TED演讲:谈乌鸦的智慧(4)
So, the moral being: don’t piss off crows.
所以–大家看到了吧，千万别惹乌鸦。
So now, students at the University of Washington that are studying these crows, do so with a giant wig and a big mask.
正是这样的缘故，现在华盛顿大学做乌鸦研究的学生都带上巨大的假发，还套上面具。
It’s fairly interesting.
这真是令人哑然的一件事。
So we know these crows are really smart, but the more I dug into this,
以上说的无非是要证明乌鸦是非常聪明的，但我研究得越是深入，
the more I found that they actually have an even more significant adaptation.
越是觉得它们的智慧要比我们想象的高出一个层次。
Crows have become highly skilled at making a living in these new urban environments.
在新的城市环境中，乌鸦们的谋生技能正在变得越来越娴熟。
In this Japanese city, they have devised a way of eating a food that normally they can’t manage: drop it among the traffic.
这是一座日本城市，这里的乌鸦发明了一种吃果仁的办法–把坚果丢到车道上。
The problem now is collecting the bits, without getting run over.
然后飞走，等待汽车开过。
Wait for the light to stop the traffic. Then, collect your cracked nut in safety.
之后它们在马路边等待绿灯，然后飞到马路中央安全地衔走那颗果仁。
Yeah, pretty interesting. What’s significant about this isn’t that crows are using cars to crack nuts.
看看，这是不是挺有趣的？不过，有趣的倒不是借助过往车辆压开果核的做法。
In fact, that’s old hat for crows.
事实上，乌鸦老早就学会了这门手艺了。
This happened about 10 years ago in a place called Sendai City, at a driving school in the suburbs of Tokyo.
刚才大家看到的景象发生在10年前东京市郊的一家驾驶学校附近。
And since that time, all the crows in the neighborhood are picking up this behavior.
从那时开始，附近的乌鸦也学会了这样的吃坚果的方式。
Now every crow within five kilometers is standing by a sidewalk, waiting to collect its lunch.
如今，方圆五公里内的乌鸦都在人行道旁守候着，等待过往车辆为他们带来午餐。
作为一名黑客和作家，Joshua Klein对乌鸦们的智慧感到神奇。他在很长一段的业余时间里对乌鸦群的行为进行观察后，想出了一个堪称优雅的机器，这或许将在人类与动物间构建一种新的关系。