Seven Traits of Cats 貓的七種性格類型

Ask any cat person to describe their feline friend， and theyll likely affectionately say “jerkface”. Cat people also know， however， that each little fuzzy jerkface is its very own personality.

According to new research， each cats personality and behavior can be defined using a combination of just seven traits.

The research was undertaken by way of a 138-question survey， posted on animal welfare website Petsofi， and filled out by the cats owners. This is because cats can behave very differently in a laboratory environment than the way they behave at home， so observing them in an experiment could yield inaccurate results.

The questionnaire asked people to enter， among other things， their cats sex， age， breed， coat color， and main activity. The humans were also asked to fill out the questionnaire a second time after an interval had passed. This allowed the researchers to gauge the accuracy of the reports by comparing the two surveys.

如果讓貓主人描述自家的貓，他們可能會親昵地稱之為“小討厭”。但是，貓主人也知道，每只毛茸茸的小討厭都有自己的個性。

新研究指出，按照個性和行為特征可以把貓分為7種類型。

研究人員通過一份138道題的問卷展開調查，這份問卷發布在動物福利網站Petsofi上并由貓主人來填寫。因為貓在實驗室環境中和在家中的行為方式差異很大，所以在實驗室中觀察貓可能會得出不準確的結果。

問卷上要求填寫貓的性別、年齡、品種、毛色和主要活動等信息。研究人員隔了一段時間后會請貓主人再次填寫同樣的問卷。這讓研究人員可以通過比較兩次調查結果來判斷報告的準確度。

The final sample consisted of 4，316 cats. From these， the researchers were able to narrow cat traits down to seven traits—five personality traits and two behavioral traits.

Activity/playfulness

Fearfulness

Aggression towards humans

Sociability towards humans

Sociability towards cats

Litterbox issues （such as refusing to use the litterbox， or using it poorly）

Excessive grooming

Perhaps unsurprisingly， the results also revealed that different breeds skew towards different personality traits.

“The most fearful breed was the Russian Blue， while the Abyssinian was the least fearful，” says veterinary scientist Hannes Lohi of the University of Helsinki.

“The Bengal was the most active breed， while the Persian and Exotic were the most passive. The breeds exhibiting the most excessive grooming were the Siamese and Balinese， while the Turkish Van breed scored considerably higher in aggression towards humans and lower in sociability towards cats.”

The research has been published in Animals.

最終樣本涵蓋了4316只貓。通過這些樣本，研究人員得以將貓的性格類型縮減至7種—5種個性特征和2種行為特征。

活潑好動型

膽小懦弱型

敵視人類型

與人交好型

與貓交好型

邋遢型（比如，不愿在貓砂盆里排便，或將排泄物弄得到處都是）

臭美型

結果還揭示，不同品種的貓指向不同的性格特征，這也許并不令人意外。

赫爾辛基大學的獸醫學家漢內斯·洛希說：“最膽小的貓咪品種是俄羅斯藍貓，而阿比西尼亞貓是膽子最大的。”

“孟加拉豹貓是最好動的貓，而波斯貓和異國貓是最懶得動的。最臭美的貓是暹羅貓和巴厘貓。土耳其梵貓非常敵視人類，對貓也不友好。”

該研究被發表在《動物》期刊上。

Word Study

trait /tre?t/ n. 特征，特性，特點

yield /ji?ld/ v. 產生;提供;屈服;放棄

n. 產量;產出;利潤

The research has yielded useful information.

gauge /ɡe?d?/ v. 判定，判斷;估計

n. 尺度，標準;測量儀器

He tried to gauge her mood.

skew /skju?/ v. 偏離;歪曲;曲解;使不公允