爲阻止雄性交配 雌性蟑螂會互相照顧

Ladies have to look out for each other. Even roaches know that.

連蟑螂都知道女士們必須互相照顧。

A new study of Pacific beetle cockroaches in the journal Ethology revealed some surprising feminist tendencies among the insects: In mixed-sex groups, females cluster together to stave off unwanted mating advances from males.

發表在《動物行爲學》雜誌上的一項針對太平洋甲蟲蟑螂的新研究，揭示了這種昆蟲中一些令人驚訝的女權主義傾向：在雌雄混合的羣體中，雌性蟑螂聚集在一起，以避免雄性蟑螂進行討厭的交配行爲。

The bigger the female huddle, the fewer attempts males made.

擠在一起的雌性越多，雄性嘗試的交配次數就越少。

But the method wasn't foolproof: In groups when males were in the majority, female roaches were more likely to be "harassed."

但這種方法並非萬無一失：在雄性蟑螂佔多數的羣體中，雌性蟑螂更容易受到“騷擾”。

Female cockroaches might be resistant to hookups because they can store sperm for future use, which makes regular mating -- often injurious to females -- biologically unnecessary, study author Christina Stanley explains to Scientific American.

研究報告的撰寫者克里斯蒂娜·斯坦利向《科學美國人》解釋稱，雌性蟑螂可能會抵抗交配，因爲它們可以儲存精子以備將來使用，從生物學上來說，這就使得通常對雌性有害的定期交配變得沒必要了。

Even outside the threat of mating, female cockroaches were generally more social with each other than with the males.

除開交配的威脅之外，雌性蟑螂通常更願意和同性羣居，而不是和雄性。

Adds Stanley, "Female roaches created this better social environment by excluding the males -- something that will come as no surprise to many human women."

史丹利補充道：“雌性蟑螂通過排除雄性蟑螂而創造了更好的社會環境。這對於許多人類女性來說也不是什麼奇怪的事情。”