猫和人类的关系确实很亲密，甚至可能比狗还要亲密

猫和人类的关系确实很亲密，甚至可能比狗还要亲密

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.

许多人认为狗是忠诚的、充满爱的伙伴，而猫是容忍我们的可爱野兽——但我们可能需要重新考虑一下。根据2019年的研究，猫可以像狗一样和人类朋友亲密无间。

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.

对于那些和猫住在一起的人来说，这可能不会让他们感到惊讶，但它表明了两件重要的事情。首先，我们似乎低估了猫与人类之间的亲密关系。此外，它还表明，狗在与智人建立安全的社会联系方面并没有垄断地位。

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，俄勒冈州立大学的动物科学家Kristyn Vitale说:“和狗一样，猫在与人交往方面表现出了社会灵活性。”

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

“大多数猫咪都很依恋自己的主人，在一个陌生的环境里，它们会把主人当做安全的来源。”

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.

在行为实验中，研究小组观察了猫在陌生环境中对主人的反应。之前对恒河猴(1958年报道的有争议的电线母亲实验)和狗(去年报道的更合乎伦理的实验)的研究表明，两个物种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.

在一个安全的连接中，一只狗在一个陌生的环境中，在与人类团聚后，会放松并继续探索。另一方面，不安全的依恋会让狗狗继续表现出压力行为，要么过度依赖人类，要么尽可能地避开人类。

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

Vitale和她的团队对79只小猫和38只成年猫进行了这两种依恋类型的测试。

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，小猫或猫和它们的人类看护者被放在一个房间里，人类坐成一个圈。如果猫进入了这个圈子，人类就可以和它互动。两分钟后，人类离开了，留下猫一个人。又过了两分钟，那个人回到房间，又坐到圈里。

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

整个测试过程都被拍了下来，科学家们分析了视频，对猫咪的依恋类型进行了分类。

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.

成年猫只参加了一次测试，但是小猫们参加了两次测试——一次是最初的测试，一次是两个月后的测试，在39只小猫接受了6周的训练和社交课程之后。另外31人作为对照组。

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.

在这些小猫中，有9只最终无法被分类，但剩下的一组中，64.3%被归类为安全型依恋，35.7%被归类为非安全型依恋，而训练与依恋类型无关。一旦建立起一种依恋类型，它似乎就会一直保持下去。

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

成年猫表现出相似的比率:65.8%的猫表现出安全的依恋关系，而34.2%的猫表现出不安全的依恋关系。

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，这些比率——64.3%和65.8%——与人类婴儿65%的安全依恋率非常接近。猫的安全依恋率略高于2018年发表的一项针对59只陪伴狗的测试;这些狗有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，猫并不像它们的公众形象所表现的那样冷漠;事实上，这些毛茸茸的小猫咪可以很好相处，很有感情，只要你不讨厌它们。比起食物和玩具，它们更喜欢和人类互动。

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.

这项新的研究表明，猫有能力和必要的特征与人类形成深刻的社会关系。只是他们可能会用自己独特的方式表达自己。