Episode Details

Octopuses are not communal animals. Most live alone their entire lives.

章鱼不是公共动物。 大多数人一生都独自生活。

So, scientists were surprised to find thousands of pearl octopuses living together as they protected their developing eggs. The community is on the ocean floor off the California coast.

因此，科学家们惊讶地发现数千只珍珠章鱼生活在一起，保护正在发育的卵。 该社区位于加利福尼亚海岸附近的海底。

Now, researchers may have solved the mystery of the strange pearl octopus behavior.

现在，研究人员可能已经解开了珍珠章鱼奇怪行为的谜团。

An inactive underwater volcano heats the area where the mother octopuses settle. Their eggs hatch faster as a result.

一座不活跃的水下火山给母章鱼栖息的地区加热。 结果，它们的卵孵化得更快。

“There are clear advantages of basically sitting in this natural hot tub,” said Janet Voight. Voight is an octopus biologist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. She co-wrote the study published in Science Advances.

“坐在这个天然热水浴缸里有明显的优势，”珍妮特·沃伊特说。 沃伊特是伊利诺伊州芝加哥菲尔德自然历史博物馆的章鱼生物学家。 她与人共同撰写了这项研究，发表在《科学进展》上。

The researchers found that the area’s warmth greatly reduced the time it took for eggs to hatch. As a result, the eggs had a reduced risk of being eaten by snails, shrimp and other animals.

研究人员发现，该地区的温暖大大缩短了鸡蛋孵化所需的时间。 因此，鸡蛋被蜗牛、虾和其他动物吃掉的风险降低了。

Researchers discovered the nesting area in 2018, calling it an “octopus garden.”