Young Female Chimps Outlearn Their Brothers
While young male chimps pass their time playing. Young female chimps carefully study their mothers. As a result, they learn how to fish for tasty termite snacks over two years before the boys.
The sex differences in learning behavior were consistent and strikingly apparent, says the team. The researchers point out that similar differences are seen in human children with regard to skills such as writing. A sex-based learning differences may therefore date back at least to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. they write in the journal Nature.
Analysis of the six infants whose ages were known showed that girl chimps were an average of 31 months old when they succeeded in fishing out their termites, where the boy chimps were aged 58 months on average. Females were also more skillful at getting out more termites with every dip and used techniques similar to their mothers while males did not.
Lonsdorf adds that there just two main sources of animal protein for chimps the termites or colobus monkeys. Mature males often hunt monkeys up trees, but females are almost always either pregnant or burdened with a clinging infant. This makes hunting difficult, she says .Adult females spend more time fishing for termites than males. So becoming proficient at termite fishing could mean adult females eat better, They can watch their offspring at the same time. The young of both sexes seen to pursue activities related to their adult sex roles{10} at a very young age.
chimp 黑猩猩 outlearn 在学习上胜过
termite 白蚁 offspring 子孙，后代 colobus 疣猴
1.suggest a new study：倒装句，正常语序是a new study suggests。
3.fish for：捕获。fish：to catch or pull as if fishing捕鱼似地捞
5.with regard to：关于，在方面
7.with every dip：猩猩是用植物作为工具来捕食白蚁，因此这里的意思是，每次将植物插入蚁穴。
9.becoming proficient at termite fishing：分词短语在句中充当主语，意为：学会有效地捕获白蚁。
练习:
A Because young female chimps dont play with their brothers.
C Because young male chimps never learn to fish for termites.
2. What are the tools with which chimps fish for termites?
B Vegetation.
D Grass.
A Males often compete with females in fishing for termites.
C Females could get out more termites with every dip.
4. How did the researchers explain the fact that boy chimps spent more time on playing?
B They enjoy fighting.
D It will make them good fighters and hunters in the future.
A Adult chimps hunt monkeys while young chimps fish for termites.
C The main source of animal protein for female chimps is termites.