科学美国人60秒 SSS 野生犬类会对人类手势做出反应

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard¹.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是苏珊娜·巴德。

Dogs began to diverge² from wolves tens of thousands of years ago, when their wild ancestors started interacting with humans. Over time, domestication³ shaped canine⁴ behavior, and today dogs are especially adept⁵ at understanding cues from humans. For example, when a person points at a bowl, a pet dog will usually approach it.

数万年前，狗和狼开始分化，当时狗狗的野生祖先开始与人类互动。随着时间的推移，驯化塑造了犬类行为，如今的狗狗尤为善于理解人类的提示。比如，当一个人指着碗时，宠物狗通常会靠近碗。

"All kinds of complex pointing gestures have been tried with pet dogs, and they seem to be good at it."

“人们尝试对宠物狗做过各种复杂的指示手势，而狗狗似乎非常擅长理解。”

Behavioral biologist Anindita Bhadra of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research.

印度科学教育和研究所的行为生物学家阿尼迪塔·巴德拉说到。

Wolves are a different story, however.

而狼则不然。

"When the same experiments are done with semi-captive wolves, wolves seem to be quite bad at it. So there's this big open question of 'How did dogs become dogs?'"

“人们对半驯化狼进行同样的实验时，狼似乎非常不擅长理解手势。这就产生了一个巨大的疑问：‘狗是如何变成狗的？’”

Bhadra is interested in whether dogs require training to understand cues like pointing or if the behavior is innate⁶. Most studies have focused on pet dogs in developed countries. But Bhadra thinks it's a mistake to overlook how stray dogs respond to human cues.

巴德拉感兴趣的是，狗狗理解“指向”等提示是训练的结果还是与生俱来的行为？大多数研究都聚焦发达国家的宠物狗。但巴德拉认为，忽视流浪狗对人类提示的反应是错误的。

"In India, we have a huge population of stray dogs. They're not controlled by humans. And they live on the streets for generations. So we felt that the free-ranging dogs are a very nice system, which could give us inputs⁷ about what dogs could have been like before they came into our homes, before we made them parts of our families."

“印度有大量流浪狗。它们不受人类控制。它们世代生活在街头。因此，我们认为自由放养的狗是个非常好的系统，它可以让我们了解狗在进入家庭、成为家庭一员之前可能是什么样子。”

For the study, the researchers approached stray dogs on the streets of several Indian cities. One experimenter presented the dogs with a piece of raw chicken in a plastic bowl. About half of the time, the dogs ran away scared. But the friendlier dogs that stuck around were tested for their ability to respond to pointing.

在这项研究中，研究人员接触了印度多座城市的街头流浪狗。一位实验者将一块生鸡肉放进塑料碗，然后将碗放在狗狗面前。狗狗大约有一半几率会被吓跑。但是，也有较友善的狗狗留在原地，实验者测试了这些狗狗对指向的反应能力。

"And the idea was to test the innate ability of dogs to understand simple gestures like pointing cues when they have no training whatsoever⁸."

“我们想测试狗狗在没有经过任何训练的情况下，理解‘指向'等简单手势的先天能力。”

Once a dog proved interested, the first experimenter put chicken in one of two bowls and covered both bowls. A second experimenter—who had no knowledge of which bowl contained the meat and thus could not give subconscious⁹ cue information—pointed¹⁰ at one of the bowls while the dog watched.

一旦狗狗显示出兴趣，第一位实验者会将鸡肉放入两个碗中的一个里，然后盖住两个碗。第二位实验者不知道哪只碗里有肉，因此无法发出潜意识提示信息——在狗狗的注视下指出其中一只碗。

"And then, in this experiment, about 80 percent actually followed the point and went to the bowl that we pointed toward."

“在这项实验中，大约80%的狗会追随手指的方向，跑到指向的那只碗。”

That result was true whether the experimenter pointed at it just momentarily or for an extended period of time.

无论实验者是仅指了一下还是长时间指向某只碗，结果都如此。

Bhadra thinks this demonstration¹¹ provides evidence that training is not required for dogs to understand complex pointing cues. The study is in the journal Frontiers in Psychology¹².

巴德拉认为这一示范提供了证据，证明狗狗无需训练就可以理解复杂的指向提示。这项研究发表在《心理学前沿》期刊上。

Perhaps further studies with feral canines¹³ can help reveal more about what makes dogs our best friends—apparently even when a person and a dog have just met.

对野生犬类的进一步研究，可能有助于揭示为何狗狗会成为我们最好的朋友，显然即使一个人刚刚见到一只狗的时候也会如此。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。

1 bard   

n.吟游诗人

参考例句：

• I'll use my bard song to help you concentrate!我会用我的吟游诗人歌曲帮你集中精神！
• I find him,the wandering grey bard.我发现了正在徘徊的衰老游唱诗人。

2 diverge   

v.分叉，分歧，离题，使...岔开，使转向

参考例句：

• This is where our opinions diverge from each other.这就是我们意见产生分歧之处。
• Don't diverge in your speech.发言不要离题。

3 domestication   

n.驯养，驯化

参考例句：

• The first was the domestication of animals. 第一个阶段是驯养动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In northwestern China, there is no evidence for endemic domestication of any animals. 在中国西北，没有任何当地动物驯化的迹象。 来自辞典例句

4 canine   

adj.犬的，犬科的

参考例句：

• The fox is a canine animal.狐狸是犬科动物。
• Herbivorous animals have very small canine teeth,or none.食草动物的犬牙很小或者没有。

5 adept   

adj.老练的，精通的

参考例句：

• When it comes to photography,I'm not an adept.要说照相，我不是内行。
• He was highly adept at avoiding trouble.他十分善于避开麻烦。

6 innate   

adj.天生的，固有的，天赋的

参考例句：

• You obviously have an innate talent for music.你显然有天生的音乐才能。
• Correct ideas are not innate in the mind.人的正确思想不是自己头脑中固有的。

7 inputs   

n.输入( input的名词复数 )；投入；输入端；输入的数据v.把…输入电脑( input的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Uncheck the inputs checked for optimization in the previous stage. 不测试那些已经测试过的优化了的以前步骤的inputs.（变量参数）。 来自互联网
• Just in case, save in a file the inputs obtained at the previous stage. 以防万一，保存以前步骤获得的inputs（变量参数值）到一个文件中去。 来自互联网

8 whatsoever   

adv.（用于否定句中以加强语气）任何；pron.无论什么

参考例句：

• There's no reason whatsoever to turn down this suggestion.没有任何理由拒绝这个建议。
• All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,do ye even so to them.你想别人对你怎样，你就怎样对人。

9 subconscious   

n./adj.潜意识(的)，下意识(的)

参考例句：

• Nail biting is often a subconscious reaction to tension.咬指甲通常是紧张时的下意识反映。
• My answer seemed to come from the subconscious.我的回答似乎出自下意识。

10 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

11 demonstration   

n.表明，示范，论证，示威

参考例句：

• His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
• He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。

12 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

13 canines   

n.犬齿( canine的名词复数 )；犬牙；犬科动物

参考例句：

• For example, the teeth are more primitive. There are large canines and unusually shaped incisors. 譬如，牙齿更为原始，有大的犬齿和非常合适的门齿。 来自辞典例句
• Well-to-canines can attend doggy daycare centers while their owners work. 富人家的狗在主人上班的时候可以去狗狗托管中心。 来自互联网