科学美国人60秒 人类可能与狼交上了一起吃肉的朋友

How did dogs become humans’ best friend? Well, one idea is that docile¹ wolves flocked to waste dumps near human camps. But there are problems with that idea.

狗是如何成为人类最好的朋友的?有一种观点认为，温顺的狼聚集在人类生活附近的垃圾场。但这种想法存在一些问题。

“Because why would humans tolerate such a dangerous carnivore close to their camping sites?”

“因为人类为什么要容忍这种危险的食肉动物靠近自己的露营地呢?”

Maria Lahtinen is an archaeologist at the Finnish Food Authority and the Natural History Museum in Helsinki.

玛丽亚·拉赫蒂宁是芬兰食品管理局和赫尔辛基自然历史博物馆的考古学家。

She points out that hunter-gatherers living during the time of wolf domestication—14,000 to 29,000 years ago— probably didn’t stay put long enough to create generations’ worth of trash. Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, she and her colleagues present a different hypothesis: that humans purposely shared their leftovers² with wolves instead.

她指出，在狼驯化时期(14000年至29000年前)生活的狩猎采集者，很可能没有在一个地方呆得足够久，制造出几代人的垃圾。在《科学报告》杂志上，她和同事提出了一个不同的假设:人类故意将自己的剩饭剩菜与狼分享。

Her team calculated the energy content of common Paleolithic prey³ like moose, deer and caribou⁴. And they found there likely would have been more than enough meat to go around. That’s because humans can’t survive on protein alone—but wolves can for months. So Lahtinen says we might have lobbed the leanest cuts their way.

她的团队计算了旧石器时代常见猎物如驼鹿、鹿和驯鹿的能量含量。他们发现那里可能有足够多的肉。这是因为人类不能仅靠蛋白质生存——但狼可以存活数月。拉赫蒂宁说我们可能给了他们最轻的一击。

“This is what we would have given to the dogs—and eaten the organs and bone marrows⁵ and the other fatty parts of the animal ourselves.”

“这就是我们给狗吃的东西——我们自己吃动物的器官、骨髓和其他脂肪部分。”

In other words, the meaty, pricey bits we prize today would have been what our ancestors threw to the dogs. And sharing our meat might have sparked a deeper relationship, Lahtinen says.

换句话说，我们今天所珍视的高价肉质食物，可能是我们的祖先给狗吃的。拉赫蒂宁说，与动物分享肉食，可以激发更深层次的关系。

“Because dogs are useful in very many ways, such as guardians⁶, beasts of burden—they can pull a sledge⁷. They can warn us from predators⁸. You can use them as a hunting aid.”

因为狗在很多方面都很有用，比如守护人，负重的野兽，它们能拉雪橇。狗可以警告我们提防食肉动物。你可以把狗狗当作狩猎的帮手。”

And sooner or later, she says, the domesticated⁹ dog was born.

她说，驯养的狗狗迟早都会产生。

1 docile   

adj.驯服的，易控制的，容易教的

参考例句：

• Circus monkeys are trained to be very docile and obedient.马戏团的猴子训练得服服贴贴的。
• He is a docile and well-behaved child.他是个温顺且彬彬有礼的孩子。

2 leftovers   

n.剩余物，残留物，剩菜

参考例句：

• He can do miracles with a few kitchen leftovers.他能用厨房里几样剩饭做出一顿美餐。
• She made supper from leftovers she had thrown together.她用吃剩的食物拼凑成一顿晚饭。

3 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

4 caribou   

n.北美驯鹿

参考例句：

• Afar off he heard the squawking of caribou calves.他听到远处有一群小驯鹿尖叫的声音。
• The Eskimos played soccer on ice and used balls filled with caribou hair and grass.爱斯基摩人在冰上踢球，他们用的是驯鹿的毛发和草填充成的球。

5 marrows   

n.骨髓（marrow的复数形式）

参考例句：

6 guardians   

监护人( guardian的名词复数 )； 保护者，维护者

参考例句：

• Farmers should be guardians of the countryside. 农民应是乡村的保卫者。
• The police are guardians of law and order. 警察是法律和秩序的护卫者。

7 sledge   

n.雪橇，大锤；v.用雪橇搬运，坐雪橇往

参考例句：

• The sledge gained momentum as it ran down the hill.雪橇从山上下冲时的动力越来越大。
• The sledge slid across the snow as lightly as a boat on the water.雪橇在雪原上轻巧地滑行，就象船在水上行驶一样。

8 predators   

n.食肉动物( predator的名词复数 )；奴役他人者（尤指在财务或性关系方面）

参考例句：

• birds and their earthbound predators 鸟和地面上捕食它们的动物
• The eyes of predators are highly sensitive to the slightest movement. 捕食性动物的眼睛能感觉到最细小的动静。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》