蚂蚁科学家谈人类：Science:山羊凝视人类是为了寻求帮助

日期：2016-07-07 期刊：Science

DOI：10.1126/science.aag0639 作者：Virginia Morell

狗、马和小孩子都知道在面临无法解决的问题时该做什么：看着某人的眼睛。这种注视被科学家认为是一种复杂的交流形式，其中的一些东西让人们知道这只动物或者那个孩子需要帮助。

狗在这方面尤其擅长，或许是因为它们作为伴侣动物被驯化出来，并且大脑在同人类一起生活的几千年里得以重塑。与此相反，狗现存的联系最密切的亲戚——狼以及过着相对孤独生活的猫却无法通过凝视“说话”。认为只有伴侣动物利用眼睛同人类交流的观点，在今年早些时候得到进一步证实。当时，研究发现，马也擅长凝视。

不过，如今科学家报告称，同人类一起生活既无法提供陪伴又不能提供食物的驯化山羊也拥有这种技能。科学家在让32只山羊完成一项不可能的任务——打开里面盛有食物的透明塑料箱子后得出了这一结论。这里只有一个难题：盖子被紧紧封上，山羊在没有附近人员的帮助下无法将其打开。一个人或面向箱子，或面向墙壁坐着。有16只山羊遇到了面向箱子的人，另外16只面对的是这个人的后背。研究发现，和后者相比，前者看着这个人的时间要更长一些，也更加频繁。

因此，并非人类日常伴侣的山羊懂得用凝视进行交流的最基本部分：你必须能够看着这个人的眼睛。科学家在日前出版的《生物学快报》上报告了这一发现。这向传统观点，即动物只有经过特定类型的驯化——陪伴，才会知道如何利用眼睛同人类说话提出了质疑。

原文链接：

These goats stare at men—when they want help

原文摘要：

Dogs, horses, and human toddlers all know what to do when faced with a problem they can’t solve: Catch a person’s eye. Something in that look—which scientists consider a sophisticated form of communication—lets the person know that the animal or the child needs help. Dogs are especially good at this, perhaps because they were domesticated as companion animals and their brains have been reshaped over the thousands of years they have been living with us. In contrast, neither wolves—dogs’ closest living relatives—nor cats, who lead relatively solitary lives, can “speak” via gazing. The idea that only companion animals use their eyes to communicate with people was reinforced earlier this year when horses were also found to be good at the gaze. But now scientists report that domesticated goats, animals that live with us not for companionship but for food, also have this skill. Scientists reached their conclusion after presenting 32 goats with an impossible task: Open a transparent plastic box with food inside. There was just one catch: The lid was fastened shut, and the goat couldn’t open it without help from a nearby person. The person sat facing either the box or a wall. The 16 goats who encountered the box-facing human looked longer and more often at the person than the other 16 goats, who were confronted with the person’s back. Thus, goats—animals that are not our everyday companions—understand the most fundamental part of communicating with a gaze: You have to be able to look the person in the eye, the scientists write today in Biology Letters. And that calls into question the notion that only a special kind of domestication—companionship—leads to animals that know how to use their eyes to speak to people, the scientists say.