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This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.

Some parents get overly involved in their kids' personal lives, but bonobo mothers take this tendency tothe extreme. They fix up their adult sons with a female of their choosing, and they even keep other males from getting near their future daughter-in-law. The behavior may seem overbearing, but it boosts the odds they'll be surrounded by grandkids. That's according to a study in the journal Current Biology.

Researchers studying wild bonobos in the Congo noticed that some females behaved a bit like males—fighting over fertile females and fending off some of the males who come a-courtin'. That observation struck primatologist Martin Surbeck as odd.

"So I just wondered, hey what is it actually of their business, no? Most of the mammals it's just a male business, this competition over the access to females."fgc[fS5GQgsPk

To get to the bottom of this unusual activity, Surbeck, who is currently at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, got DNA samples from the players in this melodrama.

"And so it became more apparent when we did the paternity analysis and it turned out these females were mothers of some males. And in this female-dominated society of bonobos the mother acts kind of like a social passport, allowing their sons to be more central in the group and therefore having more opportunities to interact with other females."

And after the moms introduce their sons to the most desirable ladies, they make sure the couple won't be interrupted. As a result:

"We found that males have about three times higher likelihood to sire offspring while their mom was still alive in the community."

In contrast, mothers of the closely related chimpanzees don't chaperone their sons. In fact, male chimps are less likely to sire offspring when their moms are around. Seems that chimps prefer privacy for their monkey business.

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin.hP(ik6YWP3lpj5wAv

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参考译文(nRK_U^i+[Otmg1%S&1f

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学,y2O(~.Y~@6],ENLh+t。我是凯伦·霍普金cYc3,=AydKnb,p~*。

有些父母会过分介入孩子的私生活，但倭黑猩猩妈妈将这种倾向发挥到了极致~L&IRXGbr9。她们为自已的成年儿子安排她们选中的雌性，她们甚至阻止其他雄性接近她们未来的儿媳kB_wf6ye2)MeA。这种行为可能看起来很蛮横，但却增加了她们儿孙满堂的几率qyf7ll**8vE^_Qc1.xC。这是《当代生物学》期刊上一篇研究得出的结论#S,i&.9zeIpE|FLi!z7(。

研究野生倭黑猩猩的研究人员注意到，一些雌性倭黑猩猩的行为有点像雄性，她们会为争夺有繁育能力的雌性而打架，还会阻挡前来求爱的其他雄性LTXh&Yhjg04)9lW8tb。这一观察结果让灵长类动物学家马丁·瑟贝克感到吃惊_B~(;s8Y!dMM。

“我只是想知道，嘿，她们到底在干什么？大多数哺乳动物都是雄性在争夺接近雌性的机会mp|94drknvavQ&D1,Z。”

为了弄清这种不同寻常的行为，目前在马克斯·普朗克进化人类学研究所工作的瑟贝克，从这部传奇剧的主角身上提取了DNAzG!x((bQ3Yi!1IY0M]B。

“当我们做父本分析时，答案变得愈加清晰，结果显示，这些雌性倭黑猩猩是一些雄性的母亲f&;LD#5D@#whqdOe3~^。在女性占主导的倭黑猩猩社会中，母亲的角色有点像是社交通行证，可以使她们的儿子在群体中处于更核心的地位，继而拥有更多与其他雌性互动的机会E4&FMKPfC7。”

在母亲将自已最满意的雌性介绍给儿子后，她们还要确保这一对不被打扰R+1jw#n[L8。结果是：

“我们发现，当其母亲依旧在群体中存活时，雄性繁衍后代的可能性增加了3倍#xzyMCfxHTBu。”

相比之下，作为倭黑猩猩的近亲，黑猩猩的母亲就不会陪护自已的儿子4=%jx]l6%loh。事实上，母亲在身边时，雄性黑猩猩不太可能繁殖后代M8RTuB8#)T。看起来，黑猩猩在“房事”方面更注重隐私57#YIe-L0Y%H。

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学7NBr_SxE~5eaGl-w=。我是凯伦·霍普金B31fKeaco);^。(_[r[k2DC=r~

译文为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！_TmX]gOFK]WKVuxW

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重点讲解%H+y4DpZ52aBXT5nc

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重点讲解：

1. take sth. to the extreme 走极端；使…至极端；

Beauty, as the saying goes, is in the eye of the beholder--and some fish have taken this idea to the extreme.

常言道，情人眼里出西施——而有些鱼儿还把这种想法推到极致4z;vrQ#^w(1HumC。

2. fend off 挡开，避开(问题或人)；

He raised his hand to fend off the blow.

他抬起手来抵挡那一拳hThkUx%(H;dw-._;y)。

3. get to the bottom of 找到…的真正起因；查寻到…的根源；

I have to get to the bottom of this mess.

我必须查清造成这一混乱局面的真正原因ZFcK_1KAu&_b5。

4. in contrast 相比之下；与…相反；

In contrast, the lives of girls in well-to-do families were often very sheltered.

相反，生活在富裕家庭的女孩子通常都备受呵护som~0bn7oU1nN,VC。^TGbyKdJ2[

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