considering death.

考慮死亡。

And it's possible we've been doing so since shortly after homo sapiens

我們有可能在智人出現後不久就開始這樣做了。

first began roaming the landscape.

最早開始漫無邊際的風景。

After all, the first intentional human burial

畢竟，第一次有意的人肉埋葬。

is thought to have occurred around 100,000 years ago.

被認為是發生在10萬年前左右。

What might those early people have been thinking

那些早期的人可能在想什麼

as they took the time to dig into the earth,

當他們花時間挖土的時候。

deposit the body

遺體

and carefully cover it up again?

又小心翼翼地掩蓋起來？

Were they trying to protect it from scavengers

他們是想保護它不被食腐動物吃掉嗎？

or stymie the spread of disease?

或阻止疾病的傳播？

Were they trying to honor the deceased?

他們是想紀念死者嗎？

Or did they just not want to have to look at a dead body?

還是他們不想看一具屍體？

Without the advent of a time machine,

如果沒有時光機的出現。

we may never know for sure what those early people were thinking,

我們可能永遠無法確定那些早期的人在想什麼。

but one thing we do know is that humans are far from alone

但我們知道的一件事是，人類並不孤單。

in our attention towards the dead.

在我們對死者的關注中。

Like people, some animals,

像人，有些動物。

including the corvids, the family of birds

鷲類

that houses the crows, ravens, magpies and jays,

飼養著烏鴉、烏鴉、喜鵲和松鴉。

also seem to pay special attention to their dead.

也似乎特別關注他們的死者。

In fact, the rituals of corvids may have acted as the inspiration

事實上，堇菜鳥的儀式可能是靈感的源泉

for our own.

為我們自己的。

After all, it was the raven that God sent down

畢竟，是上帝派來的烏鴉。

to teach Cain how to bury his slain brother Abel.

教該隱如何埋葬他被殺的弟弟亞伯。

But despite this clear recognition by early people that other animals

但是，儘管早期的人們清楚地認識到，其他動物

attend to their dead,

照顧他們的死者。

it's only fairly recently that science has really turned its attention

直到最近，科學才真正把目光投向了

towards this phenomenon.

對這種現象。

In fact, a formal name for this field -- comparative thanatology --

事實上，這一領域的正式名稱 -- -- 比較比喻學 -- -- 是：

wasn't first introduced until 2016.

直到2016年才首次推出。

In this growing field, we are beginning to appreciate what a rich place

在這個不斷髮展的領域，我們開始意識到，在這個領域裡，我們有一個多麼豐富的地方。

the natural world is with respect to how other animals interact with their dead,

自然界是與其他動物如何與他們的死亡互動。

and it's in this growing body of knowledge

而正是在這個不斷增長的知識體系中

that that time machine to our early ancestors might be possible.

我們早期祖先的時間機器可能是可能的。

So what are we learning in this growing field?

那麼，在這個不斷髮展的領域，我們在學習什麼呢？

Well, right now we can split our understanding into two main groups.

好了，現在我們可以把我們的理解分為兩大類。

In the first, we have animals that display stereotyped, predictable behaviors

在第一種情況下，我們的動物表現出刻板的、可預測的行為。

towards their dead,

對他們的死者。

and for whom much of what we understand about them

而我們對他們的瞭解，大多是為了他們。

comes from experimental studies.

來自於實驗研究。

This group includes things like the social insects --

這組包括像社會昆蟲 --

bees and ants and termites --

蜜蜂、螞蟻和白蟻 --

and for all of these animals, colony hygiene is of critical importance,

而對於所有這些動物來說，群體衛生是至關重要的。

and so as a result these animals display rigorous undertaking behaviors

是以，這些動物表現出了嚴謹的事業心行為

in response to corpses.

針對屍體。

For example, they may physically remove carcasses from the colony.

例如，他們可能會物理性地清除菌落中的屍體。

They may consume them.

他們可能會消耗它們。

They may even construct tombs.

他們甚至可以建造陵墓。

We see similar hygiene-driven responses in some colony-living mammals.

我們在一些以菌落為生的哺乳動物中看到類似的衛生驅動反應。

Rats, for example, will reliably bury cage-mates

例如，老鼠會可靠地埋葬籠中的同伴。

that have been dead for 48 hours.

已經死了48小時的。

In our other group, we have animals that display more variable,

在我們的另一組中，我們的動物表現出更多的變化。

perhaps more charismatic behaviors,

或許更有魅力的行為。

and for whom much of what we understand about them

而我們對他們的瞭解，大多是為了他們。

comes from anecdotes

聞所未聞

by scientists or other observers.

科學家或其他觀察家。

This is the animals whose death behaviors

這就是動物的死亡行為

I suspect might be more familiar to folks.

我猜想可能大家比較熟悉。

It includes organisms like elephants,

它包括大象等生物。

which are well-known for their attendance to their dead,

其中以照顧死者而聞名。

even in popular culture.

甚至在流行文化中。

In fact, they're even known to be attracted

事實上，他們甚至被吸引了。

to the bones of their deceased.

對其死者的骨頭。

It also includes animals like primates,

它還包括靈長類等動物。

which display a wide variety of behaviors around their dead,

其在死者周圍表現出各種各樣的行為。

from grooming them

梳妝打扮

to prolonged attention towards them,

到對他們的長期關注。

guarding them,

守護著他們。

even the transportation of dead infants.

甚至運送死嬰。

And that's actually a behavior we've seen in a number of animals,

而這其實是我們在一些動物身上看到的行為。

like the dolphins for example.

比如說海豚。

You may remember the story of Tahlequah,

你可能還記得塔勒克的故事。

the orca in the resident J pod in the Puget Sound,

虎鯨在普吉特海灣的常駐J艙。

who during the summer of 2018

誰在2018年夏天

carried her dead calf

抬著她的小牛

for an unprecedented 17 days.

史無前例的17天。

Now, a story like that

現在，這樣的故事

is both heartbreaking and fascinating,

是讓人心酸又讓人著迷的。

but it offers far more questions than it does answers.

但它提供的問題遠遠多於答案。

For example, why did Tahlequah carry her calf

例如，為什麼塔赫勒誇要帶著她的小牛？

for such a long period of time?

在這麼長的時間裡？

Was she just that stricken with grief?

她就這麼悲痛欲絕嗎？

Was she more confused by her unresponsive infant?

她是不是被沒有反應的嬰兒弄得更糊塗了？

Or is this behavior just less rare in orcas

還是說這種行為在逆戟鯨中只是不太常見

than we currently understand it to be?

比我們目前理解的要好？

But for a variety of reasons,

但由於種種原因。

it's difficult to do the kinds of experimental studies

難於上青天

in an animal like an orca, or many of these other large mammals,

在像虎鯨這樣的動物身上，或者其他許多大型哺乳動物身上。

that might elucidate those kinds of questions.

可能會闡明這些問題。

So instead, science is turning to an animal whose behaviors around death

所以，科學界轉而研究一種動物，它的行為與死亡有關

we've been thinking about since BCE:

我們從公元前就開始思考了。

the crows.

烏鴉。

Like insects and primates,

像昆蟲和靈長類動物。

crows also seem to pay special attention to their dead.

烏鴉似乎也特別關注他們的死者。

Typically, this manifests as the discovering bird alarm calling,

通常，這表現為發現鳥的報警呼叫。

like you can see in this photo,

就像你在這張照片中看到的那樣。

followed by the recruitment of other birds to the area

隨後，其他鳥類被招募到該地區。

to form what we call a mob.

形成我們所說的暴徒。

But it can be a little different than that too.

但也可以有一點不同。

For example, I've had people share with me seeing prolonged silent vigils by crows

比如，有人跟我分享過看到烏鴉長時間的默默守夜的情景

in response to deceased or dying crows.

針對已故或即將死去的烏鴉。

I've even had people tell me of witnessing crows place objects

我甚至有人告訴我說，看到烏鴉把東西放在那裡

like sticks and candy wrappers on or near the bodies of dead crows.

如死烏鴉屍體上或附近的棍棒和糖果包裝紙。

And this mix of observations puts these birds

而這種混合的觀察方式讓這些鳥兒

in a really important place in our scheme,

在我們的計劃中處於非常重要的位置。

because it suggests on the one hand they might be like the insects,

因為這一方面說明他們可能像昆蟲一樣。

displaying these very predictable behaviors,

顯示這些非常可預測的行為。

but on the other hand we have this handful of observations

但在另一方面，我們有這樣的一些看法

that are more difficult to explain and feel a bit more like what we see

解釋起來比較困難，感覺更像我們看到的那樣

in some of the mammals like primates and elephants.

在一些哺乳動物如靈長類和大象中。

And like those animals, crows share an extremely large relative brain size

和那些動物一樣，烏鴉也有一個非常大的相對腦容量

and the kinds of dynamic social lives that might invite more complexity

以及各種動態的社會生活，可能會帶來更多的複雜性。

in how they respond to their dead.

在他們如何迴應他們的死者。

So I wanted to try to understand what was going on

所以我想了解一下到底發生了什麼事情

when crows encounter a dead crow,

當烏鴉遇到死烏鴉。

and what this might teach us about the role of death in their world,

以及這對死亡在他們世界中的作用有何啟示。

and possibly the worlds of other animals as well,

也可能是其他動物的世界。

even those early versions of ourselves.

甚至是那些早期版本的自己。

There's a number of different ways that we could explain

有很多不同的方法可以解釋。

why crows might be attracted to their dead.

為什麼烏鴉會被他們的屍體吸引。

For example, maybe it's a social opportunity,

比如說，也許是一個社會機會。

a way for them to explore why that individual died,

一種讓他們探究該人死亡原因的方式。

who they were

他們是誰

and what impact this is going to have on the neighborhood moving forward.

以及這對社區的發展有什麼影響。

Maybe it's an expression of grief,

也許這是一種悲傷的表現。

like our own contemporary funerals.

就像我們當代的葬禮一樣。

Or maybe it's a way that they learn about danger in their environment.

或者說這是他們在環境中學習危險的一種方式。

While all of those explanations are worth pursuing,

雖然這些解釋都值得追問。

and certainly not mutually exclusive,

當然也不是相互排斥的。

they're not all testable scientific questions.

它們並不都是可以測試的科學問題。

But that idea that dead crows might act as cues of danger, that is.

但這種想法，死烏鴉可能會作為危險的提示，這是。

So as a graduate student, I wanted to explore that question,

所以作為一個研究所學生，我想探討這個問題。

particularly with respect to two ideas.

特別是在兩個理念方面。

The first was whether they might be able to learn new predators,

首先是他們是否可能學習新的捕食者。

specifically people,

特別是人。

based on their association with dead crows.

基於它們與死烏鴉的關聯。

And the second was if they might learn places

第二個是他們是否可以學習的地方

associated with where they find crow bodies.

與他們發現烏鴉屍體的地方有關。

So to do this, I would go out into some unsuspecting Seattle neighborhood

所以，為了做到這一點，我會去一些毫無戒心的西雅圖社區

and I would start to feed a breeding pair of crows

我會開始餵養一對繁殖的烏鴉。

over the course of three days,

在三天的時間裡。

and this provided a baseline

這提供了一個基線

for how quickly the crows would come down to a food pile,

因為烏鴉會很快地來到食物堆裡。

which, as you'll see in a minute, was really important.

這一點，你馬上就會看到，真的很重要。

Then, on the fourth day,

然後，在第四天。

we would have our funeral.

我們會有我們的葬禮。

This is Linda.

我是琳達

Linda is one of seven masks whose job was to stand there for 30 minutes

琳達是七個面具中的一個 其工作是站在那裡30分鐘

with her little hors d'oeuvre plate of dead crow

和她的小開胃菜死烏鴉盤子

while I documented what happened.

而我記錄了發生的事情。

Most importantly, though,

不過，最重要的是。

her job was to come back after a week,

她的工作是一週後回來。

now without the dead crow,

現在沒有了死烏鴉。

so that we could see if the birds would treat her just like any old pedestrian,

這樣我們就可以看到鳥兒是否會像對待普通行人一樣對待她。

or if, instead, they would exhibit behaviors like alarm calling

或者說，他們是否會表現出報警等行為呢？

or dive bombing

或俯衝轟炸

that would indicate that they perceived her as a predator.

這將表明，他們認為她是一個掠奪者。

Now, given that we already knew crows were capable of learning

現在，既然我們已經知道烏鴉能夠學習。

and recognizing human faces,

和識別人臉。

it may come as no surprise that the majority of crows in our study

毫不奇怪，在我們的研究中，大多數烏鴉都是

did treat the masks that they saw handling dead crows as threats

他們確實把處理死烏鴉的面具當成了威脅

when they saw them over the course of the next six weeks.

當他們在接下來的六個星期裡看到他們時。

Now, if you're sitting there thinking,

現在，如果你坐在那裡想。

alright, give me a break,

好吧，讓我休息一下。

look at that face, it is terrifying,

看看那張臉，真是太可怕了。

anyone would treat that as a threat

豈有此理

if they saw it walking down the street,

如果他們看到它走在街上。

know that you are not alone.

知道你並不孤單。

As it turns out, a lot of the folks

事實證明，很多的人

whose houses we did these experiments in front of

我們在誰家門口做了這些實驗？

felt the same way,

有同樣的感覺。

but we'll save that for another time.

但我們會保存，另一個時間。

So you may be comforted to know that we did control tests

所以，你可能會欣慰地知道，我們做了控制測試。

to make sure that crows don't share our preconceived bias against masks

以確保烏鴉不會和我們一樣對面具抱有偏見

that look a bit like the female version of Hannibal Lecter.

看起來有點像女版的漢尼拔-萊克特。

Now, in addition to finding that crows were able to make associations with people

現在，除了發現烏鴉能夠與人產生聯想外

based on their handling of dead crows,

基於他們對死烏鴉的處理。

we also found that in the days following these funeral events,

我們還發現，在這些喪事發生後的幾天裡。

as we continued to feed them,

當我們繼續給他們餵食時。

that their willingness to come down to the food pile significantly diminished,

以至於他們下到食物堆裡的意願明顯降低。

and we didn't see that same kind of decline in our control groups.

而我們沒有看到同樣的下降 在我們的控制組。

So that suggests that, yes, crows can make associations

所以，這說明，是的，烏鴉可以進行聯想。

with particular places where they've seen dead crows.

與特定的地方，他們已經看到死烏鴉。

So together, what that tells us is that

所以綜合來看，這告訴我們的是

while we certainly shouldn't discount those other explanations,

而我們當然也不應該忽視這些其他的解釋。

we can feel pretty confident in saying

我們可以很自信地說

that for crows, attention to their dead

對於烏鴉來說，關注他們的死亡

might be a really important way

可能是一個非常重要的方式

that these animals learn about danger.

讓這些動物瞭解到危險。

And that's a nice, tidy little narrative

這是一個很好的，整潔的小敘事。

on which to hang our hats.

我們可以在其中掛上我們的帽子。

But in life and death,

但在生死關頭。

things are rarely so neat,

事情很少有這麼整潔的。

and I really came face to face with that in a follow-up experiment,

而我在後續的實驗中真正面對的是。

where we were looking at how crows respond to dead crows

在那裡我們正在研究如何烏鴉迴應死烏鴉。

in the absence of any kind of predator.

在沒有任何形式的捕食者的情況下。

And suffice it to say, we found that in these cases,

可以說，我們發現，在這些案件中。

the wakes can get a little more weird.

晃動可以得到更多的怪異。

So this is what that experimental setup looks like.

所以這就是那個實驗裝置的樣子。

You can see our stuffed dead crow alone on the sidewalk,

你可以在人行道上看到我們的悶死烏鴉一個人。

and it's been placed on the territory of a pair.

而且它被放在了一對的領土上。

(Squawk)

(Squawk)

That is the alarm call by one of those territorial birds,

那是其中一隻領地鳥的報警聲。

and it's coming into frame.

它的到來進入框架。

Pretty soon, its mate is going to join it.

很快，它的夥伴就要加入它了。

And so far, this is all very usual.

而到目前為止，這一切都很平常。

This is what crows do.

這就是烏鴉的工作。

OK, right now it's getting a little less usual.

好了，現在變得有點不太平常了。

Not everyone here might be familiar with what bird sex looks like,

在座的各位可能並不熟悉鳥類性愛是什麼樣子的。

so if you are not, this is what it looks like.

所以如果你不是，這就是它的樣子。

You're basically seeing a confluence of three behaviors:

你基本上看到的是三種行為的匯合。

alarm, as indicated by the alarm calling;

報警，如報警電話所示。

aggression, as indicated by the very forceful pecking

侵略性，通過非常有力的啄食來表示。

by both one of the copulatory birds and one of the excited bystanders;

由其中一隻交配鳥和一個興奮的旁觀者。

and sexual arousal.

和性喚起。

Clearly, this is startling,

顯然，這是令人震驚的。

and interesting to think about and talk about.

和有趣的思考和談論。

But if our goal is to understand

但如果我們的目標是瞭解

the big picture of how animals interact with their dead,

動物如何與死者互動的全貌。

then the most important question we should ask is, is this representative?

那麼我們最應該問的問題是，這是否具有代表性？

Is this something that's happening consistently?

這是持續發生的事情嗎？

And that's why being able to do systematic studies with crows

這也是為什麼能夠用烏鴉做系統研究的原因。

is so valuable,

是如此的寶貴。

because after conducting hundreds of these trials,

因為在進行了數百次這樣的試驗之後。

where I was placing these dead crows out on the sidewalks

我把這些死烏鴉放在人行道上的地方。

on the territories of hundreds of different pairs,

在數百對不同的領土上。

what we found was that, no, it's not.