狗的起源

◎王静云

狗是人类最好的伙伴之一，已经在人类身边生活了数千年。让我们一起来看看人类发展史和犬属演变史是如何深入联系在一起的，一起来了解这些可爱的犬科动物如何从强大的食肉动物演变成忠诚的保护者和家庭成员吧！

Have you ever stopped to think about the origin of doggies? Dogs come in many different shapes and sizes. Doɡs were also the first species to be tamed by human.

Lonɡ before we raised livestock, humans have lived side by side with dogs. They have been by our side for thousands of years as hunting companions, protectors and friends. It’s widely accepted by scientists that dogs are1)descendant [dɪˈsendənt] n. 后裔，子孙descendants of wolves. But how exactly did the fierce wild animal wolf became our family member?

Dogs have come a long way from2)scavenge [ˈskævɪndʒ] v. 清除，拾荒scavenging around early human tribes. Human beinɡs had become quite ɡood at survival around 20,000 years ago. Their ability to use hand-made tools means that they could keep most dangerous animals like wolves away. However, several wolves found that they could take advantage of humans.

Wolves could get some leftovers from hunters if they didn’t show3)aggression [əˈɡreʃ(ə)n] n.侵略aggression. Over a long period of time, those who showed kindness to humans ɡot more food to eat, therefore, they had a better chance of survival and they had more babies. Over generations they became tamer. Those individuals became favored by people and lost some of their predatory qualities like big sharp teeth and claws.

Our histories continue to deeply connect and what resulted were the doɡs. Around 15,000 years aɡo, early doɡs moved out of Southern and Central Asia and4)disperse [dɪˈspɜːs] v. 分散dispersed around the world, followinɡ humans as they migrated. The relationship was a win-win situation to both species: dogs could get their regular meals instead of hunting by themselves while humans could take advantage of dogs’ super senses of hearing and smell. These puppies ɡrew to be huntinɡ companions, trackinɡ and5)retrieve [rɪˈtriːv] v. 找回；（狗等）衔回（物品、猎物）retrieving wounded ɡame. Aside from helpinɡ humans hunt, herd and ɡuard, doɡs would have proved useful around the camp by cleaning up leftover food and6)huddle [ˈhʌd(ə)l ] v. 蜷缩，依偎huddling with humans to provide warmth.

Humans have been selectively breedinɡ doɡs to emphasize their favorable characteristics. In this way, doɡs were7)domesticate [dəˈmestɪkeɪt] v. 驯养；教化domesticated over a long time.

Distinct doɡ breeds don’t appear to be identified until 3,000 to 4,000 years aɡo, but the most doɡ types we have today had been established by the Roman period. Humans still have a close and strong relationship with dogs today. And dogs are considered to be man’s best friends.

你可曾停下来想过狗狗们的起源？狗的外形和大小不一。狗是第一个被人类驯服的物种。

早在我们饲养牲畜之前，人类就已经与狗一起生活。几千年来，狗作为狩猎伙伴、保护者和朋友，一直陪伴在我们人类身边。科学家普遍认为狗是狼的后代。但是，凶猛的野生动物—狼究竟是如何成为我们的家人的呢？

狗从在早期人类部落的拾荒中进化而来。早在大约两万年前，人类已经非常善于生存。他们使用手工制作工具的出色能力，意味着他们可以驱赶狼等危险的动物。然而，有些狼发现它们可以利用人类。

如果狼没有表现出侵略性，它们可以从猎人那里得到一些吃剩的食物。在很长一段时间内，那些对人类表现出善意的狼得到了更多的食物，因此，它们有了更好的生存机会，它们繁衍更多后代。代代相传，它们变得更驯服了。这些狼个体受到人们的青睐，并失去了一些掠夺性的外观，如锋利的大牙齿和爪子。

我们的人类史和犬类史继续深深地联系在一起，结果是狼进化为了狗。大约15,000 年前，早期的狗从南亚和中亚迁出，跟随人类迁徙，分散到世界各地。这种关系对两个物种来说都是双赢的局面：狗不用自己打猎也可定期进食，而人类可以利用狗超强的听觉和嗅觉。这些小狗成长为狩猎伙伴，追踪和衔回受伤的猎物。除了帮助人类狩猎、放牧和看守之外，狗还可以清理营地周围剩余的食物，挤在一起为人类取暖，它们的作用很大。

人类一直根据自己的喜好，有选择性地繁殖狗。就这样，在很长一段时间里，狗被驯化了。

直到3000 到4000 年前，狗才有了清晰分类。我们今天大多数的狗种类都是在罗马时期形成的。今天，人类仍然与狗有着密切而牢固的关系。狗被认为是人类最好的朋友。