聯合翻譯 引用自 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2014/08/21/2003597871
Hugging trees helps koalas to keep cool, a study has revealed.
In a study published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, scientists used thermal cameras to reveal that, in hotter weather, the animals moved to the lower, cooler parts of the trees.
They also pressed their bodies even closer to the trunks.
The team, led by researchers from the University of Melbourne, was studying how koalas regulated their temperature.
This is part of a wider research project investigating the effect of climate on land-dwelling animals in Australia, a country which experienced an extreme heat wave earlier this year.
While doctoral student Natalie Briscoe was studying the koalas’ behaviour, she noticed that in the winter the animals would stay high in the trees.
In the hotter summer weather though, they would move down.
However, measurements of the temperatures of the tree trunks showed that, on days as hot as 39 degrees Celsius, they were up to seven degrees cooler than the air.
“That’s what made us wonder if the koalas were using the trees as a heat sink,” said Michael Kearney from the University of Melbourne.
聯合翻譯 引用自 http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/lang/archives/2014/08/21/2003597871
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