海豚也爱看电视

To keep captive dolphins entertained, marine facilities typically give them pool noodles and rings to play with.

为了让被捕获的海豚开心，海洋机构通常会给它们一些泳绳和圆环玩。

 But a new study suggests these ocean mammals also enjoy a more human pastime: TV.

但一项新的研究表明，这些海洋哺乳动物还享受着一种更适合人类消遣的活动:看电视。

Researchers at Dolphins Plus Marine Mammal Responder in Key Largo, Florida, positioned large TV screens at underwater windows and played videos for groups of 11 bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and five rough-toothed (Steno bredanensis) dolphins. 

佛罗里达州基拉戈海豚与海洋哺乳动物响应机构的研究人员将大型电视屏幕放在水下的窗户前，为11只宽吻海豚和5只粗齿海豚播放视频。

These included ocean or jungle scenes from the nature documentary Planet Earth and episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants (to test whether the dolphins preferred shows with more naturalistic ocean settings). 

这些场景包括自然纪录片《地球》中的海洋或丛林场景，以及海绵宝宝系列(以测试海豚是否更喜欢更自然的海洋场景的电视)。

Then they monitored the dolphins’ behavior for signs of interest, such as pressing their heads against the glass or nodding their heads, or signs of aggression, such as clamping their jaws or swimming with jerky movements.

然后，他们观察海豚的行为，寻找它们感兴趣的迹象，如将头抵在玻璃上或点头，或寻找它们具有攻击性的迹象，如撞击下巴或扭动身体游泳。

The dolphins didn’t have a favorite show: They were interested in the TV regardless of what was on, according to results the team will publish in Zoo Biology.

研究小组将在《动物园生物学》杂志上发表的研究结果显示，这些海豚并没有最喜欢的电视节目:不管放啥，它们对正在播放的电视节目都很感兴趣。

 Even hearing-impaired dolphins paid attention, indicating that moving pictures alone might captivate dolphins.

甚至听力受损的海豚也注意到了这一点，这表明仅凭移动的图像就可能吸引到海豚。

 Some animals—particularly the males—reacted more aggressively than others, the researchers noted.

研究人员指出，一些动物——尤其是雄性动物——的反应比其他动物更为激烈。

The team suggests dolphin keepers interested in trying this approach with the animals in their care should conduct trial sessions first. 

研究小组建议，对这种方法感兴趣的海豚饲养员应该首先进行试验。

For dolphins that are unfit for release, TV could be another way to stimulate their brains.

对于不适合放生的海豚来说，看电视可能是刺激它们大脑的另一种方式。

 The researchers also cite another potential benefit: Monitoring how dolphins respond to different videos could provide new ways to study how they think.

研究人员还提到了另一个潜在的好处:监控海豚对不同视频的反应可以为研究它们的思维方式提供新的方法。

对于给海豚看电视这种研究方法，朋友们有什么想法呢？欢迎给amber留言哦！

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