相信大家都有在網(wǎng)上云吸貓或者家里有養(yǎng)貓的經(jīng)歷，但在這期間大家有沒有思考過為什么人類會心甘情愿地成為貓奴呢?人類早期選擇是否需要馴養(yǎng)某種動物的理由通常都是這類動物可以幫助到人類的日常生活，比如馬可以用來拉重物，狗可以參與打獵或放牧，但貓好像除了可愛一無是處，那么今天我們就來聊聊貓的馴化過程。
Cats lack an important characteristic that most animals that can be domesticated have: Domesticable animals tend to live in herds or packs, with clear dominance hierarchies. Humans could easily take advantage of this hierarchical structure. By supplanting the alpha individual, they could gain control of the whole group or of individuals as in the case of dogs. Cats in the wild, though, rarely have this structure. For the most part, they are solitary hunters.
貓和其他大多數(shù)可被馴化的動物相比，缺乏一個非常重要的特征，那便是其他被家養(yǎng)的動物在野外都傾向于群居生活，有明確的等級體系。人類可以利用這種等級結(jié)構(gòu)，通過取代領(lǐng)頭個體，從而獲得對整個群體及其中個體的控制。人類對狗的馴化就是通過利用這個特征，但是野貓很少會以群居的形式生活，大多數(shù)情況下，它們都是孤獨的獵手。
It's helpful to think about when and where cat domestication might've begun. A possible guess is ancient Egypt because of wall paintings. Those paintings do provide the oldest known depictions of full cat domestication, where cats are, without question, household companions. But the Egyptians don't get credited for the early stages of cat domestication where cats are just beginning to interact with humans. There are signs of early domestication as far back as 9,500 years ago.
為了尋找答案，我們要從貓的馴養(yǎng)最早出現(xiàn)在哪里以及何時入手?？赡軙腥瞬聹y古埃及，因為很多古埃及壁畫中都包含了貓。那些壁畫確實展現(xiàn)了已知最古老的關(guān)于貓被完全馴化后的場景，但那并不被認為是貓被馴化的早期階段。早在9500年前，貓就有被馴化的跡象。
Two graves were discovered on the Island of Cyprus. One was the grave of a human, buried with some tools, seashells, and other items, and nearby, a cat was buried in its own grave. Interestingly, the cat's body was oriented in the same westward direction as the human's body. Another notable thing about the two bodies was that they were in an identical state of preservation, suggesting they had been buried at the same time. So we can assume that humans had at least some kind of relationship with cats as early as 9,500 years ago.
人們在塞浦路斯島上發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩個墳?zāi)埂Ｒ粋€是人類墳?zāi)?，埋著一些工具、貝殼和其他物品。在這個墳?zāi)垢浇幸粋€專屬于貓的墳?zāi)?。有趣的是，貓的身體和人的身體都是向西的，而且這兩具尸體的保存狀態(tài)完全相同，這表明他們是在同一時間被埋葬的。所以我們可以假設(shè)，早在9500年前，人類就和貓產(chǎn)生了某種關(guān)系。
可惜的是，這只能證明人類和貓的共處有非常久遠的歷史。事實上，所有現(xiàn)代家養(yǎng)貓都起源于野貓的五個亞種中的一個，其他四個亞種中也有對人類較為友好的，但卻沒有被早期人類所馴養(yǎng)。直到今天，我們也無法確定貓是基于什么原因被人類馴養(yǎng)的! |
