科学研究已经证明，人的天性是好赌的。但最近又有新科学研究证明，鸽子的天性也是好赌的。看来赌博的魔力不可小觑。

　　二十一点、吃角子老虎机和德州扑克--人们都喜欢赌博，但喜欢赌博的不只是人。一项新研究显示，鸽子也会为了获得更大的回报而放弃一些近在眼前的好处。这项研究刊登在《皇家科学月刊》上。

　　觅食理论告诉我们，动物会贯彻所谓的“一鸟在手胜于双鸟在林”这种谚语，面对食物时更是坚定不移。吃东西是生存的关键，因此聪明的动物不会冒不必要的险。但是新的研究表示鸽子并不会总是谨慎行事。

　　科学家们搭建了一个空中赌场，让鸽子们在两个标志之间“下赌注”。在标志1处，鸽子可以啄食三粒食物，就三颗，不多也不少。而标志2处是个未知领域。如果选择了这个地方，鸽子就有20%的可能中头奖：得到十粒食物。其余80%的情况则不会得到任何东西。但是头奖的诱惑太难抵挡了：80%的情况下鸽子都会选择赌一把。虽然这个选择平均来讲得到的食物更少。

　　可能这是个让人感到愉悦的惊喜。因为就算在鸟儿那毫无想象力的脑袋瓜里面，赌博都是一个诱人的陷阱。

　　译文Blackjack, slot machines, good ol’ Texas hold’em. People love to gamble. And we’re not the only ones. A new study shows that pigeons will also pass up a sure thing in the hopes of a big payoff. The work appears in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

　　Theories about foraging say that animals should stick with the proverbial bird in the hand, especially when it comes to food. Eating is key to survival, so clever critters shouldn’t take unnecessary chances. But these new findings suggest that pigeons don’t always play it safe.

　　Scientists set up an avian casino in which pigeons could place their bets on one of two symbols. Peck at symbol 1 and you get three food pellets. Never more, never less. Symbol 2 was the wildcard. Choose that one and 20 percent of the time, you’ll hit the jackpot: 10 food pellets. The rest of the time you’ll get nothing. But the lure of the big win was too hard to resist: pigeons chose to gamble more than 80 percent of the time, even though, on average, that path paid out fewer pellets.

　　Perhaps it’s the joy of a pleasant surprise. Because even for a literal bird brain, hitting the lottery is a hoot.