This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
这里是《科学美国人》的60秒科学。我是克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔。
We humans often navigate using road signs and GPS. Elephants, though?
人类往往依靠的路标和GPS进行导航，那大象又是如何导航的呢?
Connie Allen, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., says they navigate over long distances using their incredible memories. (An elephant never forgets, right?)
康妮·艾伦，英国埃克塞特大学的一位行为生态学家表示，它们能够凭借记忆进行很长距离的导航，就像俗话说的“大象永远不会忘”，是吗?
But it's also been suggested here and there that maybe olfaction and sense of smell is critical to these long-distance movements.
但也有一些人指出，或许大象的嗅觉也对它们长距离的行进至关重要。
Allen and her colleagues investigated that idea by testing African elephants' ability to tune in on a very specific smell: urine. You see, elephants pee a lot—some 12 to 15 gallons a day—and that urine can contain an array of chemical cues.
为了检验了这个猜想，她和同事测试了非洲象接收一种特殊气味信号——尿液——的能力。大象的排尿量很大，每天能有15加仑(约57升)，而尿液中包含了一系列的化学线索。
But first, they needed some pee. So they headed to a spot along Botswana's Boteti River and waited.
但是首先，得弄到些尿液，于是他们前往博茨瓦纳的博特蒂河河岸等尿。
We'd wait for elephants to urinate and, within 20 minutes, go and collect these fresh urine samples.
我们要等大象排尿，然后在20分钟之内去收集新鲜的尿液样本。
Then they set up camera traps on seven elephant trails. After observing the elephants' natural behavior on the paths, they noticed that a majority investigated scents along the trail—especially elephants traveling alone—an indication, the researchers say, that scents may serve as signposts along the trail.
然后他们在7条大象的踪迹上设置了相机陷阱。在观察了大象一路上的自然行为后，他们注意到，大部分大象仔细地闻了沿途的气味——尤其是独行的大象——研究人员说，这表明气味可能具有路标的作用。
Next, they placed those urine samples along the trails. And they found that for at least two days, passing elephants trained their trunks on the samples—especially samples from mature adults—another indication that scent might be a potent navigational cue.
然后，他们沿着路径放置了收集到的尿液样本，结果发现，在之后的至少两天里，经过的大象都将鼻子指向了尿液样本——尤其是成年大象的样本——这个迹象表明，气味可能是一种有效的导航信息。
Their findings appear in the journal Animal Behaviour. [Connie R. B. Allen et al., Field evidence supporting monitoring of chemical information on pathways by male African elephants]
他们的研究结果发表在《动物行为》杂志上。
Based on these results, they hope conservationists might be able to use elephant pee as a decoy.
基于其中的结论，他们希望动物保护者们能够把大象尿液作为一种“诱饵”利用起来。
If we can trick elephants into thinking the path of other elephants is going this way, maybe we can redirect them away from it at the moment where they are coming into conflict with humans.
如果我们能诱导大象，让它误以为其他大象都是往某个方向走的，也许就能在大象即将与人类产生冲突之时把它们引走。
They'll just have to see what happens, once elephants get a whiff of that plan.
他们只想知道，一旦大象知道了这个计划，接下来会发生什么。
Thank you for listening! For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.
感谢收听《科学美国人》的60秒科学。克里斯托弗·因塔利亚塔报道。
This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.
We humans often navigate using road signs and GPS. Elephants, though?
Connie Allen, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Exeter in the U.K., says they navigate over long distances using their incredible memories. (An elephant never forgets, right?)
But it's also been suggested here and there that maybe olfaction and sense of smell is critical to these long-distance movements.
Allen and her colleagues investigated that idea by testing African elephants' ability to tune in on a very specific smell: urine. You see, elephants pee a lot—some 12 to 15 gallons a day—and that urine can contain an array of chemical cues.
But first, they needed some pee. So they headed to a spot along Botswana's Boteti River and waited.
We'd wait for elephants to urinate and, within 20 minutes, go and collect these fresh urine samples.
Then they set up camera traps on seven elephant trails. After observing the elephants' natural behavior on the paths, they noticed that a majority investigated scents along the trail—especially elephants traveling alone—an indication, the researchers say, that scents may serve as signposts along the trail.
Next, they placed those urine samples along the trails. And they found that for at least two days, passing elephants trained their trunks on the samples—especially samples from mature adults—another indication that scent might be a potent navigational cue.
Their findings appear in the journal Animal Behaviour. [Connie R. B. Allen et al., Field evidence supporting monitoring of chemical information on pathways by male African elephants]
Based on these results, they hope conservationists might be able to use elephant pee as a decoy.
If we can trick elephants into thinking the path of other elephants is going this way, maybe we can redirect them away from it at the moment where they are coming into conflict with humans.
They'll just have to see what happens, once elephants get a whiff of that plan.
Thank you for listening! For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christopher Intagliata.
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