第2216期:Was an extinct fox once man's best friend?

The fox was about the size of a German shepherd dog and lived across much of South America, only going extinct a few hundred years ago. A near-complete skeleton of the animal was found in a human grave dating back to 1,500 years ago.这种狐狸和德国牧羊犬差不多大，曾生活在南美洲的大部分地区，直到几百年前才灭绝。考古人员在一座距今 1500 年前的人类坟墓中发现了一副近乎完整的该动物骨架。The study, by researchers at the University of Oxford, shows the fox ate a similar diet to ancient hunter gatherers, suggesting it lived alongside them and might have been a highly valued pet or companion animal.牛津大学的研究人员进行的这项研究表明，这种狐狸的饮食跟古代狩猎采集者的相似。这说明该动物曾跟人类一起居住，可能是一种受高度重视的宠物或伴侣动物。There have been other finds of fox teeth in the area, which adds to the evidence that foxes were highly revered by our ancestors and may have formed a strong bond with humans long before domestic dogs came along.在这个地区还有其它有关狐狸牙齿的考古发现，这进一步证明了狐狸在当时受到我们祖先的高度尊重与喜爱，并且可能早在家犬出现以前就已经与人类结成了牢固的纽带。词汇表German shepherd 德国牧羊犬extinct 灭绝的，绝种的dating back 追溯到，距今（时间）hunter gatherers 狩猎采集者highly valued 高度重视，认为非常有价值的finds 发现，考古发现revered 受尊重的，可敬的ancestors 祖先strong bond 牢固的纽带domestic 家养的，家庭的