In the middle of Florida’s Apalachicola National Forest, a bizarre, almost magical scene is unraveling. Sliding a metal strip over a wooden stake, a master summoner is sending deep croaking noises reverberating through the area. And, as if in a trance, hundreds of earthworms begin emerging from the soil. This is worm grunting, also called worm charming or fiddling.
在佛羅里達州 阿巴拉契科拉國家森林公園中部, 一個奇異的,近乎神奇的場景正在解開。 將金屬條滑過木樁, 一位主召喚師發出的低沉呱呱聲, 在這片區域迴盪。 而且,彷彿在恍惚中, 數以百計的蚯蚓開始從土壤中冒出來。 這就是蚯蚓召喚術, 也稱為蠕蟲迷幻術或木杆取蚓。
It’s a tradition that’s been practiced for more than a century, but its inner workings were a mystery until only recently. Worms collectively undertaking an underground exodus seems especially unbelievable when you consider how vulnerable this makes them. So why is surfacing worth the risk? Over the years, people have proposed a number of imaginative hypotheses.
這是一個 已經實踐了一個多世紀的傳統, 但直到最近, 它的內部運作都還是一個謎。 蠕蟲集體進行地下逃亡 當您考慮到這使他們變得多麼脆弱時, 這似乎尤其令人難以置信。 那麼為什麼來到地面值得冒險呢? 多年來, 人們提出了許多富有想像力的假設。
One was that worms were somehow charmed by the noise, like the rats from the medieval Pied Piper legend. Okay, sounds fun, but how would the worms actually become bewitched? Another hypothesis was that worm grunting tickled their bodies, so they emerged to end the aggravation. Whimsical! But worm grunting vibrates the ground’s surface. If worms were evading the vibrations, wouldn't they burrow deeper instead?
一是蚯蚓被噪音迷住了, 就像中世紀 Pied Piper 傳說 中的老鼠一樣。 好吧,聽起來很有趣,但是這些蚯蚓 實際上是如何被蠱惑的呢? 另一個假設是召喚蚯蚓的咕嚕聲 會撓它們的身體的癢, 所以他們出現以免癢的受不了。 異想天開! 因爲吸引蚯蚓的咕嚕聲 是從地表傳下去的。 如果蚯蚓躲避振動, 難道不會鑽得更深嗎?
Perhaps the most popular hypothesis was that worm grunting mimicked falling rain and the worms fled to avoid drowning. In 2008, biologist Kenneth Catania tested this hypothesis, setting up three arenas filled with soil and 300 individuals of the large species of earthworm found in the Florida Panhandle. After an hour of rain, water had pooled at the surface, but only two earthworms emerged. The rest remained buried and healthy. So, unlike those containers, this hypothesis just didn’t hold water.
也許最流行的假設是 吸引蚯蚓的咕嚕聲模仿了下雨 蚯蚓逃跑以避免溺水。 2008 年,生物學家 Kenneth Catania 檢驗了這一假設, 他做了三個填滿土壤的培養皿 放進去了 300 只 從佛羅里達狹地找到的大型蚯蚓。 下了一個小時的雨後, 水面已經積水, 但只出現了兩條蚯蚓。 其餘的仍然健康地活在地下。 因此,與那些容器不同, 這個假設站不住腳。
Catania decided to explore another route of inquiry. In 1881, Charles Darwin published his final work, a bestseller that rivaled his most well-known books at the time: “The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on their Habits.” Yes, it was literally called that— and it was the culmination of 40 years of earthworm investigations. Within it, Darwin noted that worms sometimes left their burrows when the ground trembled and mentioned an interesting hypothesis: maybe they flee because they believe they’re being pursued by moles.
Catania 決定探索另一條調查路線。 1881 年,查爾斯·達爾文 發表了他的最後一部作品, 與他當時最知名的書籍 相媲美的暢銷書: 《腐殖土的形成,通過蚯蚓的作用, 以及觀察他們的習慣》 是的,它的字面意思是—— 這是 40 年蚯蚓調查的巔峯。 在其中,達爾文注意到地面震動時, 蚯蚓有時會離開它們的洞穴, 他提到一個有趣的假設: 也許牠們逃跑 是因為牠們覺得正在被鼴鼠追趕。
Catania got to work testing this hypothesis himself. He found that Eastern moles had astounding tracking abilities, could eat their weight in worms every day, and were abundant in the Florida Panhandle. When Catania released a single mole into worm- and soil-filled arenas, about 30% of the worms crawled to the surface in the first hour— a markedly different result from the control and rain trials. And when he recorded the vibrations produced by worm grunters and moles digging, their frequencies overlapped substantially.
Catania 開始親自測試這個假設。 他發現東方鼴鼠具有驚人的追踪能力, 每天都能吃掉與其體重相當的蚯蚓, 並且大量存在與在佛羅里達狹地。 當 Catania 將一只鼴鼠釋放到 充滿蚯蚓和土壤的培養皿中時, 大約 30% 的蚯蚓 在第一個小時內爬到了地面— 迥異於對照試驗和降雨試驗的結果。 他錄下召喚蚯蚓 和鼴鼠挖掘時所產生的振動, 發現它們的頻率基本重疊。
This was it. Over hundreds of thousands of years, these earthworms evolved a behavior that helped them escape a top predator. Aboveground, they were immune to the moles, which usually stayed subterranean. But then humans came along. And, funnily enough, we aren’t even the only ones that take advantage of this behavior. Herring gulls and wood turtles also sometimes drum their feet on the earth to summon worms. So then why does this behavior persist?
就是這樣。 數十萬年來, 這些蚯蚓進化出一種 幫助它們逃離頂級捕食者的行為。 在地上,鼴鼠不再是牠們的威脅, 因爲鼴鼠通常在地下活動。 但隨後人類出現了。 而且,有趣的是, 我們甚至不是唯一會 利用這種行為的人。 鯡鷗和木龜有時也用腳在地上敲打 召喚蚯蚓。 那麼為什麼這種行為會持續存在呢?
Scientists think it’s beneficial for a prey species to maintain its adaptations against a more frequent predator, even if it makes it more vulnerable to a rarer one. Many insects, for example, use flight to avoid predation. But painted redstarts take advantage of this: they boldly flash their colorful tail and wing feathers to elicit this response, then catch the insects as they try to fly away. It seems the prey species’ response remains simply because it’s beneficial most of the time.
科學家認為,對被捕食者來說, 保持這樣的行爲 有利於應對更頻繁的捕食者, 即使這樣會使牠們 受到罕見捕食者的攻擊。 例如,許多昆蟲利用飛行來避免捕食。 但是彩色的紅尾鴝利用了這一點: 他們大膽地展示出五顏六色的尾巴 和翅膀的羽毛來引發這種反應, 然後在昆蟲試圖飛走時抓住牠們。 看似被捕食者沒有特殊反應 只因為大多數時候 這樣做都是是有益的。
For over a century, humans in the southern US, the UK, and elsewhere have been unknowingly exploiting the worm’s escape response. The current world record for “most worms charmed” was set by a 10-year-old British girl in 2009. Wiggling a fork in the ground and hitting it with a stick, she made 567 worms surface in just 30 minutes. Charming, really.
一個多世紀以來, 美國南部、英國和其他地方的人 一直在不知其所以然的情況下 利用蚯蚓的逃逸反應。 目前“召喚最多蚯蚓”的世界紀錄 是由一名 10 歲的英國女孩 在 2009 年創造的。 她把草叉插到地上, 並用棍子敲打, 在短短 30 分鐘內 使 567 條蚯蚓浮出地面。 真迷人。