Capuchin monkeys(僧帽猴) usually make a lot of noise when they find food. They shriek(尖叫) and yell and scream. They are letting their families know where the food is.
One day, Dr. Mario, a scientist, saw a monkey keep quiet when it found food. The monkey didn’t let the other monkeys know about the bananas. Dr. Mario wondered why. "It looked like she was trying to keep her bananas hidden from the other monkeys, he said.
Some scientists used to think that animals couldn't control the sounds coming from their mouths. This would mean that monkeys would make noise even if there was not enough food to share. However, Dr. Mario had a different idea.
Capuchin monkeys love to eat bananas. So Dr. Mario put some bananas on a platform in the trees where the monkeys lived. Sometimes he put many bananas on the platform so that there would be enough for the monkeys to share. Sometimes he put only a few so that there would not be enough bananas for everyone.
Dr. Mario did this for a whole year. Each time Dr. Mario put bananas on the platform, he watched carefully. He wanted to see if the monkeys sometimes kept quiet when they found bananas.
Dr. Mario found three things that made monkeys more likely to remain silent. First, when monkeys found only a few bananas, they often didn't tell their families. Second, in seasons when the forest provided only a little bit of food, monkeys tended to keep quiet when they found bananas. Third, monkeys were more likely to stay quiet when they had many friends nearby and would not have enough food for everyone. Dr. Mario’s banana test showed that monkeys can control the sounds coming from their mouths. It seems that they know when to keep quiet and when to call in the family.
【小题1】When finding food, capuchin monkeys yell and scream in order to ________.A.show their satisfaction | B.send signals to their families |
C.find the place | D.threaten their enemies |
A.By changing the number of bananas |
B.By changing the location of the platform |
C.By controlling the sounds from other monkeys |
D.By letting other monkeys know about the bananas. |
A.like to remain silent | B.don’t share their food |
C.prefer to eat bananas | D.can control their sounds |
A.where monkeys live |
B.how monkeys find food |
C.when monkeys keep quiet after they find food |
D.how monkeys make sounds when they call their families |