震惊！这只狗勾会说话！

小狗Bunny因为学会了“说话”而成为了Tiktok上的网红，坐拥五百多万粉丝。ta在主人的教导下学会了利用78个不同按钮来进行某种沟通。Bunny的表现引发了科学界的关注：狗勾真的会说话吗？我们如何改善人和宠物间的互动呢？

很多人看到过狗狗在照镜子时凝视镜中的自己，有时还会把爪子放到镜子上。从人类的观察角度来看，我们很可能认为狗狗能够认出自己。不过科学家们普遍认为，狗狗不会像人类那样在照镜子时审视自己。但TikTok网红狗狗 —— 一只叫做Bunny的沙皮普在11月份某次直播中就做到了。不仅如此，整个视频还展现了Bunny的语言沟通能力。

Many of us have seen a dog stare at themselves in the mirror, sometimes placing a paw on the glass. As a human observation, it might be easy to assume that dogs might be able to recognize itself. It’s widely believed by scientists that dogs don‘t use mirrors to refer back to themselves like humans do — but when TikTok’s beloved Sheepadoodle named Bunny did it in November, the entirety of the interaction was another piece of evidence hinting at Bunny‘s linguistic abilities.

Sheepadoodle：沙皮普，英国牧羊犬与标准型贵宾犬的杂交后代，性格平和温顺、智商较高

在这段走红网络的40秒视频中，Bunny在扩大替代性沟通设备（简称AAC）上按了“谁”（“who”）和“这”（“this”）两个按钮。这台AAC 设备由78个按钮构成，每一个按钮都对应一个单词及其发音，Bunny通过它来“说话”沟通。Bunny 的铲屎官Alexis Devine随后开始解释发生了什么。“你刚刚是不是看了看镜子，然后问‘这是谁？’”她说道。紧接着Devine按下了写着Bunny名字的按钮，它立刻跑向门口并向外张望。过了一会儿，Bunny跑了回来并按下了写着“help”的按钮。

In the viral 40-second TikTok video, Bunny “speaks” or communicates by pressing the buttons “who” and then “this” on her augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device, which is a sound board made up of 78 buttons with a different word vocally recorded on each. Alexis Devine, Bunny‘s human parent, starts to narrate what’s happening. “Did you just say ‘Who this?’ and look in the mirror?” Devine proceeds to press a button with Bunny‘s name on it, which causes the dog to run toward the door, and stare outside. A few moments later, Bunny presses a button that voices the word “help.”

很多人看过视频后认为Bunny正身处“存在危机”，并对这段视频进行搞笑的模仿。但狗主人Alexis Devine并不认为Bunny身处“存在危机”，她认为人们被视频的表象蒙蔽了双眼，没有看到更深层次的问题。

作为一只在TikTok坐拥570万粉丝的狗狗，Bunny是“它们会说话”项目（“They Can Talk”）1400只动物中的一员。此项目致力于探究动物是否能运用AAC设备与人类沟通交流，研究对象包括1300只狗、67只猫以及几匹马。

Bunny, who has 5.7 million followers on TikTok, is one of nearly 1,400 animals in a project called “They Can Talk,” which is seeking to better understand if animals (there are 1,300 dogs, 67 cats, plus a couple of horses) can use AAC systems to communicate with humans.

Federico Rossano是加州大学圣地亚哥分校的比较认知实验室主任。在他领导的一项研究中，研究员教实验参与者们如何设置安装AAC设备的按钮。他们通常从“外面”（Outside）和“玩耍”(Play)等简单的词开始。宠物主人会在词汇板前安装摄像头来持续监控这些动物，然后将录像送到实验室，研究人员会查看它们究竟"说了什么"。

In the study that Federico Rossano, director of the Comparative Cognition Lab at UC San Diego, is leading, participants receive instructions on how to set up their buttons. They usually start with easy words like “outside” and “play.” Pet parents proceed to set up cameras to constantly monitor the animals when they‘re in front of their boards, which is sent to the lab where researchers examine what they say.

长久以来，人们一直试图探寻动物能否和人类沟通。一只名叫Chaser的边境牧羊犬学会了1000多个名词，鹦鹉Alex会说“我爱你”，还有大猩猩KoKo会比划美式手语。Rossano和他的团队并非意在寻找培养会“说话”的动物——尽管Bunny可能已经算是了——而是在尝试更好地理解狗是如何试图与人类交流的。

There is a long history of humans exploring whether or not animals can communicate to humans. There was Chaser the Border Collie who learned over 1,000 nouns, the Parrot Alex who said “I love you,” and of course, Koko the gorilla who knew American sign language. Rossano and his team aren‘t trying to find the next famous animal to join that list — although, arguably Bunny already has — but instead they’re trying to better understand what dogs do when they‘re trying to communicate with humans.

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最让Rossano和他的团队感兴趣是，狗狗是否能通过那些长期以来人们公认的"人类独有的"沟通方式与人类交流。例如，它们能不能向人类描述自己的所见所闻，分享它们的情感，能不能理解时间，或和人类讨论抽象概念？

Rossano and his team are most interested in understanding if dogs can communicate in ways that humans have long believed are “uniquely human.” For example, can they describe what they‘re seeing to humans, share their emotions, understand time or communicate about something that isn’t there?

如果你看过Bunny的视频，你会看到它要求别人在它耳后挠痒痒，要求去海滩旅行，当它爪子被狐尾草的刺扎了会按下“哎哟”键。它之所以能成功，不仅在于它融合了贵宾犬和古老的英国牧羊犬（两种易训练的聪明犬种）的血统，还在于主人Devine的不懈努力。

If you‘ve watched Bunny’s videos, you‘ve seen her ask for “scritches,” request beach trips, and press “ouch” when she had a foxtail in her paw. Part of her success is not only that she’s a mix of a Poodle and Old English Sheepdogs, two intelligent breeds that are easy to train, but also Devine‘s dedication to the process.

有人可能会认为，教会Bunny使用AAC设备进行沟通需要每天数小时的训练，但Devine表示，学习进度完全取决于Bunny 。“我最不想让它在练习时感到焦虑不安。”她说。

One would think it would take hours a day to teach Bunny how to communicate with the AAC device, but Devine said the schedule is entirely up to Bunny. “The last thing I want is for her to feel any anxiety around it,” Devine said, explaining it‘s entirely up to Bunny when they work on the buttons.

虽然Bunny喜欢在雨天睡觉，但大多数时候它都兴致盎然地探索如何用AAC设备。

Devine 说：“有时候我会很吃惊，我觉得这不可能是巧合。它的表达非常的清楚明白，而且很符合当时的语境。但有些时候，它又似乎只是在探索如何使用按钮，很多行为都是随机的。”

“Some days I‘m just astounded and I’m like there‘s no way this could all be coincidence. It’s so clear, it‘s so expressive, and it’s so contextually appropriate,” Devine said. “Then, you know, there are other days where it seems like she‘s just sort of exploring buttons where a lot of it feels random.”

Rossano表示，从科学角度来讲，Bunny并没有说话，它只是在按动按钮。但问题在于，它的行为是否能和人类两岁儿童连词成句的行为相媲美？

Rossano said, scientifically speaking, Bunny is not speaking. She‘s pressing buttons, but the question is, is it in a way that’s comparable to how a 2-year-old child strings their sentences together?

Rossano说：“Bunny通过排列组合按按钮的顺序，形成信息结构来表达意思，和一两岁的人类小孩行为类似。”他表示，Devine 会在Bunny成功用一串词汇表达自己之后奖励它，但尚未解决的问题是，Bunny是否是因为得到奖励才重复做某些行为，还是会写出结构新颖的句子。

“Bunny combines buttons in ways that appear to have information structure similar to what you might see a toddler doing,” Rossano said. The open question, Rossano said, is if Bunny is learning to copy the behavior that Devine rewards after producing a sequence of words, or if Bunny is producing word-like sentences in “novel structures.”

information structure：信息结构，指承载信息的一个单位，通常是一个句子。

除了这些科学方面的问题，Rossano表示，这项研究可能促进主人和狗狗更常用AAC进行交流。

Beyond the scientific questions, Rossano said it‘s possible that this study could lead to AAC devices being used more regularly between humans and their dogs.

Rossano说：“我们将看到这些设备如何增进主人与宠物间的互动，巩固二者感情。让我们感兴趣的是，这项研究不仅让我们看到了狗狗的认知与沟通能力，更在于它也许能够改善狗狗与人类的关系，从而在整体上提升宠物的生活幸福感福祉。"

“To see how these kinds of tools might help the interaction and the bonding between humans and pets,” Rossano said. “We are very interested in seeing, not just what it tells us about dogs‘  cognition and communicative abilities, but also sort of what it could do to potentially improve their relationship with humans andtheir welfare overall.”

原文链接：https://elmoudjaweb.com/how-bunny-the-talking-dog-captured-the-internet-and-sciences-attention-jaweb/