Snakes Can Hear You Scream蛇可以听到你的尖叫

梁小明

Snakes might not have ears， but they can hear.

A study found that as well as ground vibrations2， snakes could hear and react3 to airborne4 sound.

Because snakes dont have external5 ears，people usually think theyre deaf and can only feelvibrations through the ground and into their bodies. But thisresearch found they did react to sound waves travelling through theair and possibly human voices.

The study also found the reactions mainly depended on the type of snake.Some types of snakes tended6 to move toward sound， while others were morelikely to move away from it.

The different reactions were likely because of the pressures to survival overmillions of years. For example， some large types of snakes with fewer predators7than smaller types probably dont need to be as careful， so they tended to movetoward sound. But some types of snakes may have to worry about predators andthey also actively hunt for food， so they seem to be much more sensitive8.

The findings challenged the assumption9 that snakes cant hear sound，such as humans talking or screaming， and could change the view on how theyreact to sound.

We know very little about how most snake species live around the world.

Snakes are very weak creatures that hide most of the time， and we still haveso much to learn about them.

蛇可能沒有耳朵，但它们可以听到。

一项研究发现，除了地面振动外，蛇还能听到空气中传播的声音并对其做出反应。

由于蛇没有外耳，人们通常认为它们是聋子，只能感觉到震动穿过地面进入它们的身体。但这项研究发现它们确实会对空气中传播的声波以及可能对人类声音做出反应。

这项研究还发现反应主要取决于蛇的类型。一些种类的蛇倾向于朝声音移动，而另一些种类的蛇更倾向于远离声音。

这些不同的反应可能是因为数百万年来的生存压力。例如，比起体型更小的种类的蛇，一些天敌较少的大型蛇类可能不需要那样小心翼翼，因此它们倾向于朝着声音移动。但是，一些种类的蛇可能不得不担心天敌，并且它们也会积极捕食，因此它们似乎更加小心谨慎。

这一发现质疑了蛇听不到声音（比如人类说话或尖叫）的假设，并可能改变人们对它们对声音反应的看法。

我们对世界上大多数蛇类是如何生存的知之甚少。

蛇是非常弱小的生物，它们大多数时候都会躲藏起来，而我们还有很多关于它们的知识要学习。

Notes

1. scream. 尖叫. 尖叫声

2. vibration.震动；颤动

3. react . 作出反应

4. airborne . 空气传播的

5. external .外部的；外面的

6. tend . 倾向于；往往会

7. predator . 捕食性动物

8. sensitive .小心谨慎的

9. assumption . 假定；假设