時差N小時:原始的螞蟻農(nóng)場

Our ancestors developed agriculture about twelvethousand years ago. As they harvested the firstcrops, they undoubtedly congratulated themselveson their cleverness—after all, cultivation is farmore efficient than hunting and gathering. Littledid they know, however, that humans were not theEarth's first farmers. Certain species of ant havebeen practicing agriculture for millions of years.

我們的祖先早在12000年前就開始發(fā)展農(nóng)業(yè)了。想必在收獲第一批糧食時，他們一定為自己的聰明才智好好慶祝了一番，畢竟耕種比打獵和采集更有效率。然而，殊不知人類并不是地球上第一群農(nóng)民。某些種類的螞蟻已有上百萬年的耕種經(jīng)驗了。

One example is the parasol ant of South America. The workers of this species clip largequantities of leaves from the forest and bring them back to the nest. These leaves are not eatenby the ants, but buried in a huge complex of underground chambers. As the leaves turn tocompost, the ants seed them with their favorite type of fungus. They tend this fungus cropwith great care, even weeding it to get rid of less desirable species. After a while, the fungusis harvested and eaten.

其中南美洲的樵蟻就是一個例子。這類螞蟻工人們修剪大量的樹葉，在森林里拖回蟻巢。但這些樹葉并不是用來吃的，螞蟻把它們埋在一個大型復(fù)雜的地下室里。待樹葉開始堆肥，螞蟻就在樹葉堆上播撒它們最愛的菌類的種子。它們精心照料呵護這些菌類作物，甚至會除草，以除掉那些長勢不合人意的作物。過一陣子，菌類成熟，可以收獲食用了。

Planting and harvesting is one thing, but what would a real farm be without farm animals?Actually, humans are second to ants in this respect too. Several species of ant domesticate akind of insect called an aphid. Aphids are good at sucking nutritious juice out of plants. In fact,they're so good at it that they often suck out more than they can digest. The extra juice issecreted out the back of the aphid, where an ant can milk it like a farmer milking a cow.

種植和收獲是一回事，但是沒有家畜的話還算是農(nóng)場嗎?實際上在這方面，人類也是僅次于螞蟻。螞蟻馴養(yǎng)的幾種動物中有一種就是蚜蟲。蚜蟲善于吸食植物的營養(yǎng)汁液。因為它們太擅長，以至于吸食過多不能被消化的汁液。多余的汁液儲藏在蚜蟲后背上，螞蟻就可以像農(nóng)夫擠牛奶一樣擠出汁液。

This is a symbiotic relationship, and in exchange for the nutritious juice the ants protecttheir aphid flocks from predators. Some species even bring the aphids' eggs into the safety oftheir own nest, and feed the aphid young until they are ready for grazing.

這是一種共棲關(guān)系，作為交換，螞蟻保護蚜蟲群不受獵食者的侵害。一些螞蟻群甚至會把蚜蟲卵帶回安全的蟻巢，飼養(yǎng)幼小的蚜蟲直至它們能夠啃食綠葉。