Can plants learn and remember? Monica from Australia thinks so.
Monica and her team members did some tests on mimosas(含羞草). The plants close their leaves quickly when people touch them. They put some mimosas in 56 pots. Every time they dropped the pots from 30cm high, the plants closed their leaves. Monica and her team members did this for a whole day. To their surprise,at the end of the day, the plants didn't close their leaves at all. It seemed that the plants learned that this action wouldn't hurt them.
Another amazing thing was that the plants might remember things for a long time. Monica dropped the same pots of mimosas four weeks later. The plants still didn't close their leaves.
Monica wasn't sure how plants learned and remembered. "The plants don't have brains, after all. Maybe they learn and remember with the help of their cells(细胞)," she said.
Have you ever seen guides letting you get close to elephants and even offering you rides? Don't do this, we're here to explain why you should not ride an elephant.
Humans often think it's OK to have elephants under their control(控制). Many people in Southeast Asia buy and sell elephants illegally (违法地). But elephants are wild animals. Humans shouldn't do that.
Elephants are smart. They can feel sad and happy. Wild elephants won't let humans ride on top of them. So in order to control them, humans catch baby elephants and train them in pretty bad ways. These all cause a lot of pain for their spirit and bodies.
Although elephants have large bodies, their spines(脊椎)are not strong enough to carry humans. And many of them die as a result of years of carrying humans on their backs.
Asian elephants are in danger. The United Nations says that only about 35, 000 Asian elephants are left in the wild now. Riding elephants is one of the main causes (原因)to their death.
Why shouldn't we ride elephants? | |
Reason 1 Many Southeast Asians elephants illegally. Humans shouldn't do that. | Reason 2 Elephants are smart. They can feel. And happy. Humans' causes baby elephants a lot of hurt on their spirit and bodies. |
Reason 3 Elephants have large bodies, but their spines are not very . | Reason 4 Asian elephants are in danger. There are only about. in the wild now. |