Feathers are not just for flight. They keep birds warm, and attract mates. And for one Australian bird, feathers even help produce an important sound—an alarm.
“People had long noticed these birds produced these loud sounds.” Trevor Murray, a researcher at the Australian National University said. “My supervisor Rob Magrath and May Hingee thought they were used as an alarm. So they did some playbacks and they could show quite strongly that if you play back these sounds to other birds, they flee straightaway. So I was really interested in how they produce the sound, whether it is actually a signal, and whether it’s a reliable signal.”
The team focused their experiment on specific feathers in the pigeon’s wing. “We were able to target the eighth primary feather, which is unusually narrow. And then we also removed, on different sets of birds, those neighboring feathers, the ninth primary feather and the seventh primary feather. And we were able to see when the eighth primary feather was missing, the high note had completely disappeared. So the eighth primary feather produced that high note and the ninth primary feather actually produced the low note.”
And if the birds are fleeing from danger, they produce a louder and higher sound than they do during a normal takeoff. The study is in the journal Current Biology.
Murray and his colleagues did another experiment where they used the recordings they made to observe the reactions of other pigeons. “We were able to see the unusual eighth primary feather was important for signaling the alarm. When that eighth primary feather was missing, they very rarely responded. They almost never fled. Whereas when the ninth primary produces the sound, they fled just as much as to normal alarms. This shows us this unusual primary feather is important for signaling alarm.”
That makes birds of a feather flee together.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 2 refer to?A.The birds | B.Rob and May |
C.The feathers | D.The loud sounds |
A.They fly away as a group. | B.They produce different notes. |
C.They send alarms with feathers. | D.They attract mates with feathers. |
A.To record the notes they produce. | B.To keep the pigeons stay in cages |
C.To compare their width and length. | D.To observe other pigeons’ reactions. |
A.It keeps the pigeons warm | B.It responds to alarms |
C.It helps birds fly more quickly | D.It sounds alarms of danger. |
A dog’s mind is only equal to that of a two-year-old baby.
They sense your feelings. Isn’t it strange?
They smell fear. Let’s say you’re faced with your worst fear. Would you get scared and run away or just face it? Before choosing how to deal with it, you should remember one thing.
They’re watching you. We are all raised as respectable individuals who are taught to respect elders, obey the law and help out people in need from time to time.
A.They sense health problems. |
B.They understand when ignored. |
C.They know when no one’s looking at them. |
D.You would be setting an example to your pet. |
E.Every time you feel sad, you dog just know it. |
F.But dogs are able to sense everything around them. |
G.However, not all of us take these three things seriously. |
The state of the world’s plants is not strong. One in five plant species faces the risk of disappearance, according to a report. And such loss of plant variety could have destructive influences on our own plant uses.
“Plants are extremely momentous to human beings,” said Kathy Willis, science director at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, who led the new report. “Plants provide us with everything--- food, fuel, medicine, and they are unbelievably important for our climate controlling. Without plants we would not be here.”
The good news is that deforestation rates around the world have decreased to a great extent since the 1950s. However, this first-ever report on the health of plant species around the world shows that there is much more to be done.
The report, named the “State of the World’s Plants”, estimates that there are now about 390,900 plant species known to science. And some 21 percent of those plants are in danger of disappearance. “The positive side is that we’re still discovering lots of new plants, about 2,000 each year, new plants for food, for fuel and for drugs,” said Dr Willis. “The bad side is that we’ve seen a huge change in land cover, mainly driven by cultural activity, with a little bit of climate change in there as well.”
Human activity has a significant effect on the risk of plant disappearance. As humans cut down forests to clear space for agriculture, towns and cities, vast stores of biodiversity (生物多样性) are lost.
Losing the diversity of plants could also be a problem for human use. Not only could this affect our own food supply directly, it could also affect the food web. If a plant-eating animal loses some of its food supplies, that change could affect the food chain.
【小题1】What does the underlined word “momentous” in paragraph 2 probably mean?A.Crucial. | B.Available. |
C.Bottomless. | D.Replaceable. |
A.About 20. | B.About 2,000. |
C.About 82,000. | D.About 390,900. |
A.Nature climate change. | B.Loss of vital food bases. |
C.Destructive human activity. | D.Pollution of the environment. |
A.To show a big change in land cover. |
B.To appeal to people to protect biodiversity. |
C.To reveal some harmful human behavior. |
D.To introduce some endangered plant species. |
Bats have long been one of the most feared creatures in the animal kingdom. Many pop culture associations with them are related to vampire men (吸血鬼) attacking women in order to suck their blood or witches putting evil curses on innocent individuals.
Although these associations are complete misunderstandings, bats do have a dark side as a dangerous disease medium. These flying mammals can carry a number of fatal diseases such as rabies and more recently Ebola. This has led many to wonder why we should even care about them.
Sure, there is good reason to be extremely cautious if you come into contact with bats. However, there is no denying the fact that bats play a significant role in maintaining a balanced ecosystem.
Many organic farmers have learned about the benefits of having bats nearby to help do away with amounts of pests that show up without pesticides. One brown bat, about the size of a human thumb, can consume about 600 mosquitoes and other unwanted insects within an hour. They make for a fantastic, almost essential, addition to pest management on any farm.
Even large government organizations have realized the economic benefits of bats. The United States Geological Survey estimates that bat contributions to pest management save the country at least 3.7 billion dollars per year. Without them, we would likely experience a dramatic drop in food production, which would eventually make its way into our weekly grocery bills.
As if this were not enough of an ecosystem service we receive, bats are also of great importance to a variety of plant species that are preferential to its pollination (授粉). Otherwise, these plants would decrease their ability to reproduce by at least 50 percent. A number of plant products consumed by humans fall into this preferential pollination category. Some popular foods include mangoes, bananas, peaches and guavas. Additionally, the agave plant, which is used to make tequila, is completely dependent on bat pollinators for reproduction.
Bats are major contributors to our society. These assets are in the best interest of the international community to protect and even to promote. Among significant fears housed by the general public, the fact is that we need them more than most of us imagine. And that’s why should take some measures.
【小题1】What’s the typical image of bats in most popular culture?A.A cute black animal. | B.An intelligent animal. |
C.An evil and dangerous animal. | D.A token (象征) of fortune. |
A.By analyzing causes and effects. | B.By giving some typical examples. |
C.By following the order of importance. | D.By presenting sufficient scientific data. |
A.Possible ways to protect bats. | B.Bats’ economic benefits. |
C.Bats’ bad effects on people. | D.Bats’ disgusting appearance. |
A.To entertain people with some interesting stories about bats. |
B.To advertise the newly — produced documentary about bats. |
C.To educate people about the importance of bats to our society. |
D.To appeal people to study about the endangered species — bats. |
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