介绍： This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard.
About 12,000 species of tiger moth exist on Earth. Some of them swoop and dive out of harm's way when a hungry bat tries to make them a meal. But other tiger moth species are more blasé—they just don't bother to flee from the hungry bats.
"An...

介绍： This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard.
About 12,000 species of tiger moth exist on Earth. Some of them swoop and dive out of harm's way when a hungry bat tries to make them a meal. But other tiger moth species are more blasé—they just don't bother to flee from the hungry bats.
"And I really just wanted to know why. Why the difference? What factors might be influencing whether a species is more or less likely to perform these evasive maneuvers?"
Wake Forest University behavioral ecologist Nick Dowdy. He says it's a matter of taste—some of the moths are delicious, but others are toxic and taste terrible. When the airborne predators catch these unappetizing moths, they'll spit them out, giving the insects a new lease on life.
In a field experiment, Dowdy and his colleague William Conner filmed how five different species of tiger moths responded to bat attacks.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。
地球上大约有12000种虎蛾。当饥饿的蝙蝠试图捕食虎蛾时，其中一些虎蛾会突然俯冲到安全地方。但其它种类的虎蛾却无动于衷——它们只是懒得逃避饥饿的蝙蝠。
“我真的想知道原因。为什么会有这种差异？哪些因素可能会影响虎蛾更愿意或更不愿意实施逃避行为？”
维克森林大学的行为生态学家尼克·道迪说到。他说这与口味有关，有些蛾子的味道很美味，但其它则有毒，而且味道很糟糕。飞行中的捕食者捉到这些倒胃口的蛾子时，会把它们吐出来，让蛾子重获新生。
在现场实验中，道迪及同事威廉·康纳拍摄了五种不同种类的虎蛾面对蝙蝠攻击时的反应。