動物也友善？

“Humans have a code of ethics[道德規范]，” says Marc Bekoff， an animal behavior expert at the University of Colorado. “If I don’t play a certain way， you won’t play with me. Some animals have the same code.”

Scientists recently discovered that animals who live in groups， such as elephants， foxes， and wolves， are especially likely to follow rules. If they don’t， and each does its own thing， the group might break apart. Group members would be forced to live alone. Then they’d have a harder time hunting and raising their young.

That’s probably why a traveling wolf pack[一群] stopped and waited to let its limping[跛行] leader catch up. Similar social ties may have prompted[刺激， 鼓動] a captive[被俘的] elephant to save her friend from drowning. Selfish reasons certainly motivated[激發] the male fox， who wanted to keep playing.

Sometimes， though， animals go out of their way to do what’s right， even when there’s nothing in it for them. Nobody knows why. “It might simply feel good to be kind， just as it does for humans，” says Bekoff.

Read on for four surprising stories about nice

behavior in the animal kingdom.

Foxy Friends

If your friend wasn’t nice to you， what would you do? Maybe you would just walk away. That’s exactly what a wild red fox did when she was play-boxing with another fox. The larger fox， a male， began

pushing too hard. The little female didn’t like

roughhousing[喧鬧的游戲或打斗]. She trotted away[走開].

“He still wanted to play，” says Marc Bekoff. So the male fox ran after his playmate， bowed down， and rolled over. His body language meant，

“Don’t leave. I’ll play nice.” The female gave him

another chance， and the male wrestled more gently this time.

An Unexpected Gift

Sniff and the other wild chimpanzees[黑猩猩] stopped traveling and climbed into the trees. Primatologist[靈長類動物學家] Geza Teleki stopped， too. He’d been scrambling[攀爬] after them， through the forest in Gombe National Park， Tanzania， in Africa， observing their behavior.

Now， watching the chimps chow down[（美俚）狼吞虎咽]，

the fruits made Teleki’s own stomach rumble[隆隆響]. Not intending to hike so far， he’d

left base camp without

provisions[防預，準備]. Maybe he could knock down some fruits for himself. Grabbing a stick， Teleki poked[戳，捅] and flailed[用力地揮動]， but he couldn’t do it. Watching him， Sniff imagined himself in Teleki’s place.

“Sniff knew I was hungry，” says Teleki. “And he knew he could do something about that.” Which is why this young and timid[膽小的]

ape， who’d always avoided people， took a big risk. All on his own， Sniff picked another

armload[一抱之量] of fruits， swung down on a vine[藤，蔓]， and handed them to the

astonished scientist.

One Good Turn

Toby was one generous[慷慨的] Siamese cat[暹羅貓]. For ten years， the kindly kitty shared

his food with a springer spaniel[斯伯林格斯班尼犬]

named Katie. After supper， owner Linda

always divided up the table scraps[小片，碎屑].

She’d drop some in Katie’s bowl on the floor and some in Toby’s dish on the kitchen

counter. Linda kept the cat’s dish up high to keep Katie from snitching[偷] Toby’s treats.

As it turned out， Katie didn’t need to steal; she only had to beg. Every night， the floppy[松垂的]-eared dog scarfed[狼吞虎咽地吃] down her ration[配給量] in seconds. Then she’d sit and stare at the cat. And every night， Toby would relent[發慈悲]. Using his paw， he’d flick[輕彈] several tasty tidbits[少量的精美食物] down to the waiting pup.

Apparently， Katie appreciated it. Whenever Katie

was curled up in her beanbag[豆袋坐墊] bed and the cat walked over， Katie would give up her nice， warm spot. “Toby would snuggle[偎依] down in the center of the beanbag，” says Linda， “and Katie would lie on the floor.”

In a Pinch[在緊要關頭]

The African savanna[熱帶稀樹大草原] elephant must have been surprised. He was grazing[吃草] alone in a

swamp[沼澤]， in Kenya’s Masai Mara National

Reserve[保護區]， when a stranger arrived. The stranger was a forest

elephant. (Forest

elephants are smaller and have more rounded ears than savanna elephants do. And they usually stay in the forest.)

But this fellow had caught his trunk in a trap. While freeing himself，

he’d torn off the tip. “Once the pain stopped， he’d be able to feed on his own，” says wildlife biologist[生物學家] Kayhan Ostovar of

Billings， Montana. Until then， he’d need help.

As if to explain， “the injured elephant walked up and stuck his trunk into the healthy elephant’s mouth，” says Ostovar， who witnessed the encounter[相遇]

between the two elephants. And that’s all it took.

Elephants often aid members of their herd. But this savanna elephant didn’t care that they weren’t related. He reached down， uprooted a small tree， and stuffed[塞滿] it into his new friend’s mouth.

“人類有一套道德準則，”（美國）科羅拉多大學的動物行為專家馬克·貝可夫說。“如果我不按某種方式辦事，你就不會跟我玩了。有些動物也有同樣的

準則。”

最近，科學家發現群居動物，如大象、狐貍和狼，特別有可能遵守規則。如果它們不這么做，而是各行其是，那么這個族群就可能崩潰。族群成員可能就要被迫獨自生活。這樣，它們狩獵和養育后代就會更為艱難。

那也許就是整個狼群停下步伐，等待瘸了腿的首領跟上隊伍的原因。類似的社會聯系也可能會促使一頭被捕的大象去營救其溺水的朋友。一只想繼續玩耍的雄性狐貍顯然會受自身的理由影響而行事。

然而，有時動物也會獨辟蹊徑，不按規矩辦事—即便這么做對它們毫無益處。沒有人知道為什么。“也許僅僅是因為友善的感覺很好，就像人類一樣，”貝可夫說。

以下是動物王國里四個令人驚奇的友善行為的故事。

狐貍朋友

如果你的朋友對你不好，你會怎么做？也許你會甩手走開。那也是一只野生雌性赤狐的做法。它在和另一只狐貍玩“拳擊”時，那只體形大些的雄性狐貍推得有點過猛了。……