China had its OWN breed of domesticated¹ cat 5,500 years ago!

5500年前，中国就有自己的家养喵星人品种了！

There are thought to be 500 million domestic cats worldwide, all descended² from a form of wildcat native to north Africa and the eastern Mediterranean³.

据称全球共有5亿种家猫，都是源自北非和地中海东部地区的一种野猫的后裔。

But this wasn't always the case.

但事情并不是一直都是这样的。

Researchers studying the bones of the earliest domesticated cats in China have discovered the first felines⁴ to live with humans 5,000 years ago were instead relatives of the Asian leopard⁵ cat.

中国研究最古老家养猫骨骼的研究人员发现：第一种同人类生活在5000年前的猫科动物，竟是亚洲豹猫的近缘！

This study suggests 'taming' of cats took place at least twice in different parts of the world –and with two different species of cat.

这项研究指出“驯养”猫至少两次出现在世界上不同地区——而且出现的是两种不同种类的猫。

The cat bones used in the study were unearthed⁶ in archaeological⁷ excavations⁹ in 2001 from the site of ancient agricultural settlements in Shaanxi province in northern China.

研究中猫的骨骼是2001年在中国北部陕西省古农业文明定居的遗址中出土的。

They were dated to 3,000 to 3,500 years BC.

这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.

为了确定这些骨骼是源自哪种猫科，这些骨骼是否同属于西方驯化的猫科品种，科学家们采用了名为几何形态学分析的研究方法。

The scientists analysed the mandibles of five cats from Shaanxi and Henan dating from 3,500 to 2,900 BC.

科学家们分析了山西和河南省五种猫骨的上颌骨，这五种猫骨都可以追溯到公元前3500年到2900年前。

All of the bones in the excavation⁸ 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.

挖掘出的所有的猫骨都属于豹猫（leopard cat, 又称Prionailurus bengalensis），这是一种同家猫有着相似的大小但腿略长且头略小，而且现仍生活在亚洲大部分地区的野外。

This wildcat, which is a distant relation of the western wildcat, is well-known for its propensity¹⁰ to frequent areas with a strong human presence.

这种野猫是西方野猫的“远亲”，因其经常出现在人气很强的地区而为人所熟知。

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.

研究人员发现随着农业的发展，猫和人类就开始一起生活了。原因可能是两者都发现了自己在猫“抓老鼠能力”中的好处。