貓和人類的關系確實很親密，甚至可能比狗還要親密

貓和人類的關系確實很親密，甚至可能比狗還要親密

Many think of dogs as loyal, love-filled companions, and cats as cute beasts that tolerate us - but we might have to rethink that a little. According to 2019 research, cats can get just as bonded to their human friends as dogs do.

許多人認為狗是忠誠的、充滿愛的伙伴，而貓是容忍我們的可愛野獸——但我們可能需要重新考慮一下。根據(jù)2019年的研究，貓可以像狗一樣和人類朋友親密無間。

This may not come as a huge surprise to those who live with cat companions, but it suggests two important things. Firstly, it looks like we've underestimated the depth of the bond cats can form with their people. Additionally, it shows that dogs don't have a monopoly on secure social bonding with Homo sapiens.

對于那些和貓住在一起的人來說，這可能不會讓他們感到驚訝，但它表明了兩件重要的事情。首先，我們似乎低估了貓與人類之間的親密關系。此外，它還表明，狗在與智人建立安全的社會聯(lián)系方面并沒有壟斷地位。

Like dogs, cats display social flexibility in regard to their attachments with humans, said animal scientist Kristyn Vitale of Oregon State University in September 2019.

2019年9月，俄勒岡州立大學的動物科學家Kristyn Vitale說:“和狗一樣，貓在與人交往方面表現(xiàn)出了社會靈活性。”

The majority of cats are securely attached to their owner and use them as a source of security in a novel environment.

“大多數(shù)貓咪都很依戀自己的主人，在一個陌生的環(huán)境里，它們會把主人當做安全的來源。”

In their behavioural experiment, the research team observed how cats respond to their owners in a strange environment. Previous research on rhesus monkeys (the controversial wire mother experiments reported in 1958) and dogs (a much more ethically sound experiment reported last year) had shown that both species form secure and insecure attachments.

在行為實驗中，研究小組觀察了貓在陌生環(huán)境中對主人的反應。之前對恒河猴(1958年報道的有爭議的電線母親實驗)和狗(去年報道的更合乎倫理的實驗)的研究表明，兩個物種都形成了安全的和不安全的附件。

In a secure attachment, a dog in a strange environment will, upon being reunited with their humans, relax and continue to explore. An insecure attachment, on the other hand, will see the dog continue exhibiting stress behaviour, either clinging excessively to the human, or avoiding them as much as possible.

在一個安全的連接中，一只狗在一個陌生的環(huán)境中，在與人類團聚后，會放松并繼續(xù)探索。另一方面，不安全的依戀會讓狗狗繼續(xù)表現(xiàn)出壓力行為，要么過度依賴人類，要么盡可能地避開人類。

Vitale and her team conducted a test of these two attachment types on 79 kittens and 38 adult cats.

Vitale和她的團隊對79只小貓和38只成年貓進行了這兩種依戀類型的測試。

First, the kitten or cat and their human caregiver were placed together in a room, with the human sitting in a marked circle. If the cat entered the circle, the human could interact with it. After two minutes, the human left, leaving the cat alone. After another two minutes, the human returned to the room, to sit in the circle again.

首先，小貓或貓和它們的人類看護者被放在一個房間里，人類坐成一個圈。如果貓進入了這個圈子，人類就可以和它互動。兩分鐘后，人類離開了，留下貓一個人。又過了兩分鐘，那個人回到房間，又坐到圈里。

The entire test was filmed, and the scientists analysed the video to classify the cats' attachment type.

整個測試過程都被拍了下來，科學家們分析了視頻，對貓咪的依戀類型進行了分類。

The adult cats only participated in the test once, but the kittens were tested twice - once initially, and once again two months later, after 39 of the kittens had been through a six-week training and socialisation course. The other 31 acted as a control group.

成年貓只參加了一次測試，但是小貓們參加了兩次測試——一次是最初的測試，一次是兩個月后的測試，在39只小貓接受了6周的訓練和社交課程之后。另外31人作為對照組。

Of the kittens, 9 ended up being unclassifiable, but of the remaining group, 64.3 percent were categorised as securely attached and 35.7 percent as insecurely attached - with the training having no bearing on attachment style. Once an attachment style has been established, it seems, that's probably how it is going to stay.

在這些小貓中，有9只最終無法被分類，但剩下的一組中，64.3%被歸類為安全型依戀，35.7%被歸類為非安全型依戀，而訓練與依戀類型無關。一旦建立起一種依戀類型，它似乎就會一直保持下去。

The adult cats showed similar rates: 65.8 percent demonstrating secure attachment versus 34.2 percent being insecure.

成年貓表現(xiàn)出相似的比率:65.8%的貓表現(xiàn)出安全的依戀關系，而34.2%的貓表現(xiàn)出不安全的依戀關系。

Interestingly, those rates - 64.3 percent and 65.8 percent - are pretty close to the 65 percent secure attachment rate seen in human infants. And cats showed a secure attachment rate slightly higher than found in a test of 59 companion dogs published in 2018; the canines were 61 percent secure and 39 percent insecure.

有趣的是，這些比率——64.3%和65.8%——與人類嬰兒65%的安全依戀率非常接近。貓的安全依戀率略高于2018年發(fā)表的一項針對59只陪伴狗的測試;這些狗有61%是安全的，39%是不安全的。

Previously, Vitale's work has shown that cats aren't as aloof as their public image would make them appear; in fact, those fuzzy little felines can be downright sociable and affectionate, so long as you aren't a jerk to them. And they often prefer to interact with humans over food or toys.

此前，Vitale的研究表明，貓并不像它們的公眾形象所表現(xiàn)的那樣冷漠;事實上，這些毛茸茸的小貓咪可以很好相處，很有感情，只要你不討厭它們。比起食物和玩具，它們更喜歡和人類互動。

This new study suggests that cats have the ability and the necessary traits to form deep social bonds with humans. It's just that they may express themselves in their own special way.

這項新的研究表明，貓有能力和必要的特征與人類形成深刻的社會關系。只是他們可能會用自己獨特的方式表達自己。