We humans often navigate (导航) using road signs and GPS. But what about elephants? Connie Allen, a behavioural ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., said “the elephants navigate over long distances using their unbelievable memories”, which makes others consider that an elephant will never forget. But it’s also been suggested here and there that maybe olfaction is extremely important for these long-distance movements.
Allen and her colleagues checked that idea by testing African elephants’ ability to identify a very special smell: the smell of pee (尿). You see, an elephant pees a lot — some 12 to 15 gallons a day — and that pee can contain a series of chemical signals.
But first, they needed some pee. So they headed for a spot along Botswana’s Boteti River and waited. They waited for elephants to pee and, within 20 minutes, went and collected these fresh pee samples. Then they set up cameras on seven paths which the elephants usually walked along. After observing the elephants’ natural behaviour on the paths, they noticed that the majority of the elephants checked smells along the paths — especially elephants travelling alone, which is an indication, the researchers said, that smells may serve as signposts along the paths.
Next, they placed those pee samples along the paths. And they found that for at least two days, passing elephants trained their trunks on the samples, especially samples from mature adults, which is another indication that smells might be an effective navigational signal. Their findings appeared in the journal Animal Behaviour.
Based on these results, they hope conservationists might be able to use elephant pee as a decoy (诱饵). If we can trick elephants into thinking other elephants are going this way, maybe we can redirect them away from where they are coming into conflict with humans at the moment.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “olfaction” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．The roadside signpost. | B．The sense of smell. |
| C．The long-term memory. | D．The sense of direction. |
| A．By doing field research. | B．By analyzing causes and effects. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By doing laboratory experiments. |
| A．Helping elephants to find other companions. |
| B．Inspiring new research directions in elephants. |
| C．Raising public awareness of elephant protection. |
| D．Making elephants and humans coexist peacefully. |
| A．African Elephants Show Personality-based Movements |
| B．Elephants Are Born With Excellent Ability to Navigate |
| C．African Elephants May Use Pee as a Road Sign |
| D．Elephants Have a Good Memory for Roads |
