相信大家都有在网上云吸猫或者家里有养猫的经历，但在这期间大家有没有思考过为什么人类会心甘情愿地成为猫奴呢?人类早期选择是否需要驯养某种动物的理由通常都是这类动物可以帮助到人类的日常生活，比如马可以用来拉重物，狗可以参与打猎或放牧，但猫好像除了可爱一无是处，那么今天我们就来聊聊猫的驯化过程。
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.
猫和其他大多数可被驯化的动物相比，缺乏一个非常重要的特征，那便是其他被家养的动物在野外都倾向于群居生活，有明确的等级体系。人类可以利用这种等级结构，通过取代领头个体，从而获得对整个群体及其中个体的控制。人类对狗的驯化就是通过利用这个特征，但是野猫很少会以群居的形式生活，大多数情况下，它们都是孤独的猎手。
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.
为了寻找答案，我们要从猫的驯养最早出现在哪里以及何时入手。可能会有人猜测古埃及，因为很多古埃及壁画中都包含了猫。那些壁画确实展现了已知最古老的关于猫被完全驯化后的场景，但那并不被认为是猫被驯化的早期阶段。早在9500年前，猫就有被驯化的迹象。
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.
人们在塞浦路斯岛上发现了两个坟墓。一个是人类坟墓，埋着一些工具、贝壳和其他物品。在这个坟墓附近，有一个专属于猫的坟墓。有趣的是，猫的身体和人的身体都是向西的，而且这两具尸体的保存状态完全相同，这表明他们是在同一时间被埋葬的。所以我们可以假设，早在9500年前，人类就和猫产生了某种关系。
可惜的是，这只能证明人类和猫的共处有非常久远的历史。事实上，所有现代家养猫都起源于野猫的五个亚种中的一个，其他四个亚种中也有对人类较为友好的，但却没有被早期人类所驯养。直到今天，我们也无法确定猫是基于什么原因被人类驯养的! |
