地平线系列：猫咪观察（2）（2014）

'John Hutchinson's been looking not only at the domestic moggy,
约翰·哈钦森观察了不仅有家猫
'but the whole cat family.
还有整个猫科家族
'To find out just how much a tabby has in common with a tiger...'
为了查明斑猫跟老虎到底有多少相似
'..he's tested big cats in same way as we tracked Rob.'
他用我们追踪罗布的方式去测验了大猫
Nice, yes.
好 漂亮
'From pet cats...
从宠物猫
'..through the ocelot...
到虎猫
'..and the tiger...
再到老虎
'he's discovered your cat's posture is
他发现了猫咪的姿势
'almost indistinguishable from that of a big cat.
几乎和大猫没有什么区别
'And it's this crouch that gives them the raw power to pounce.'
正是这种蹲伏姿势给了他们猛扑的原始动力
In a tiger that we measured at the zoo with a high-speed video,
我们在动物园里用高速摄影机拍了一只老虎
we can see that cat with that crouched posture just
我们能看到它使用着蹲伏姿势
exploding out of the gate, accelerating really quickly,
猛地冲出门口 那加速是十分之快的
because it's got these spring-like, pre-tensed limbs.
因为这使得他的四肢像弹簧一样能预先蓄力
What was the time period on that?
这段时间有多长?
How long did it take for him to get from here to here?
它从这里到这里一共用了多久?
Less than half a second, this is slowed down by ten times,
不到1秒钟 这是减慢了10倍播放的
so this animal is just like lightning out of the gate.
所以这家伙就如闪电般地出了门
'And there's something even more dazzling about your cat -
不过猫咪们还有更炫的
'its sheer athleticism.
他们有着绝对的运动天赋
'Cats can jump up to five times their height.
猫咪们能跳到自身5倍高的地方
'And in the air, you can see their remarkable flexibility.'
而在空中 你能看到他们非凡的灵活性
It's a real acrobat, it's twisting through a reflex,
这是真正的杂技演员 这是反射性的扭动
basically, and you can see it's straightening its legs out
基本上你能看到他在调整他的四肢
and crouching as it hits the ground to absorb the energy, the shock.
并在落地时蹲伏下以吸收冲击波
And there we have an X-ray.
我们拍了个X光版的
How do you get an X-ray of a falling cat?
你怎么拍到猫下坠时的X光图像呢?
That's a big paradigm shift, I guess, in our field, is that
我想这在我们领域内是很大的一个转变
we're able to now see this for the first time in the last few years.
我们在近几年来是首次能够看到这个图像
That is extraordinary.
真是了不起
It gives you such an incredible insight into
它让你能这么难以置信地观察
what's going on skeletally at every millisecond of the movement.
每毫秒运动中的骨骼情况
That is just beautiful.
这真是太美了
'This X-ray reveals their extremely flexible spine in motion
X光揭示了他们在运动中的非凡灵活性
'and the fluid way their skeleton moves to give them their perfect poise.
以及骨骼的流畅运动给了他们完美的姿态
'Our pet cats may be smaller than their big-cat cousins,
我们的宠物猫可能比他们的大猫表亲要小
'but pound for pound, they're equally powerful.
但合理比较的话 他们同样强大
'And, thanks to their flexibility, in some ways they're even better.'
并且算上灵活性的话 他们在某种程度上还更强
The backbone of a cat is incredibly limber,
猫的骨干灵活得令人难以置信
in a domestic cat in particular,
家猫尤其如此
so it's able to do that kind of twisting,
所以他能做到那种扭动
whereas the stiffer spine of a big cat would not be able to do that.
而脊椎僵硬的大猫就做不到了
Definitely the athletic ability declines with size
可以肯定的是猫科的运动能力
in cats in general.
总体上随体型增大而减小
At the size of a domestic cat, they're amazing,
家猫那样的体型 他们就很灵活
whereas once you get to the size of a lion or tiger,
而像狮子或老虎那样的体型
they're really pushing the limits of what they can still do
他们其实是在不伤害自己的前提下
without injuring themselves.
把能力推向了极限
'So your pet has the posture of a tiger or lion,
所以猫咪们有着老虎或狮子的姿势
'and is more agile than these astounding predators.
同时又比这些大型猎手要灵活得多
'But it has something else that's just as powerful.
但他们还有其它同样强大的方面
'Instinct.
本能
'Perhaps this could help answer a question that's
或许这能用来回答一个困扰着
'puzzling many of our urban cat owners.'
许多城里猫主人的问题
Our cats no longer have to rely on their hunting capabilities
我们的猫咪们不再依靠捕猎能力
to get their next meal -
来获得三餐
most of them are well fed at home,
他们多数都在家被喂好了
so why do they continue to hunt?
但他们为什么还会继续捕猎呢?
'To help find out, we've asked our owners to take photos
为了回答问题 我们请主人们帮忙拍下了
'of any prey their cats bring home.'
他们的猫带回家的猎物照片
I could have things in three or four times a week
我在夏天或春天时一周就能收到
in the summer or the spring.
三四次赠礼
He's brought in a seagull, a rat, a vole, mice,
他带回来过海鸥 老鼠 田鼠
frogs, because there's a pond next door, a crow.
青蛙 因为门边上就有池塘 还有乌鸦
What about the hamster?
是不是有仓鼠?
They've tried to hunt the hamster several times
他们曾经试过几次要捕猎仓鼠
and there have been three near-death experiences
而仓鼠在与猫咪的接触活动中
with the hamster in cat-related activities.
曾有三次濒临死亡的体验
'So far, top of the hunting scoreboard for the urban cats
目前为止 猫咪捕猎排行榜的头名
'is one from the village.
是一只乡下猫
'When she leaves her house, her GPS trace shows
当她离开家时 她的GPS轨迹显示
'her doing a quick patrol of the neighbourhood,
她在邻居间做了次快速巡逻
before heading to the woods to hunt.
然后再前往树林狩猎
'She travels up to 2km a day,
她一天最多走了2千米
'and is bringing back around three kills a week.'
每周约要带回3只猎物
Well, this is Sandwich, and she's somewhere over a year old.
她叫三明子 她有一岁多了
She's a lovely cat, very friendly,
她是只可爱的猫 非常友好
good company for my three-year-old girl.
跟我三岁的女儿处得很好
But at night, she's a bit of a hunter.
但到了晚上 她就有点儿猎手本色了
Brings back lots of her own dinner.
她会带回许多自己的晚餐
We've had mice and a bird and a rabbit, and rats.
我们知道的有老鼠 鸟 兔子
And so far that's all,
大概就这些吧
but there's lambs in the field nearby,
但附近也有些小羊
so we never know.
所以我们也不清楚
When she brings things that are a third of her size back,
当她带回了自己1/3大的猎物后
it does surprise me a little bit!
那确实让我有点儿惊讶
Sandwich has a surprising hunting technique.
三明子有着特殊的捕猎技巧
It's about two in the afternoon, and she's in the local woods.
现在大约是下午2点 她正在本地树林中
Just listen to this.
好好听听这个
She appears to be mimicking the sounds of birds.
她似乎是在模仿鸟的叫声
We can't be sure why she does this,
我们无法确定她为何如此
but could it be an attempt to lure her prey down?
但她也许是在引诱猎物下来?
Sandwich's hunting was useful once -
曾经三明子的捕猎也起过作用
her owners had quite a mouse problem until she arrived.
她来了后就把主人家的鼠患解决了
But they don't need her to hunt any more.
但现在他们不再需要她去捕猎了
We went through a spell of her catching something on a daily basis
有段时间她每天都要捉些东西回来
and she refused to eat any cat food at all,
并且她拒绝吃各种猫粮
and seemed to prefer fresh produce.
她似乎更喜欢鲜肉
We tried to stop her doing it quite so much by overfeeding her,
我们想通过多喂饱她来阻止她频繁捕猎
and feeding her the best, the most expensive, cat food,
给她喂了最好 最贵的猫粮
but it hasn't completely stopped it.
但她依旧我行我素
Many of our owners have tried to stop their cats hunting
许多主人阻止猫咪捕猎的方法就是
by giving them a lot of pet food.
给他们喂了许多猫粮
But can we ever override their hunting instincts?
但我们能否改变他们的捕猎本能呢?
Back at HQ, cat-behaviour expert Dr Sarah Ellis
回到喵基地 猫行为专家 萨拉·艾丽丝
has footage of Sandwich chasing a mouse in the hallway of her house.
有段三明子在家中走廊追捕老鼠的视频
So, what we see with Sandwich is slightly different from
我们看到三明子与放养或野生的猫咪
what we see in free-ranging or feral cats when they're hunting.
在捕猎时有略微不同
They tend to go through a sequence of behaviours
他们往往要经过一系列的行为
that starts with locating the prey.
才能定位到猎物
They'll then go for the capture and the killing bite
然后他们会去抓捕并痛下杀口
and then they'll manipulate the prey,
接着他们会玩弄猎物
plucking off the feathers if it's a bird,
像是拔掉鸟的羽毛
or shaking the animal to loosen muscle from bone
或者把猎物摇晃得肌肉脱离骨头
and skin from muscle.
或皮肤脱离肌肉
And then they'll consume it.
然后他们才会吃掉猎物
With Sandwich, she spends an awful lot of time manipulating it
像三明子 她花了非常多的时间来玩弄它
before she actually kills it
然后才真的杀掉它
and normally that would be the other way round.
但正常情况下是反过来的
The reason why that might be is
这种情况的原因可能是
because Sandwich is fed daily by her owners,
三明子在白天被主人喂饱了
her instinct to hunt is still there,
她的捕猎本能依然还在
but she doesn't feel the need to do the killing bite
但她觉得没必要给出致命一咬
because she's not that hungry at this moment.
因为她这时并不怎么饿了
A cat's appetite affects how quickly they kill...
猫的胃口好坏决定了他们的杀戮快慢
..but being full doesn't seem to override their desire to hunt.
但似乎吃饱了也无法掩盖他们的捕猎欲望
And for very good reason.
这也无可厚非
Their wild ancestors relied on hunting to survive.
他们的野外祖先就靠的捕猎来生存
They couldn't afford to wait until they were starving,
他们不能等到饿了再去捕猎