紅色表示重點詞彙

藍色表示句子主幹

帶著問題聽講解

Q1: 請總結一下文中關於“哺乳”和“幼蛛”的表達。

Q2: 蜘蛛和鴿子的哺乳有何不同？

Q3: pigeon 和 dove 有什麼區別？

Scientists discover spider species that feeds its young milk

The ability of mothers to produce milk for their babies is commonly considered a unique feature of mammals, but now scientists have discovered a species of spider that also nurses

Spider mothers were observed feeding a milk-like substance to their spiderlings and continuing to look after them almost into adulthood.

Lactation-like feeding is known elsewhere in the animal kingdom—pigeons and flamingos produce something called “crop milk” from a gland in their neck. However, the intensity and duration of maternal care observed in the spider species is considered highly unusual.

The observations focused on a species of jumping spider, normally found in Taiwan, which lives in nests and mimics the appearance of ants. The newly hatched spiderlings were found to be entirely dependent on nutritious spider milk, containing nearly four times the protein of cow’s milk, secreted and fed to them by their mothers.

The scientists observed that the spiderlings first drank from droplets of spider milk left on the surface of the nest and then by directly sucking from the mother’s egg-laying opening.

The spider mothers continued to care for and feed their offspring for nearly 40 days, long after they were able to forage on their own and almost until the point of sexual maturity.

The milk was not critical to the offsprings’ survival, but appeared to boost their overall health and chances of survival as adults.

The findings, by scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Yunnan, are published in the journal Science.

科學家發現了哺乳蜘蛛

母親為嬰兒分泌乳汁的能力通常被認為是哺乳動物的一個獨特特徵，但現在科學家們發現，有一種蜘蛛也存在哺乳行為。

科學家觀察到蜘蛛媽媽給小蜘蛛餵食一種奶狀物質，並繼續照顧它們，直到幼蛛幾乎成年。

在動物王國的其他地方也有很多類似泌乳餵養的行為——鴿子和火烈鳥就從它們脖子上的腺體中分泌一種叫做“鴿乳”的東西。然而，人們認為，在蜘蛛這一物種身上觀察到的母蛛親代撫育行為的密集程度和持續時間是極不尋常的。

此次觀察的物件是一種通常出沒在臺灣的跳蛛，它們生活在巢穴中，有著近似螞蟻的外形。新孵化出的幼蛛被發現會完全依賴營養豐富的蜘蛛乳汁存活，其蛋白質含量是牛奶的近四倍，由母蜘蛛分泌並餵食給幼蛛。

科學家們觀察到，幼蛛首先吸食巢穴表面殘留的乳滴，然後直接從母體的產卵口吮吸乳汁。

母蜘蛛繼續照顧、餵養了它們的幼蛛，這一過程長達近 40 天，遠超小蜘蛛們能夠獨立覓食的時間，且它們到那時候幾乎已到達了性成熟。

這種乳汁對幼蛛的存活並不是至關重要的，但似乎能提高他們成年後的整體健康水平和存活機率。

美國《科學》週刊發表了中國科學院雲南分院科學家們的這一研究成果。