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Cats May Have Been Domesticated Twice (sciencemag.org)
sciencehabit writes: Cats may have been domesticated twice, once in Turkey around 10,000 years ago, and again in Egypt, thousands of years later. That's the conclusion of a new genetic analysis of more than 200 ancient cats, including DNA extracted from Egyptian mummies. The scientists found evidence for an exodus of cats into the wider world from both ancient Turkey and ancient Egypt, but that these two waves of cats sported different genetic signatures. Whether or not the ancient Egyptians independently domesticated cats, their massive breeding programs appear to have further tamed the feline, turning cats from territorial and antisocial creatures into the lovable furballs we know today.
Cats have never been domesticated by humans. They domesticated us, and I for one welcome our feline overlords.
Thus one can seriously argue cats have been domesticating humans. We domesticated other animals and plants by careful selection and breeding programs. But cats have been domesticating us using a virus without either the cats or us being aware of it.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
It's not a virus, but a parasite. The fact that it has a "life cycle" comprised of several reproductive stages should be a strong hint. Viruses just get host cells to make more viruses.
Cats can be highly social, loving animals if you don't raise them like a feral that happens to live in your house. When ours were kittens, we used to cart them around the house all of the time like babies, holding them, petting them, etc. And quelle surprise... they had a lot more in common with the average dog in terms of affection than the average cat many people know.
Plus discipline. Set boundaries and set them hard from a young age. Cats generally will accept them.
Or not at all, depending on how you define "domesticated." ;)
Well, you've actually very wrong there as castration/sterilisation have little to nothing to do with how friendly a cat is. That's actually almost entirely due to domestication and selective breeding. A small hint might be the fact that to be able to get more cats you need to breed them and this might surprise you but that isn't possible if you've castrated or sterilised the cat.
...these two waves of cats sported different genetic signatures.
Don't forget that cats exist as both waves and particles!
Turkey around 10,000 years ago:
Well Tiddles, I don't know about you but a lot of us have had enough of this abuse, kicking us when any little thing goes wrong, tormenting us for their sport, even murdering our poor children, so we're heading out to the desert until they've evolved a bit.
Egypt, thousands of years later:
As you all know, some members of the exploration committee went in to town - and let me tell you we were all a bit scared after those tales we heard as kittens - spent a few weeks cautiously interacting with the humans and trying to teach them our language, generally being friendly and helping to put food on the table and you know what? They treated us like gods.
What is the summary talking about? Cats stopped being antisocial? I beg to differ, especially when cats are compared against dogs. While dogs largely have been tamed, largely becoming scavengers instead of predators, cats seem to retailers many more undomesticated attributes. The development of dogs from wolves was largely accidental, too, with the social skills of approaching human colonies for their scraps providing a significant survival advantage over wolves, which were far less social.
Anyone that has lived with a cat can tell you that they are very social animals. They're just not DEPENDANT on people like dogs are. Dogs are stuck on the "look at me, pay attention to me" mode. Cats are more like people, they have times they want to be with others, and times they want to be alone. They are very social though. They get lonely when left alone, and enjoy the company of others, even if they don't want constant petting.
Cats will typically want to curl up and sleep in whatever room you're in. They may not want you to touch them all the time, but they want to be near you.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch
Cats are just so stubborn that they HAD to be domesticated twice.
When Fascism comes to America, it will call itself Anti-Fascism, and tell you to give up your guns.
Anyone that has lived with a cat can tell you that they are very social animals. They're just not DEPENDANT on people like dogs are. Dogs are stuck on the "look at me, pay attention to me" mode. Cats are more like people, they have times they want to be with others, and times they want to be alone. They are very social though.
Or, as an analogy, dogs are like five year olds, constantly wanting and needing attention; cats are like teenagers, mostly independent but occasionally affectionate.
I'm a dog owner and cat owners hate when I'm right.
Cat owners and their ego...they never learn.
These are the funniest two sentences I've read in a row in a long time.
I've got one that's half bobcat half siamese (neither of which is particularly known for being very friendly) and he's the most lovable cuddly fluffball ever. My calico is a hellcat, though.
In my childhood I had a housecat who befriended a group of bobcats (that was puzzling enough as it is) who eventually started hanging around the house. They seemed friendly enough, as well; they did circle around me one night, but when Ben (my cat at the time) came up and rubbed on my leg, they stood down, most of them sitting, some of them laying. From that point, they were either neutral or friendly toward me; I couldn't tell them apart but I would guess the ones who sat were the ones who became neutral and the ones who laid were the ones who became friendly.
TL;DR: My cat became friends with a group of bobcats and saved my life (and made me some new bobcat friends) when I was a kid.
If I can do it by luck, you can do it by skill.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.