound is really important for aquatic animals, it travels well under water and fish use it to find food, hiding places and even to communicate," said lead author Catarina Vila-Pouca from the Department of Biological Sciences.

研究人员对一只小鲨鱼进行了训练，教它如何把进食与音乐联系起来。于是，只要研究人员一放起爵士乐，可爱的小鲨鱼就会去喂食点享受美味的食物。论文的第一作者、来自生物科学系的Catarina Vila-Pouca说：“对于水生动物来说，声音非常重要。它们能在水下来去自如、搜寻食物，甚至是找躲避之处、与同类交流，都是声音的功劳。”

Anecdotal reports have suggested that sharks can learn to associate the sounds of boat engines with food, for example as part of shark cage-diving activities. The study published this week in Animal Cognition provides evidence that sharks can learn the association relatively quickly.

之前有报告说鲨鱼会将船只引擎的声音与食物联系起来，就像鲨鱼的笼潜水活动一样(观察者会在一个保护笼里以防止鲨鱼与潜水员接触。鲨鱼笼潜水被用于科学观察、水下摄影和旅游活动。 鲨鱼会因为一些诱饵跑到笼子附近。但这种做法引起了一些争议，因为据称，在游泳者附近时，鲨鱼的自然行为会有所改变)。这项研究结果已发表在本周的《动物认知》上，它表明，鲨鱼的确可以相对快速地学会将两者联系起来。

Associate Professor Culum Brown of the Department of Biological Sciences and the leader of The Fish Lab said when it came to differentiating between jazz and classical music, the sharks struggled.

生物科学系的副教授Culum Brown 和鱼类研究室的领导人都认为，鲨鱼很难区分古典乐和爵士乐：

"It was obvious that the sharks knew that they had to do something when the classical music was played, but they couldn't figure out that they had to go to a different location," said Associate Professor Brown.

当我们放古典乐的时候，鲨鱼知道自己有啥事没做，但是它们却并不知道其实应该去另一个不同的地点。

"The task is harder than it sounds, because the sharks had to learn that different locations were associated with a particular genre of music, which was then paired with a food reward. Perhaps with more training they would have figured it out."

你可能会觉得这听起来没什么，但事实上这项任务可比听起来要难。首先，作为一只鲨鱼，你得先知道要去两个不同的地方，还要把这两个地方与两种特定的音乐类型对应起来，这样你才吃得到食物。或许要经过更多次的训练，它们就会知道了。

Ms Vila-Pouca said the research from The Fish Lab hopes to reveal some of the fascinating learning abilities of sharks.

Vila-Pouca女士说，鱼类研究室的研究人员希望能进一步揭示出鲨鱼有这么惊人的学习能力的原因：

"Sharks are generally underestimated when it comes to learning abilities – most people see them as mindless, instinctive animals.

大多数人认为鲨鱼是没有思想的动物，也不知道它们还有这么强的学习能力。

"However, they have really big brains and are obviously much smarter than we give them credit for.

但实际上，它们比我们想象中要聪明地多。

"Gaining a better understanding of this will help grow positive public opinion of sharks and may shift public and political will towards their conservation."

知道了这一点后，希望公众以后能更加理性地看待鲨鱼，也多一些积极的看法;对某些政治适当做出调整，以投入到保护它们的行业中来。