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Book review: Animal creativity
书评：动物的创造力
Primal instincts
原始本能
The Creative Lives of Animals. By Carol Gigliotti.
《动物的创造性生活》卡罗尔·吉利奥蒂著
In 1960 Jane Goodall, a British primatologist, observed chimpanzees in Gombe National Park in Tanzania.
1960年，英国灵长类动物学家珍妮·古道尔在坦桑尼亚贡贝国家公园观察了黑猩猩。
At that point, it was thought only humans had the capacity to create and use tools, but the chimpanzees were using slim blades of grass to fish termites from their mounds.
当时，人们认为只有人类会创造和使用工具，但那里的黑猩猩已经会用细长的草叶从蚁丘中捕捞白蚁了。
Louis Leakey, a palaeontologist and Ms Goodall’s mentor, mused: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine man, or accept chimpanzees as human.”
担任古道尔导师的古生物学家路易斯·利基若有所思地说：“现在我们必须重新定义工具，重新定义人类，否则就要承认黑猩猩是人类。”
Since then the distinction between animals and humans has become increasingly nuanced.
从那时起，动物和人类之间的区别变得越来越微妙。
In addition to toolmaking, chimpanzees—and many other animals besides—display emotion and self-awareness.
除了制造工具，黑猩猩-以及许多其他动物-还会表现出情感和自我意识。
Studies show that elephants grieve, rats have empathy and pigs form strong friendships.
研究表明，大象会悲伤，老鼠有同理心，猪会建立牢固的友谊。
In “The Creative Life of Animals” Carol Gigliotti, a professor emerita at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, has compiled research that examines such behaviour through the lens of creativity.
温哥华艾米丽卡尔艺术与设计大学的荣誉退休教授卡罗尔·吉利奥蒂从创造力的角度研究了上述这种行为，并在《动物的创造性生活》中汇编了其研究成果。
This requires a more inclusive, and generous, definition of creativity, for it is not a trait obviously exhibited by a prairie dog or caddis fly.
这就需要对创造力有一个更包容广阔的定义，毕竟这可不是草原土拨鼠或石蛾能够明显表现出的特征。
Creativity, Ms Gigliotti contends, is not the exclusive domain of Jane Austen or Leonardo da Vinci.
吉利奥蒂认为，创造力并非简·奥斯汀或莱昂纳多·达·芬奇的专利。
Nor is she referring to Pigcasso, the artistic pig rescued from an industrial pork facility outside Cape Town whose paintings have sold for thousands of dollars.
她也不是在谈猪卡索，猪卡索是从开普敦郊外的一家工业猪肉厂救出的艺术猪，其画作已卖了数千美元。
Instead, Ms Gigliotti suggests discarding humankind’s “master of the universe” perspective to consider creativity from the animal’s point of view.
相反，吉利奥蒂建议摒弃人类的“造物主”观点，从动物的角度探讨创造力。
“If animals in their own cultures can solve problems or create products of value to them, it seems accurate to consider these as creative,” she writes.
她写道：“如果动物在它们自己的文化中能够解决问题或创造对它们有价值的产品，那么将这些视为创造性似乎并没有错。”
Beaver lodges and dams are a case in point: there is no single template for their construction.
海狸会搭小屋和水坝就是一个很好的例子：它们没有单一的建造模板。
Each river or lake has its unique features and beavers create a custom-made structure to adapt to the given habitat—so, in the author’s intriguing framework, dams deserve to be considered a creative enterprise.
任一河流或湖泊都有其独特的特征，海狸会根据特定的栖息地建造不同的结构-因此，按照作者耐人寻味的准则来看，大坝值得被视为一项创造性的事业。
In the less practical, more aesthetic realm, consider Julie’s earring.
至于不那么实用，但更具美感的创造力领域，不妨以朱莉的耳环为例。
Julie, a chimpanzee studied in the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia, stuck a piece of long grass in her ear, adjusted and wore it.
朱莉是一只在赞比亚亚奇方希野生动物保护区接受研究的黑猩猩，它在耳朵里塞了一根长草，调整好后一直戴着。
The behaviour (a fashion trend, perhaps?) was soon sported by eight of the 12 members of the group.
很快，与朱莉同属一个小组的12只黑猩猩中，有8只开始模仿起了这种行为(也许是一种时尚趋势？)。
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
