China had its OWN breed of domesticated cat 5,500 years ago!
5500年前，中國就有自己的家養(yǎng)喵星人品種了！

There are thought to be 500 million domestic cats worldwide, all descended from a form of wildcat native to north Africa and the eastern Mediterranean.
據(jù)稱全球共有5億種家貓，都是源自北非和地中海東部地區(qū)的一種野貓的后裔。

But this wasn't always the case.
但事情并不是一直都是這樣的。

Researchers studying the bones of the earliest domesticated cats in China have discovered the first felines to live with humans 5,000 years ago were instead relatives of the Asian leopard cat.
中國研究最古老家養(yǎng)貓骨骼的研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)：第一種同人類生活在5000年前的貓科動(dòng)物，竟是亞洲豹貓的近緣！

This study suggests 'taming' of cats took place at least twice in different parts of the world –and with two different species of cat.
這項(xiàng)研究指出“馴養(yǎng)”貓至少兩次出現(xiàn)在世界上不同地區(qū)——而且出現(xiàn)的是兩種不同種類的貓。

The cat bones used in the study were unearthed in archaeological excavations in 2001 from the site of ancient agricultural settlements in Shaanxi province in northern China.
研究中貓的骨骼是2001年在中國北部陜西省古農(nóng)業(yè)文明定居的遺址中出土的。

They were dated to 3,000 to 3,500 years BC.
這些骨骼可以追溯到公元前3000年到3500年前。

To determine?which species they originated from, and whether they belonged to the same group of felines that were tamed in the West, scientists undertook what's known as geometric morphometric analysis.
為了確定這些骨骼是源自哪種貓科，這些骨骼是否同屬于西方馴化的貓科品種，科學(xué)家們采用了名為幾何形態(tài)學(xué)分析的研究方法。

The scientists analysed the mandibles of five cats from Shaanxi and Henan dating from 3,500 to 2,900 BC.
科學(xué)家們分析了山西和河南省五種貓骨的上頜骨，這五種貓骨都可以追溯到公元前3500年到2900年前。

All of the bones in the excavation belonged to the leopard cat, Prionailurus bengalensis, an animal of similar size to a domestic cat but with longer legs and a smaller head, and which still lives in the wild across much of Asia.
挖掘出的所有的貓骨都屬于豹貓（leopard cat, 又稱Prionailurus bengalensis），這是一種同家貓有著相似的大小但腿略長且頭略小，而且現(xiàn)仍生活在亞洲大部分地區(qū)的野外。

This wildcat, which is a distant relation of the western wildcat, is well-known for its propensity to frequent areas with a strong human presence.
這種野貓是西方野貓的“遠(yuǎn)親”，因其經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)在人氣很強(qiáng)的地區(qū)而為人所熟知。

The researchers showed that cats and humans began to live alongside one another as agriculture developed, presumably because both found a benefit in the cats' rodent-catching abilities.
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)隨著農(nóng)業(yè)的發(fā)展，貓和人類就開始一起生活了。原因可能是兩者都發(fā)現(xiàn)了自己在貓“抓老鼠能力”中的好處。

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