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Gerber says that the males with more friends are likely more often invited to cruise for females, giving them more opportunities for cooperative canoodling.
格伯说，拥有更多朋友的雄性海豚可能更经常地被邀请去猎艳，使它们有更多的机会进行合作交配。
Ok, so dolphins do better on group dates.
好吧，海豚更适应集体约会。
But how do they establish and maintain these critical friendships?
但是他们是如何建立和维持这些重要的友谊的呢?
Through physical contact much like hugging or holding hands in humans.
通过身体接触，像人类的拥抱或牵手一样。
Or like grooming in other primates, like chimps or monkeys…
或者像其他灵长类动物，如黑猩猩或猴子…
…where individuals will devote a lot of time and energy into grooming their closest friends to strengthen those relationships.
它们会投入大量的时间和精力来培养最亲密的朋友，以加强这些关系。
Emma Chereskin of the University of Bristol.
布里斯托尔大学的艾玛·切尔斯金说。
She says the problem with all this physical interaction is…there’s only so many hours in a day.
她说，这种身体互动的问题在于...... 一天只有那么多小时。
When group sizes become larger, this places a constraint on how much time is available for an individual to devote to grooming key social partners.
当海豚群体规模变大时，这就对个体有多少时间可以用来与重要的社会伙伴进行接触形成了制约。
Enter the “social bonding hypothesis.”
这就是“社会联系假说”。
In this hypothesis, vocal exchanges can serve as a replacement for grooming to maintain social bonds.
在这一假说中，为了维持社会关系，声音交流可以替代身体接触。
Like us chatting regularly with our circle of friends.
比如我们经常和圈子里的朋友聊天。
For dolphins, those chats take the form of exchanging “signature whistles.”
对于海豚来说，这些聊天的形式是交换“标志性的哨音”。
A signature whistle is a vocalization that is completely unique to each dolphin that functions much like a human name.
标志性的哨音对每只海豚来说都是完全独有的发声方式，其功能很像人类的名字。
That was Kooks…a member of the Alley Cat alliance.
那是库克斯，是野猫联盟的一员。
And that’s his pal Pimento.
这是它的哥们儿皮门托。
So when they use their signature whistle they’re advertising their identity to those around them as a way to maintain group cohesion.
所以当海豚使用标志性的哨音时，它们是在向周围的海豚宣传自己的身份，以此来保持群体凝聚力。
So Chereskin set out to determine which dolphins were getting physical…and which were more or less phoning it in.
所以切雷斯金开始去确定哪些海豚进行了身体接触，哪些或多或少参与了这件事。
The results were surprising.
结果令人惊讶。
I had anticipated that the way dolphins use their signature whistles would be akin to the way that primates do.
我原以为海豚使用标志性哨音的方式会和灵长类动物类似。
For apes and monkeys, chit chat is more common between besties. But for dolphins?
对于猩猩和猴子来说，好朋友间的闲聊更为常见。但海豚也是这样吗?
When we look at just that core alliance group, we see that increased vocal exchanges occur between those with weaker social bonds.
当我们只观察核心联盟海豚群时，我们发现在那些社会联系较弱的群体之间，声音交流很多。
So while we do observe that vocal exchanges are indeed occurring between friends, rather than strangers, they’re occurring between distant friends rather than best friends.
我们观察到海豚的声音交流确实会发生在朋友之间，而非陌生海豚之间，声音交流会发生在远方的朋友之间而非最好的朋友之间。
Like Alley Cats Spirit and Guppy.
就像Alley Cats Spirit和Guppy。
Which Chereskin says kinda makes sense.
切雷斯金认为这是有道理的。
I liken these results to living with a partner.
我把这些研究结果比作和伴侣一起生活。
So when you live with someone, you typically don’t have to call or text them as much because much of your bonding occurs together in your home.
当你和某人住在一起时，你通常不需要给他（她）打电话或发短信，因为你们的大部分联系都发生在家里。
But for friends who are more far flung, you might be more apt to send a shout out, rather than making the effort to get together to bump fists or fins.
但对于那些相隔较远的朋友，你可能更倾向于大声喊他（她），而不是凑在一起碰碰拳头或鲸鳍。
For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Karen Hopkin.
谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是凯伦·霍普金。
文章为可可英语翻译，未经授权请勿转载！
