萌宠密码：狗生来会服从猫咪冷淡求生存

萌宠密码：狗生来会服从猫咪冷淡求生存

萌宠密码：狗生来会服从猫咪冷淡求生存

　　They are often considered to be more aloof than their canine counterparts, but cats really can understand their owners' voices, a study has claimed. Japanese researchers have found that cats can distinguish their owners' voices from those of other people - implying that they do pay attention when spoken to。和犬科同伴相比，喵星人总是显得清高冷淡。但最近研究证明，猫咪的确能听懂主人在说什么。日本研究者发现猫可以从许多人中分辨出自己主人的声音，这说明主人和猫说话时它们确实注意听了。

　　The study, from the University of Tokyo, examined felines in their home environment. It involved recordings of strangers, as well as of the cats' owners, but that cats could not see who was speaking to them。东京大学在猫咪生活的家庭环境中进行了这项研究。研究者分别把陌生人和主人讲话时的录音放给猫听，此时猫咪只能听到声音而见不到说话的人。

　　The researchers found that cats responded to voices by moving their heads and/or ears nearer the person who was speaking to them。研究结果发现，当有人和猫咪讲话时，猫会做出回应，将它的脑袋或耳朵朝着说话人方向稍作移动。

　　Or, when the cats detected a familiar voice, they also had dilated pupils, which can signal emotions such as excitement, Discovery News reported。探索新闻报道，当猫咪发现自己熟悉的嗓音时，它们的瞳孔会变大，这是兴奋、喜悦等情绪的表现。

　　These reactions were more likely to occur when the cats heard their owners voices or when they became increasingly familiar with strangers' voices。当猫咪听到自己主人的声音，或对陌生人声音变得非常熟悉时，就更容易出现上述反应。

　　Study co-author Atsuko Saito explained to the website that dogs have evolved, and are bred, 'to follow their owner's orders, but cats have not been. So sometimes cats appear aloof, but they have special relationships with their owners.'该项研究合作者前田齐藤(音译)对该网站解释说，狗在进化繁殖过程中学会“要听从主人的命令，但是猫却不会这样。所以有时猫咪显得很冷淡，但实际它们也和主人有着特殊的情感关系。”

　　She added that cats have evolved not to show their emotions in order to survive.One example is illness, which they tend to hide because 'in the wild, no one can rescue them and predators pay attention to such weak individual,' she said。她还补充道，在进化过程中，猫咪为了生存下去不得不掩饰真实情感。比如说它们常常掩饰疾病，“因为在野外没人会给它们看病，而猎食者会盯上这些老弱病残个体。”

　　The researchers added that after 10,000 years of living with humans, domestic cats have the ability to communicate with us, and, generally speaking, we seem to understand them。研究者称，猫已经和人类共同生活了1万多年，家猫有能力和我们交流，而且大体来说，我们好像也能懂得它们在想什么。

　　The study, which will be published in the July issue of Animal Cognition, comes just weeks after an expert in animal behaviour claimed we will one day be able to talk to animals using mobile phone-sized gadgets。这项研究将会发表在7月份的《动物认知》上。而几个星期之前还有另一位研究动物行为的专家说，未来我们将使用手机大小的电子产品和动物进行语言交流。

　　Professor Con Slobodchikoff, of Northern Arizona University, is developing technology that interprets the calls of the prairie dog and says the technology could eventually be used to interpret other animals。北亚利桑那大学斯波科诺夫教授正在研发一项新科技产品，能把土拨鼠的叫声翻译成人类语言，他说这项研究最终还能应用于其他动物身上。

　　He also believes the technology could one day be fine-tuned to enable humans to talk back to animals and engage in conversation。这位生物学教授还相信，这项不断改进的技术终有一天能使人类同动物进行语言沟通，从而使双方交流对话成为可能。

　　The professor, who has spent the past 30 years analysing the behaviour of animals, added: ‘I think we have the technology now to be able to develop the devices that are, say, the size of a cellphone, that would allow us to talk to our dogs and cats。斯波科诺夫教授过去三十多年来都在研究动物行为，他说：“我认为将来这项技术会变得只有手机大小，我们可以直接和猫狗对话。”

　　‘So the dog says "bark!" and the device analyses it and says, "I want to eat chicken tonight."“所以当狗叫时，这个设备会分析叫声并进行翻译：‘今晚我想吃鸡肉’。”

　　'Or the cat can say "meow," and it can say, "You haven't cleaned my litterbox recently".'“或者当猫喵喵叫时，翻译机器会说：‘最近你都没给我清理猫砂盆’。”