既能高貴冷艷，又可撒嬌賣萌的喵星人在人類世界可謂收獲了眾多粉絲，然而不容忽視的一點是，這些毛茸茸可愛的小生物也曾是森林里的“小霸主”。從野生動物進化為人類世界的明星，究竟是它們自己的選擇還是人類的干涉？你所不知道的喵星人軼事將一一為你揭曉……

By Purina Blair

陳思純 沐木 選

杜筠 注

While it’s no secret some people love cats, felines themselves are complicated and confusing creatures. One day, they’re rubbing up against you, demanding attention, and the next, they deny you the simplest, friendly purr!

On those days, we question if cats are living with us by choice or simply because we’re keeping them there. After all, they were once wild animals! To learn more about how exactly cats went from living in the wild, to becoming our pets, to their current celebrity status, we’re trying to find answers to cat owners’ most pressing questions about feline evolution. Thanks to science, we now know a lot more about the lineage—and the wild side!—of our furry (and sometimes grumpy) friends.

1. “What makes cats different than other domesticated animals?”

While most species were domesticated because of their value to humans (horses for their labor, cows for their milk, and so on and so forth ), you can’t really put cats to work. So when cats needed shelter and food, they essentially took domestication upon themselves.

“Unlike barnyard animals and livestock, cats took into account that it was a good idea for them to get along with people,” says Stephen O’Brien, chief scientific officer for Genome Bioinformatics at St. Petersburg (Russia) State University’s Theodosius Dobzhansky Center, who has conducted multiple cat-evolution studies.

What most likely happened: just as humankind was establishing the first settlements roughly 10,000 years ago in a part of the Middle East known as the Fertile Crescent, wild cats fed on their trash and preyed upon mice that infested livestock feed. The cats that were genetically tamer most likely formed a bond with certain humans, which eventually led to cats living inside their homes.

2. “So, did cats essentially domesticate themselves by being nice?”

You could say that. “There was an advantage associated with being a nice guy if you were a cat,” O’Brien says. “By becoming friendly with humans, there was another source of nutrition, protection and companionship that couldn’t be [found in the wild].”

3. “Can all cats take advantage of this personality trait?”

Not exactly. This “friendly” personality trait begins in a cat’s genes . Domestic cats can become pets, wild cats cannot. But it’s not a question of nice or nasty, says John Bradshaw, foundation director of the Anthrozoology Institute at the University of Bristol and author of Cat Sense.

“Mutations somehow give domestic kittens the ability to become sociable with people—but if they don’t encounter humans until they’re over 10 weeks old, they can remain as ‘wild’ as any wildcat,” Bradshaw says.

4. “Why do cats race through the house sometimes, especially at night? Is this because of their ‘wild’ past?”

“A sudden burst of energy, excitement or simply pent up energy can cause a cat to spontaneously run around like crazy,” says Ragen T.S. McGowan, Ph.D., a behaviorist at Nestlé Purina. “Cats are naturally crepuscular, which means they are most active at dusk and dawn,” McGowan says. “This stems from the fact that for their wild counterparts, these are the best times of the day to hunt.”

While wild cats take a series of short “cat naps” throughout the day to stay vigilant toward both predators and potential prey, house cats live in an environment where it’s safe to sleep for long stretches of time during the day—which amounts to having extra energy to burn at night.

5. “Why are all cats roughly the same size, unlike dogs?”

While dogs, as a species, exhibit an extreme size divergence from a tiny Pekingese to a massive Great Dane, cats typically range from 8 to 12 pounds. Why is that, exactly? Well, nobody knows for sure.

It could be because size distribution is more prevalent in the felidae family (all cats) than the felis species, which spans from jungle cats to domestic cats, O’Brien says. However, it could also be because dogs have been domesticated for much longer and bred more intensely than cats. Another factor, O’Brien points out, is that they have more diversity to begin with in terms of genes responsible for metric growth, which could account for the larger size variety.

6. “Why don’t cats roar like their larger ancestors?”

The cat family has 37 species, 38 if you count the house cat. But the only cats that roar are the great cats like lions, tigers, leopards, jaguars and snow leopards, O’Brien explains. They’re able to do this because of their ossified hyoid bone, an adaptation specific to the panthera group, which allows them to roar.

But cats don’t need to let out a sad “meow .” Pumas and cheetahs don’t roar, either (they scream and purr, respectively).

7. “Why do cats only rub up on you seeking attention on their own terms, but ignore you otherwise?”

“Cats are descended from a solitary species, and have yet to evolve a need to socialize 24/7,” Bradshaw says. “Most of the time, most of them just want to be alone.”

8. “Are cats’ tails just for show, or do they actually serve a purpose?”

Monkeys may use their tails to hang from trees, but cats primarily use their tails for balance, O’Brien says. As cats run, their tails essentially serve as a rudder , giving them balance to keep on their intended path as they turn a corner. The best example would be a cheetah reaching 70 mph speeds.

There’s another, surprising purpose: They’re a part of the reproductive process! “When the female gets mounted , she has to agree to lift her tail,” O’Brien says.

9. “Where does that myth about cats having nine lives come from?”

Cats’ reputation as the ultimate survivors probably originates in their ability to land safely, even when falling from great heights.

“[Cats] can do this because they can twist around in mid-air so as to land on all four feet at once, with their back arched so it can act as a shock-absorber,” Bradshaw explains. “If they manage to right themselves far enough above the ground, they can slow their fall by temporarily extending their legs sideways and using their bodies as a parachute—rather like a less extreme version of a flying squirrel.”

Vocabulary

1. burning questions: 亟待解決的問題；wild: 野生的。

2. feline: 貓，貓科動物。

3. rub: 摩擦，蹭；purr: 貓發(fā)出的呼嚕聲，此處指人學貓發(fā)出的聲音。

4. 為了更多地了解貓咪究竟是怎樣從野生變成我們的寵物，擁有現(xiàn)在的名星地位的，我們試圖從貓咪主人處尋找有關(guān)貓咪進化的緊迫性問題的答案。celebrity: 名人；status: 地位；pressing: 緊迫的；evolution: 進化。

5. lineage: 血統(tǒng)，家系；furry: 毛茸茸的；grumpy: 性情乖戾的。

6. domesticated: 家養(yǎng)的。

7. species: 物種。

8. so forth: 等等。

9. shelter: 住所，避難處；essentially: 本質(zhì)上；domestication: 馴服，教化，后文domesticate為動詞形式。

10. 圣彼得堡（俄羅斯）州立大學費奧多西?多布然斯基研究中心基因組生物信息學處的首席科學家史蒂芬?奧萊布萊恩稱，“與農(nóng)場動物和牲畜不同，貓咪認為和人們友好相處是個不錯的選擇。”史蒂芬在貓咪進化方面已經(jīng)做了許多研究。barnyard: 倉院；livestock: 牲畜；take into account: 考慮，重視；genome: 基因組；bioinformatics: 生物信息學；conduct: 進行；multiple: 多重的，多樣的。

11. 事實很可能是這樣的：大約一萬年前，當人類在中東的新月沃土首次定居下來，野貓以人類的垃圾以及捕食禍害牲畜飼料的老鼠為生。settlement: 定居；roughly: 大致；the Fertile Crescent: 新月沃土（指西亞、北非地區(qū)兩河流域及附近一連串肥沃的土地）；trash: 垃圾，廢物；prey: 捕食，掠奪；infest: （昆蟲、老鼠等）成群侵擾，橫行。

12. genetically: 從基因方面；tame: 溫順的；bond: 紐帶，聯(lián)系。

13. nutrition: 營養(yǎng)；companionship: 陪伴。

14. take advantage of: 利用；trait: 特性，特點。

15. gene: 基因。

16. nasty: 骯臟的；anthrozoology: 人與動物關(guān)系學。

17. mutation: 突變，變異；kitten: 小貓；sociable: 友善的；encounter: 邂逅，遇到。

18. pent up: 被壓抑的，郁積的；spontaneously: 自發(fā)地，一時沖動地；behaviorist: 行為學家。

19. crepuscular: 黃昏的，朦朧的；dusk: 黃昏；dawn: 黎明。

20. stem: 起源于；counterpart: 對應物。

21. 許多野貓會在白天偶爾打打盹兒來時刻保持警惕，以對付自己的捕食者和潛在的獵物，家貓則可以在白天安穩(wěn)地睡上很長時間，這使得它們在夜晚有足夠的精力。nap: 打盹兒；vigilant: 警惕的；predator: 捕食者；potential: 潛在的；stretch of: 持續(xù)的一段時間；amount to: 相當于。

22. exhibit: 展示；divergence: 差異，分歧；Pekingese: 哈巴狗；massive: 巨大的；Great Dane: 大丹犬。

23. distribution: 分配，分布；prevalent: 流行的，普遍的；felidae: 貓科動物；felis: 貓屬的；span: 跨越；jungle: 叢林。

24. bred: （breed的過去分詞）喂養(yǎng)；intensely: 強烈地。

25. metric: 米制的；account for: 解釋，說明。

26. roar: 咆哮，吼叫；ancestor: 祖先。

27. leopard: 豹子；jaguar: 美洲虎；snow leopard: 雪豹。

28. ossify: 使硬化，使骨化；hyoid: 舌骨的；adaptation: 適應；panthera: 豹屬的。

29. meow: 貓叫聲。

30. puma: 美洲獅；cheetah: 獵豹。

31. rub: 擦，蹭。

32. be descended from: 是……的后裔；solitary: 孤獨的；socialize: 使社會化；24/7: 所有時間，一直（一天24小時，一周7天）。

33. primarily: 主要地。

34. rudder: （船或飛機的）舵。

35. reproductive: 生育的，繁殖的。

36. mount: （雄性動物）趴到（雌性動物）背上交配。

37. myth: 神話。

38. arch: （使）成弓形；shock-absorber: 減震器。

39. 如果能在距離地面足夠高的時候轉(zhuǎn)正方向，它們就可以通過暫時伸展自己的四肢來降低落下的速度，把身體當做降落傘，這就像是一只低級版本的飛翔的松鼠。right: v. 使……直立；temporarily: 暫時地；sideways: adv. 向側(cè)面地；parachute: 降落傘；squirrel: 松鼠。

（來源：英語學習雜志 編輯：丹妮）