狗狗知道我們是“小狗眼睛”的粉絲

狗狗知道我們是“小狗眼睛”的粉絲

Dogs may have evolved new muscles around their eyes to capitalize on our preference for big-eyed, child-like faces and to better communicate with people, according to new research.

一項最新研究表明，狗狗的眼睛周圍可能進(jìn)化出了新的肌肉，這可能是為了利用我們對大眼睛、兒童臉的偏愛，為了更好地與人交流。

(Photo: Tasha Karidis/Shutterstock)

Researchers compared the anatomy and behavior of dogs to wolves over thousands of years and found that muscles in the face were similar except for one small thing. Unlike wolves, dogs have a very small muscle that allows them to dramatically raise their inner eyebrow.

研究人員對比了數(shù)千年來狗和狼的解剖結(jié)構(gòu)和行為，發(fā)現(xiàn)狗和狼的面部肌肉是相似的，唯一不同的是，與狼相比，狗有非常小的肌肉，可以讓它們戲劇性地?fù)P起眉毛。

The researchers suggest that when dogs raise their inner eyebrow, it prompts a nurturing response in humans because it makes the dogs' eyes seem larger and more infant like. It also mimics the expressions humans make when they're sad.

研究人員表示，當(dāng)狗抬起它們的內(nèi)眉時，會引起人類的撫育反應(yīng)，因為這會讓狗的眼睛看起來更大，更像嬰兒，它還模仿人類悲傷時的表情。

"The findings suggest that expressive eyebrows in dogs may be a result of humans' unconscious preferences that influenced selection during domestication," said lead researcher and comparative psychologist Juliane Kaminski at the University of Portsmouth, in a statement. "When dogs make the movement, it seems to elicit a strong desire in humans to look after them. This would give dogs, that move their eyebrows more, a selection advantage over others and reinforce the 'puppy dog eyes' trait for future generations."

樸茨茅斯大學(xué)的首席研究員、比較心理學(xué)家朱利安·卡明斯基在一份聲明中說：“研究結(jié)果表明，狗狗的眉毛表情豐富可能是人類在馴化過程中無意識的偏好影響了選擇的結(jié)果。當(dāng)狗做這個動作時，似乎會引起人類照顧它們的強(qiáng)烈欲望。這將使眉毛動得更多的狗在選擇上比其他狗更有優(yōu)勢，并為后代強(qiáng)化‘小狗眼睛’的特征。”

The study research team included behavioral and anatomical experts in the U.S. and U.K. and was published in the journal PNAS.

該研究團(tuán)隊包括美國和英國的行為和解剖學(xué)專家，研究結(jié)果發(fā)表在《美國國家科學(xué)院院刊》(PNAS)上。

Co-author and anatomist Anne Burrows of Duquesne University said the evolution of the eyebrow muscle changes was "remarkably fast" and "can be directly linked to dogs' enhanced social interaction with humans."

研究報告的撰寫者之一、杜肯大學(xué)的解剖學(xué)家安妮·巴羅斯說，眉肌變化的進(jìn)化速度“非?？?rdquo;，而且“可以直接與狗狗與人類更強(qiáng)的社交互動聯(lián)系起來”。

The team's previous research shows that dogs raise their eyebrows more when people are looking at them than when they're not.

該團(tuán)隊之前的研究表明，當(dāng)人們看著狗狗時，狗狗揚(yáng)起眉毛的次數(shù)要多于人們不看它們時。

For the study published in PLOS One, researchers observed 27 shelter dogs and counted the number of times each animal raised its inner brows and widened its eyes when a person approached. The dogs were all Staffordshire bull terriers and mastiffs between the ages of 7 months and 8 years old, and the ones that raised their brows were consistently adopted faster than those that didn't.

在發(fā)表于《公共科學(xué)圖書館·綜合》的研究中，研究人員觀察了27只收容所里的狗，并計算了當(dāng)有人走近時，每只狗豎起內(nèi)眉、睜大眼睛的次數(shù)。這些狗都是7個月到8歲的斯塔福德郡斗牛梗和獒犬，那些揚(yáng)起眉毛的狗總是比那些沒有揚(yáng)起眉毛的狗被收養(yǎng)的更快。

(Photo: Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock)

"The results of this research suggest that wolves which produced child-like expressions may have been more tolerated by humans, and so modern dogs have inherited these features," said head researcher, evolutionary psychologist Bridget Waller.

研究負(fù)責(zé)人、進(jìn)化心理學(xué)家布里奇特·沃勒說:“這項研究的結(jié)果表明，人類可能更能容忍會產(chǎn)生兒童表情的狼，所以現(xiàn)代狗繼承了這些特征。”

"We might have automatically opted for dogs which produced facial movements that enhanced their baby-like faces. Raised inner brows are also closely associated with sadness in humans and so another possibility is that humans are responding to a perceived sadness in the dog."

“我們可能會自動選擇那些能做出面部表情的狗，因為它們的臉看起來更像嬰兒。”豎起內(nèi)眉也與人類的悲傷緊密相關(guān)，所以另一種可能性是，人類對狗狗感知到的悲傷做出了反應(yīng)。”

Previous research suggested that the domestication of wolves was simply a byproduct of people avoiding aggressive animals. However, these new studies indicate that dogs' child-like expressions are a result of indirect selection by humans.

之前的研究表明，馴化狼只是人們躲避攻擊性動物的副產(chǎn)品。然而，這些新的研究表明，狗的兒童表情是人類間接選擇的結(jié)果。