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In just 10,000 years, cats have come in from the wild and accompanied humans on their journeys around the globe, but felines have been around for an estimated 37 million years of evolution in a world free of humans.
在短短一万年的时间里，猫科动物从野外来到地球，陪伴人类走遍全球，但在没有人类的世界里，猫科动物已经进化了约3700万年。
Even during the thousands of years cats have spent in the company of people, we have had little influence on when and with whom they have mated.
即使猫与人类相处了数千年，我们对它们交配的时间和对象几乎没有影响。
Physically, domestic cats vary relatively little from their wild relatives; most cat breeds are less than 200 years old and are fairly uniform in size and shape.
从体型来看，家猫与其野生近亲的差异相对较小，大多数猫品种的历史都不到200年，而且大小和形状相当均匀。
All of this helps to underscore just how recently cat domestication took place.
所有这些都有助于强调猫的驯化是最近发生的。
Only recently have breeds like Ragdolls and Birmans appeared, as well as the curly-haired Cornish Rex and the hairless sphinx.
直到最近才出现了像布偶猫和伯曼猫这样的品种，以及卷毛的康沃尔帝王猫和无毛的斯芬克斯猫。
Other breeds like Persians are older (their origins can be traced back to the Middle East in the 1600s), but they're still relative youngsters compared to many dog breeds.
其他品种，如波斯猫，出现的更久远一些（它们的起源可以追溯到16世纪的中东），但与许多犬种相比，它们仍然相对年轻。
And though some dog breeds have marked differences in instincts and personality, most cat breeds differ primarily in appearance, not especially in temperament or size.
尽管某些狗品种在本能和个性上存在显著差异，但大多数猫品种的差异主要在于外观，而不是特别在气质或体型上。
Cat breeders are still actively creating new varieties, including domestic/wildcat hybrids.
猫饲养者仍在积极创造新品种，包括家猫/野猫杂交品种。
The Bengal was originally an Asian leopard cat crossed with a house cat.
孟加拉猫最初是亚洲豹猫与家猫杂交的。
The Savannah is a cross between an African serval and a domestic cat.
萨凡纳猫是非洲薮猫和家猫的杂交品种。
Some think that both breeds are controversial because of their wild ancestry.
有些人认为这两个品种都因其野生血统而有争议。
In Europe more than 1,000 years ago, cats were used both as pest control and as a source of fur.
一千多年前，在欧洲，猫既被用来防治害虫，又被用作毛皮来源。
When a group of Scandinavian archaeologists compared the size of cat pelts from the time of the Vikings to the bodies of modern-day kitties, they found that 21st-century cats were 16 percent larger.
当一群斯堪的纳维亚考古学家将维京人时期猫皮毛的大小与现代小猫的身体进行比较时，他们发现21世纪的猫要大16%。
What made these results so unusual is that domestication usually shrinks an animal.
这些结果之所以如此不同寻常，是因为驯化通常会使动物体型缩小。
Dogs are a quarter smaller than wolves; livestock animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, are also smaller than their wild counterparts.
狗比狼小四分之一；家畜，如牛、绵羊和山羊，也比野生动物小。
And it's not just the availability of energy-dense kibble that has led to bigger cats.
导致猫科动物体型变大的不仅是能量密集的粗粮。
Scientists have also documented larger body sizes in free-roaming and feral cats in the Australian bush.
科学家也记录了澳洲丛林中自由漫步的猫和野猫的体型较大。
Although those cats might steal human food scraps, they aren't all being regularly fed by people.
尽管这些猫可能会偷走人类的食物残渣，但它们并不都被人们定期喂食。
Of course, cats won't magically grow to be Godzilla-size any more than they will suddenly evolve opposable thumbs.
当然，猫不会神奇地长到哥斯拉那么大，就像它们不会突然进化出对生拇指一样。
