Greedy killer monkeysGreedy killer monkeys found eating large rats in Malaysia, leaving scientists ‘stunned’
“惊呆了”：马来西亚科学家发现贪婪的杀手猴在吞食大老鼠
Greedy killer monkeys were found to be catching and gobbling up large rats in Malaysia.
在马来西亚，贪婪的杀手猴被发现捕捉并吞食大老鼠。
Shocked scientists uncovered the rat-catching macaques on palm oil plantations – and say the hungry predators could be used as pest control.
震惊的科学家们在棕榈油种植园里发现了这些捕捉老鼠的猕猴，并表示这些饥饿的捕食者可以用来防治害虫。
The southern pig-tailed macaques were typically thought to chow down on fruit.
这些南部的猪尾猕猴通常被认为是以水果为食的。

They would also hunt for meaty prey sometimes, but generally only small lizards and birds.
它们有时也会捕食有肉的猎物，但一般只捕食小蜥蜴和鸟类。
Now scientists have confirmed that these monkeys are also regularly snatching and devouring large rats.
现在，科学家们已经证实，这些猴子也经常捕捉和吞食大老鼠。
"I was stunned when I first observed that macaques feed on rats in plantations," said Nadine Ruppert, of the Universiti Sains Malaysia, who revealed her research in the Current Biology journal.
马来西亚理科大学的纳丁·鲁珀特在《当代生物学》杂志上发表了她的研究成果，她说：“当我第一次看到猕猴在种植园里以老鼠为食时，我惊呆了。”

"I did not expect them to hunt these relatively large rodents, or that they would even eat so much meat.
“我没料到它们会猎杀这些相对较大的啮齿动物，也没想到它们会吃这么多肉。”
"They are widely known to be frugivorous primates who occasionally feast on small birds or lizards."
“众所周知，它们是食果的灵长类动物，偶尔会以小鸟或蜥蜴为食。”
The report tracked macaques between January 2016 and September 2018 in plantations around the Segari Melintang forest reserve.
该报告在2016年1月至2018年9月期间追踪了在塞加里·梅林顿森林保护区周边种植园的猕猴们。
Macaque groups typically numbered around 44 monkeys, and killed 3,000 rats per year on average.
每个被追踪的猕猴群通常是44只猴子，平均每年杀死3000只老鼠。
That's nearly 70 rats per monkey (or one every five days) over the course of a year.
在一年的时间里，每只猴子大约杀掉70只老鼠（或者说每五天一只）。
The macaques would hunt rats while they sheltered inside trees, making the rodents easy prey.
猕猴会趁躲在树林里的时候捕食老鼠，这些啮齿动物很容易成为猎物。
"By uncovering cavities in oil palm trunks where rats seek shelter during the day, one group of pig-tailed macaques can catch more than 3,000 rats per year," said Anna Holzner, of the University of Leipzig.
莱比锡大学的安娜·霍尔兹纳说：“老鼠白天会在油棕树干里寻找庇护所，只要找到它们的洞口，一个猪尾猕猴群每年可以捕捉到3000多只老鼠。”
Rats damage around 10 percent of palm oil crops by eating their fruit, according to estimates.
据估计，老鼠会毁掉10%的棕榈油作物。

So scientists now say than rather than being a pest, the macaques can instead be seen as a natural pest-controller.
因此，科学家们表示，猕猴不光不是害虫，还能作为天然的害虫防治者。
Experts are urging plantation owners to consider boosting the habitats for macaques.
专家敦促种植园主考虑增加猕猴的栖息地。
"We expect that our results will encourage both private and public plantation owners to consider the protection of these primates and their natural forest habitat in and around existing and newly established oil palm plantations," said Anja Widdig, of the University of Leipzig.
莱比锡大学的安贾·维迪格说：“我们希望，我们的研究结果能鼓励私人和公共种植园主考虑保护这些灵长类动物，并在现有和新建的油棕种植园及其周围，增加这些动物的自然森林栖息地。”
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