2017-09-11 Nick Bos QING科學(xué)
本文首發(fā)公眾號(hào)【QING科學(xué)】
（適合親子共讀或10-99歲獨(dú)立閱讀，建議閱讀時(shí)間2-4分鐘）
原作：Nick Bos
編譯：趙奕青
重新組建一個(gè)家庭，對(duì)于螞蟻來說，可真不是一件容易的事兒。世界上大部分的螞蟻，都會(huì)在特殊時(shí)期進(jìn)行婚飛交配。雄蟻和沒有交配過的雌蟻飛出原生的蟻穴，在空中進(jìn)行交配。交配后，雄蟻便終結(jié)生命，雌蟻將獨(dú)自面對(duì)頗為艱難、無聊且漫長(zhǎng)的一生。
交配完成后，雌蟻（準(zhǔn)蟻后）落回地面，尋找或挖一個(gè)小洞，開始建立新蟻群。不同種類的（準(zhǔn)）蟻后，大部分都在開始產(chǎn)卵和照顧幼蟲后，就不再外出尋找食物，僅靠消耗自身脂肪來維持生命、產(chǎn)卵和喂養(yǎng)幼蟲。準(zhǔn)蟻后只有熬過這段困苦、寂寞的日子，熬到第一批工蟻發(fā)育成熟，由第一批工蟻擔(dān)起迫在眉睫、生死攸關(guān)的覓食任務(wù)，才算榮登蟻后之位。
這就意味著，如果準(zhǔn)蟻后沒有足夠的脂肪儲(chǔ)備，那還沒來得及等第一批工蟻孵化發(fā)育成熟，就已經(jīng)餓死，成為永遠(yuǎn)的準(zhǔn)蟻后......
那蟻后要怎么確保不浪費(fèi)任何能量呢？科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)準(zhǔn)蟻后的一個(gè)秘密：褪去翅膀、再利用飛行肌肉。蟻后在婚飛交配結(jié)束后，便落回地面，褪去翅膀，飛行所用的肌肉也隨即萎縮消失——既然不再飛翔，何不把肌肉里的能量回收利用呢。飛行的肌肉可以分解回收，那是否還有其他器官，也是準(zhǔn)蟻后交配后再用不到的？
婚飛時(shí)，準(zhǔn)蟻后需要良好的視力協(xié)助飛翔，瞎子式飛行可是不妙。但婚飛結(jié)束后，她就鉆進(jìn)地底，專注產(chǎn)卵三十年。在那黑漆漆的地底下，說實(shí)在的，還要明亮的雙眼做什么？
果然，科學(xué)家格萊尼斯.朱利安（Glennis Julian）和烏菲拉.古騰堡（Wufila Groenberg）在2002年發(fā)現(xiàn)有關(guān)蟻后視覺發(fā)展的有趣結(jié)果。在婚飛結(jié)束后，準(zhǔn)蟻后的確很快開始“分解回收”它的部分大腦——絕大部分是在視覺區(qū)域。維持完整的大腦功能，需要消耗很多的能量。用這樣的分解回收的方式，就節(jié)約了不少珍貴的能量，以便準(zhǔn)蟻后支撐到撫養(yǎng)出第一批工蟻，成為真正的蟻后，建立起自己的蟻群王國。
原文：
Founding a new colony is not an easy task for an ant. In a lot of ant species, there is a mating flight, where males and virgin queens fly out of their colonies and mate with each other in the air. The male immediately dies after this, but the female has a pretty tough (and probably pretty boring) life in front of her.
After mating, the female lands on the ground and digs or finds a hole in order to start a new colony. In many species, the queen will lay eggs and take care of them, but never go out to find food anymore. She just lives off her fat reserves, feeding the larvae until the first workers are born and start bringing in food.
This means that if she does not have enough fat reserves, the first workers will never be born and the queen will die of starvation.
One way of ensuring no calorie will go to waste has been long known. After mating, the queen will land and shed her wings. She then ‘dissolves’ her wing muscles (as she won’t need those anymore) and reabsorb their energy. However, there are more things a queen doesn’t need anymore after mating.
During the mating flight, the soon-to-be-queen will need good eyesight, as flying blind might not be an entirely good idea. Afterwards however, she will be underground, laying eggs for up to thirty years. Needless to say, it’s pretty dark down there, so what use would there be for good eyesight?
Glennis Julian and Wulfila Gronenberg found something fascinating regarding this in 2002. Very soon after mating, the queen will actually start ‘dissolving’ parts of her brain, mainly those parts involved in vision. It costs a lot of energy to maintain a fully functional brain, so in this way, she can save valuable calories in order to raise her first batch of workers.
參考文獻(xiàn)
Julian, G.E. & Gronenberg, W. (2002). Reduction of brain volume correlates with behavioral changes in queen ants. Brain, Behavior and Evolution 60, 152-164
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