摘要：
普通人聽來，某種猴子的叫聲都是一樣的。但日本研究人員發現，其實跟人一樣，它們棲息在不同的地區，其口音也不相同。
To the untrained ear monkeys of a certain species may all sound the same, but Japanese researchers have found that, like human beings, they actually have an accent depending on where they live.
普通人聽來，某種猴子的叫聲都是一樣的。但日本研究人員發現，其實跟人一樣，它們棲息在不同的地區，其口音也不相同。
據法新社11月29日報道，1990年到2000年，日本一個研究小組對兩群日本獼猴的口音進行了跟蹤研究。參與研究的日本京都大學靈長類動物研究中心的生態學教授Nobuo Masataka說：“猴子口音之間的差異，就跟人類有不同的方言一樣。”其中一群獼猴有23隻，棲息在日本九州島以南的屋久島上；另一群獼猴共30隻，它們的父輩1956年時從屋久島遷移到了日本中部的大平山。研究結果表明，留在島上棲息的猴子的平均聲調比遷移到大平山的猴子的平均聲調要高110赫茲。
Nobuo Masataka認為，島上生長的高大樹木阻擋了聲音的傳播，使得猴子不得不提高調門。因此，島上猴子的聲調要比大平山的猴子的聲調高一些。“大平山地區的樹木較矮，棲息在那裏的猴子不需要高聲叫喊，”他說，“各個猴群都根據所處的環境選擇了不同的口音。”
Nobuo Masataka說，這一發現表明，猴子聲調的不同並不取決於基因，這可能將為科學家探索人類語言起源提供新的線索。
這項研究刊登在12月5日出版的德國科學雜誌《生態學》上。
（國際線上獨家資訊 何曉鴻）
本稿件為國際線上專稿，媒體轉載請註明稿件來源和譯者姓名。
To the untrained ear monkeys of a certain species may all sound the same, but Japanese researchers have found that, like human beings, they actually have an accent depending on where they live.
The finding, the first of its kind, will appear in the December edition of a German scientific journal Ethology to be published on December 5, the primate researchers said Tuesday.
"Differences between chattering by monkeys are like dialects of human beings," said Nobuo Masataka, professor of ethology at Kyoto University's Primate Research Institute.
The research team analyzed voice tones of two groups of the same species of primates, the Japanese Yakushima macaque also known as Macaca fuscata yakui, between 1990 and 2000.
One group was formed by 23 monkeys living on the southern Japanese island of Yakushima, and the other group comprised 30 descendants from the same tribe moved from the island to Mount Ohira, central Japan, in 1956.
The result showed that the island group had a tone about 110 hertz higher on average than the one taken to central Japan.
Monkeys on Yakushima Island have an accent with a higher tone because tall trees on the island tend to block their voice, Masataka said.
"On the other hand, monkeys on Mount Ohira do not have to gibber with a high tone as trees there are low," he said. "Each group adopted their own accent depending upon their environment."
This suggests differences in voice tones are not caused by genes, Masataka said, addi ng the results "may lead to a clue to the origin of human language."
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