The following post was
requested by two parties: former student, Hannah Little, and my good friend,
Forest Schafer. This post is dedicated
to both of them and their inquisitive minds and curiosity.
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| One spoiled house cat. Dr. Boston's cat, Rook. |
Love them or hate them, but Americans have an obsession with
cats. Cat videos and cat memes have
taken the internet by storm, and many households have at least one cat as a
house pet. Anyone who owns a cat will
probably tell you that the cat runs the household, and that may actually not be
too far off from the truth as cats are only semi-domesticated and, unlike in
the case of the domestication
of dogs, cats domesticated themselves with very little human
intervention. Today’s blog post will
explore the history and process of cat domestication.
Cats are believed to have begun domestication around 9000 to
10000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent (the land between the Tigres and
Euphrates Rivers) in the Middle East.
This is just after the advent of agriculture, which led to food
surpluses. It is believed that food
surpluses led to large scale storage of grain.
This grain would have been an attractive food source to a variety of rodents,
who bring with them disease and other filth.
Wild cats are believed to have been drawn to these food storage areas to
easily hunt rodents, and local humans noticed the cats’ work and found it favorable
to their goals of keeping their food stores unharmed. The local humans may have encouraged cats to
stay by feeding them.
Cats may have been domesticated independently in other parts
of the world, specifically China were archaeological evidence and paleogenetic
analyses support this notion. Scholars
found several cat remains at a site dating to 5000 years ago. The analyses on these remains demonstrated
that these cats were from a different founding population than those found in
the Middle East and were actually from an Asian wild cat species. No further evidence has been found to suggest
further independent domestication processes, which may or may not exist based
on historical and archaeological evidence that suggests cats were exported from
the Middle East to various locations throughout the Old and New Worlds.
Domesticated cats differ slightly from their wild
counterparts. Aside from stark
morphological differences (e.g. smaller size, shorter muzzle) domesticated cats
and wild cats are not very genetically dissimilar. Domesticated cats have reduced smell as
compared to wild cats, which is believed to be related to hunting. Domesticated cats still hunt, but their need
to hunt is reduced given their origins being related to easy hunting practices
due to rodents and grain storage units.
Domesticated cats still have sharp night vision, as well as acute
hearing, all of which are related to exploiting resources during the night,
when canines are not active. As well,
domesticated cats have altered the vocalizations in order to allow them to
better communicate with their human handlers (or servants). ;)
Bibliography
Fang, J. 2014. “How Cats Became Domesticated.” IFLScience.
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/genome-comparison-shows-how-wildcats-became-housecats
Ghose, T. 2014. “Will Purr for Treats: How Cats Became
Domesticated.” Live Science. http://www.livescience.com/48696-origins-of-cat-domestication.html
Grimm, D. 2016. “Were Cats Domesticated More Than Once?” Science.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/were-cats-domesticated-more-once
No Author. 2016. “The Natural History of the Cat.” Alley Cat Allies. http://www.alleycat.org/CatHistory
No Author. No
Date. “The Origins of Cats.” International Cat Care. http://icatcare.org/advice/cat-care/origins-cats
25 comments:
I read somewhere, years ago, that some people think, at least some cats, might have domesticated themselves. This makes sense considering how intelligent cats are and how very capable they are of assessing the value of certain resources available to them. Our kitten, Tess, decided at 6 weeks that ANY mother would be preferred to no mother as her feral mom had disappeared. After three tries, which involved me doing the momma cat call while also carrying a small dish of canned cat food, she came right up and was domesticated in just a few minutes as it was in her best interest for me to find her charming. She is from a long line of very feral cats that have lived around my house for decades. She is smart, savvy and an excellent hunter, but a 6 week old has no hope of survival without some form of mom and a human mother is better than death. I would not put it past cats to do the same in other parts of the world, or just manipulate the humans in order to gain better access to a resource. :-)
I hope all is well with you, Dr. Boston.
Charlie Goggin
I'm doing well. It's nice to hear from you. Could you email me at your earliest convenience? ceboston@gmail(dot)com . :)
is the myth that cats have nine lives true? if so is this why this type of cat has maintained there population?
The myth about the nine lives is just that-a myth. Cat populations are high because cats can begin breeding as young as six months old and have very large litters. They can also breed several times a year, which is why there is such advocacy toward spaying and neutering cats (and dogs).
I don't know if I missed it or not, but what's the difference between an domestic cat and a non domestic cat? Are they born that way or are they growing and slowly turning into one?
Domesticated cats can become feral cats if they are young enough and taught how to survive in the wild. Adult domesticated cats cast out into the wild typically do not survive because they were not taught how to survive. Feral cats are raised in the wild and cannot easily become domesticated cats. Many never do, even with years of rehabilitation. Feral kittens can more easily be transformed into domesticated house cats but again not always. My cat Cheshire was partially feral when I adopted her at six months old, and it has only been in the last few months (at the age of six) that she's become more like a domesticated house cat who tolerates being picked up by certain people (but not me) and she will cuddle when she feels like it.
Well I now know the origin of the house cat and that it can’t smell as well as the wild counterpart but I always knew that they think that we are their servants
I believe that domesticated cats sharp night vision and acute hearing, not because that less dogs are out at night, though that might be a factor, but that less humans are out at night. Domesticated cats relay primarily on humans to acquire their food, but at night they must fend for themselves.
I never realized how close domesticated cats are related to there wild cousins that's cool.
I don't agree that cats run the household and that's why I don't like them. Im more of a dog person because I feel they are more protective. I never knew that cats were originated from the middle east and china. I always thought that cats were in the same family as the different lions and wild animals alike so this blog was a new look at cats.
I support this article, From experience I do believe dogs are more domesticated than cats because because cats don't generally come when you call them.
I personally never really liked cats because I always feel a weird presence when around them. I have never came into a cat that was not creepy. I later learned that some people believe they have a sense of death which I also saw a documentary related to that. The cat was in a nursing home and would sit outside of a certain door for an extended period and when it left, the patient would be deceased on multiple accounts. For this reason and several others, I will never own a cat. Ever.
I knew that domestic cats had strong vision and hearing but I did not know that they lost some of their sense of smell. My favorite animal to visit at the zoo is big cats so this was interesting to learn. I think cats are smart and I definitely prefer them over dogs. I'm always amazed at the people that can train big cats to be around humans. Do you know how they do this?
The same has happened with dogs. When I worked with the rescue group in Canada we had an adopter share a story about how her newly adopted dog discovered her cancer. She and the doctors were blissfully unaware of her condition until the dog found it (at stage four).
Starting off with this post i was un-attracted to it based of it being about cat. After reading however it actually began to hook my attention based of how cats were actually domesticated and made to be liked by some humans.
I had no clue that domesticated cats have reduced smells than wild cats. Also had no idea that domesticated cats still hunt because I thought since they are inside a lot and that they are much smaller than wild cats that their hunting skills would be at a minimum. -Brianne Pickett
What makes a cat semi-domesticated mean?
Excellent question, Dalyla. Any animal that is referred to as semidomesticated means that it retains quite a few feral/wild traits and do not rely exclusively on humans for survival. So cats can turn wild quickly if they are required to do so, although that does not apply to all cats. For example, I have three cats. Cheshire who was rescued at about 6 months of age learned the skills to survive in the wild, whereas my other two, Figaro and Rook, were rescued at 10 and 6 weeks of age and did not learn those skills and therefore could not survive on their own out in the wild. These skills still have to be taught at some level but instincts can kick in if they exist in the cat. Part of the reason Figaro could not survive in the wild is that he has brain damage (born with it), and therefore lacks the mental capacity to learn to survive in the wild.
Are there wild cats(besides Big Cats obviously) out in jungles and other lands? If so, where are wild cats typically found?
Jovie Black
That is so true, about if you feed cats they'll stick around. Everyone has encountered a cat in some way, and cats are home adapted. Real chill animal !
I would like to do more research about how cats were domesticated. I always wondered about it and knew about how dogs came to be mans best friend. But cats were a mystery and this post really helps.
How different would their cats be from ours today? Would they be more like bobcats or are we talking even larger? Or would they be more like our domesticated house cats that we all grow to love
Is it true that cat domestication even existed back in the Egyptian period!? I Love my cat a lot and have always been amazed by how small she is compared to her ancestors!
I'm not sure what size the cats were upon domestication. I am guessing that they were smaller cats that were chosen to be domesticated. Large cats, while beautiful, are still a little scary. I've been up close and personal with lions and tigers when they growl and roar. They can be pretty intimidating. Plus, as part of the purpose of cat domestication was for them to be mousers big cats would not meet that requirement as mice aren't worth their time.
I've always loved cats, so this post really caught my attention. After reading however, I began how cats were actually domesticated and made to be liked by some humans.
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