饑餓的貓有時會吃人的尸體。一個可怕的實驗揭示了其中的奧秘

饑餓的貓有時會吃人的尸體。一個可怕的實驗揭示了其中的奧秘

A decomposing body might gross people out, but for many creatures, it's a bounty, including smaller creatures not widely known for their human flesh-eating habits.

腐爛的尸體可能會讓人覺得惡心，但對很多生物來說，這是一種恩惠，包括那些不以人類食肉習慣而聞名的小生物。

Case in point: a new study details how feral cats were caught on camera at a decomposition research facility in Colorado, slipping over the fence to munch on human corpses.

一個恰當?shù)睦?一項新的研究詳細描述了在科羅拉多州的一個分解研究機構，攝像機是如何捕捉到野貓越過圍欄去吃人類尸體的。

They seemed to have a preference. The two separate feral cats, one tabby, the other black, were observed repeatedly returning to specific corpses to feed.

他們似乎有自己的偏好。這兩只野貓，一只是虎斑貓，另一只是黑貓，被觀察到反復回到特定的尸體上進食。

Although not unheard of, such behaviour in cats is rarely documented; if anything, it mostly seems to occur in pet cats locked in a house with a deceased owner. But observing it in the wild, so to speak, could help understand the role of cats in the overall corpse scavenger profile.

盡管并非聞所未聞，但這種行為在貓身上卻鮮有記錄;如果說有什么區(qū)別的話，那就是它似乎主要發(fā)生在寵物貓和已故主人關在一起的時候。但是在野外觀察它，可以這么說，可以幫助我們理解貓在尸體清道夫整體形象中的角色。

As the researchers put it in their paper: "Due to the prevalence of feral cats throughout the United States and the world, understanding the patterns and behaviours of these scavengers can assist in distinguishing between perimortem and postmortem tissue damage".

正如研究人員在他們的論文中所說:“由于野貓在美國和世界各地的普遍存在，了解這些食腐動物的模式和行為有助于區(qū)分死后和死后的組織損傷。”

In decomposition research facilities like this, human corpses are left outdoors so that scientists can observe the changes over time wrought by the natural environment. This can help forensic scientists better determine the timing and cause of death for bodies that are found in an advanced state of decay.

在這樣的分解研究設施中，人類的尸體被放在戶外，這樣科學家們就可以觀察自然環(huán)境隨時間的變化。這可以幫助法醫(yī)科學家更好地確定時間和死亡原因的尸體被發(fā)現(xiàn)在腐爛的高級狀態(tài)。

Because scavenging animals, both nocturnal and diurnal, are a part of this natural environment, game cameras are set up to film their comings and goings. And it was this kind of camera feed at Colorado Mesa University's Forensic Investigation Research Station that revealed two feral cats, born and raised wild, sneaking in for meals.

因為食腐動物，包括夜行性動物和晝行性動物，都是這個自然環(huán)境的一部分，所以設置了游戲攝像機來記錄它們的來來去去。在科羅拉多梅薩大學的法醫(yī)調(diào)查研究站，正是這類攝像機拍攝到的畫面，揭示了兩只野生出生和長大的野貓，偷偷溜進來覓食。

It's impossible to tell if a cat is feral just by looking at it, of course. But the facility in question is far from any private residences, and well outside the regular range of a house cat. Given the cats returned on consecutive nights, it seems reasonable to assume that they were wild, the researchers said.

當然，僅僅通過觀察是不可能判斷貓是否是野生的。但這里的設施遠離私人住宅，遠遠超出了家貓的正?；顒臃秶Ｑ芯咳藛T說，考慮到這些貓連續(xù)幾晚回來，我們有理由認為它們是野生的。

The first cat, the tabby, started visiting the corpse of a 79-year-old woman, whose body had been chilled before being brought to the facility and laid outdoors.

第一只貓，虎斑貓，開始拜訪一名79歲婦女的尸體，她的尸體在被帶到該設施并放置在戶外之前已經(jīng)被冷凍。

Although the cat mostly scavenged upon the woman slightly out of the camera's range, damage to the corpse indicated it had focused its attention on the soft tissue of the left arm and chest - mainly skin and fat - near where needles had been placed under the skin for research purposes.

雖然貓主要回收的女人稍微出相機的范圍,破壞尸體表示它已經(jīng)把他的注意力集中在軟組織的左手臂和胸部——主要是皮膚和脂肪——在針被置于皮膚為研究目的。

For unrelated reasons, a cage was placed over the body for a week, during which time the cat couldn't get to it. After the cage was removed, the cat returned; it came back to eat the body almost nightly for 35 days - showing absolutely no interest in 40 other bodies nearby.

由于不相關的原因，一個籠子被放置在尸體上一個星期，在此期間，貓無法接近它?；\子移開后，貓又回來了;35天來，它幾乎每晚都回來吃尸體——對附近的40具尸體毫無興趣。

The second cat, the black one, visited the body of an autopsied 70-year-old man. It munched along the autopsy incision on the left shoulder, eating the soft tissues of the left arm, the shoulder, and the abdomen.

第二只貓，黑色的那只，拜訪了一位70歲的老人的尸體。它咀嚼著尸體左肩的切口，吃著左臂、肩膀和腹部的軟組織。

The cat returned for 10 of 16 nights, disappeared for around a month, and then returned to the body two more nights in a row. Like the tabby, it showed no interest in any of the other nearby corpses.

這只貓回來了16個晚上中的10個，消失了大約一個月，然后又連續(xù)兩個晚上回到尸體上。和虎斑貓一樣，它對附近的任何尸體都不感興趣。

It's actually pretty well established that house-cats (and dogs) will take a nibble of a deceased owner. And, well, it makes sense: if Tom Tildrum is locked in a house with a cornucopia of ripe meat, and no other food source, of course he will make do with what's available.

事實證明，家貓(和狗)會咬主人的尸體。而且，嗯，這是有道理的:如果湯姆蒂爾德姆被鎖在一個滿是熟肉的屋子里，沒有其他食物來源，當然他會將就著用現(xiàn)有的東西。

Generally, such pets go for soft, exposed bits. This can include (warning, very graphic images at next link) the lips and nose, or the hands and feet. The feral cats, notably, did not go near these regions, perhaps partially because the bodies were unclothed and other parts of the body were easier to access.

一般來說，這樣的寵物喜歡柔軟、裸露的部分。這可能包括(警告，非常生動的圖像在下一個鏈接)嘴唇和鼻子，或手和腳。值得注意的是，野貓不會靠近這些區(qū)域，可能部分原因是尸體沒有穿衣服，身體的其他部分更容易接近。

In both cases reported here, the feral cats targeted areas where the skin had been previously penetrated, the researchers wrote.

研究人員寫道:“在這兩個案例中，野貓的目標都是皮膚曾經(jīng)被穿透的地方。”

Both cats showed preference for bodies in relatively early decomposition. Scavenging began when the bodies showed early signs of decomposition and ended at the onset of moist decomposition. The cessation of scavenging at the onset of moist decomposition may be explained by felids' preference for fresh tissue.

“這兩只貓都表現(xiàn)出對尸體的偏好，而且尸體腐爛的時間相對較早。當尸體出現(xiàn)腐爛的早期跡象時開始清除，在潮濕腐爛開始時結束。在潮濕分解開始時停止清除可能是由于貓科動物喜歡新鮮的組織。”

Although it can be confronting to think of our furry pets merrily chowing down on our cooling flesh, the research is important for establishing scavenger behaviour profiles to aid forensic analysis.

雖然想到我們毛茸茸的寵物會歡快地啃食我們正在變冷的肉會讓人感到害怕，但這項研究對于建立食腐動物的行為模式來幫助法醫(yī)分析是很重要的。

It also helps us better understand our feline friends. Although cats are predators, they're also opportunistic, and not above scavenging snacks to get a feed. Now we also know that, in the wild as well as at home, those snacks include… us.

它也幫助我們更好地了解我們的貓朋友。雖然貓是食肉動物，但它們也是機會主義者，而且不會以覓食為目的?，F(xiàn)在我們也知道，在野外和在家里，這些零食包括我們。