研究表明大象喜欢动物园游客的陪伴

长庚

Each year， hundreds of millions of people visit zoos around the world and enjoythe experience of being around animals. But what about the animals？ A new studysuggests that some animals， including2 elephants， also enjoy visitorscompany.

每年，数亿人参观世界各地的动物园，享受与动物相处的经历。但是动物呢？一项新的研究表明，包括大象在内的一些动物也喜欢游客的陪伴。

Researchers at Nottingham Trent University and Harper Adams University inthe UK looked at more than 100 past studies to see how visitors affected3 thebehavior4 of more than 250 kinds of zoo animals.

英国诺丁汉特伦特大学和哈珀亚当斯大学的研究人员查看了过去的100 多项研究，以了解游客如何影响250 多种动物园动物的行为。

The studies showed that animal behaviors are different， as a result of visitors inup to 38% of cases studied. And while most animal behavior stayed the same， someanimals became positive5 to visitors.

研究表明，在已研究过的高达38%的案例中，动物的行为因游客而改变了。虽然大多数动物的行为保持不变，但一些动物对游客表现出了积极的态度。

Elephants， for example， were more active with each other during public6 feedingtimes. They were less likely to show behaviors common with boredom7 when visitorswere around. Also， it was reported that cockatoossocial8 behavior became more whenvisitors were around. Visitors affected animalsbehavior in a number of ways.

例如，在公開喂食期间大象之间更加活跃。当游客在附近时，它们不太倾向于表现出无聊时常见的行为。此外，据报道，当游客在附近时，凤头鹦鹉的社交行为会变得更多。游客以多种方式影响动物的行为。

Other animals that seemed to enjoy visitors included penguins， jaguars， cheetahs，grizzly bears and polar bears. While some animals seem more than happy tospend time with the public， it was reported that other animals were negatively9affected by zoo visitors.

其他似乎很喜欢游客的动物包括企鹅、美洲豹、猎豹、灰熊和北极熊。虽然有些动物似乎非常乐意与公众共度时光，但据报道，其他动物受到了动物园游客的负面影响。

Flightless birds， marsupials and hedgehogs werenegatively affected by human visitors. This might bethe reason that some of these animals like to beactive at night， or because they are used toliving in forests， making themless used to humans， reportedNottingham Trent University.

不能飞的鸟类、有袋类动物和刺猬受到了人类游客的负面影响。据诺丁汉特伦特大学报道，这可能是由于这些动物中有一些喜欢在夜间活动，或者是因为它们习惯于生活在森林中，这让它们不太习惯与人类相处。

Dr. Ellen Williams is a zoo animal welfare10 scientist at Harper Adams University.He said the research is important in helping to improve animal welfare in zoos.

埃伦·威廉姆斯博士是哈珀亚当斯大学的动物园动物福利科学家。他说，这项研究对改善动物园动物的生活很重要。