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Pack rat. The name is synonymous with hoarding.
林鼠的名字与囤积，贮藏同义。
And researchers have learned that pack rats can actually increase the range of foods they’re able to eat because of their collection of gut bacteria.
研究人员发现这种小动物通过收集肠道细菌实际上可以增大进食食物的范围。
Pack rats live in the American Southwest, where they nosh on the native vegetation.
生活在美国西南部林鼠以原生植物为食。
Some of these plants produce protective toxins, for example the junipers in the Great Basin desert or the creosote bushes of the Mojave.
这些原生植物中有一些自身会产生保护性毒素，就像在美国西南部大盆地沙漠中的杜松或者是莫哈韦的石炭酸灌木。
But pack rats seem to eat these noxious shrubs with impunity.
而林鼠似乎吃下这些有毒物质后身体并没有出现问题。
The researchers found that pack rats from the Mojave harbor gut bacteria that can break down creosote.
研究人员发现莫哈韦港口的林鼠所收集的肠道细菌可以分解木榴油。
When antibiotics depleted the pack rats’ gut bacteria, the animals suddenly found creosote nearly indigestible.
当研究人员用抗生素来耗尽林鼠体内的肠道细菌，研究人员突然发现林鼠几乎难以消化掉其体内的木榴油。
Further, the researchers found that they could take pack rats from the Great Basin—the ones that eat juniper—and give them the ability to eat creosote.
此外，研究人员还发现他们可以将大盆地沙漠中进食杜松的林鼠带到莫哈韦沙漠，赋予它们消化木榴油的能力。
All they needed was a fecal transplant, which supplied the necessary gut bacteria from their Mojave-based neighbors.
它们所需要的就是肠道细菌，这些必需菌将会由莫哈韦沙漠地区所居住的居民提供。
The work appears in the journal Ecology Letters.
这项研究已经在《生态学通讯》杂志上发表。
The findings show the importance of gut bacteria for eating some otherwise dicey foods.
这项研究结果表明食用危险食物时肠道细菌的重要作用。
They could also allow farmers to expand the diet of their livestock.
这些肠道细菌还可以帮助农民扩大牲畜的食用食物范围。
Cows with the right gut bacteria could feast on what was formerly feh.
有了适合的肠道细菌，牛就可以尽情享用以前不能消化的食物。
