#animals#pets#catThehouse cat, or simply cat, is a furry mammal that is kept in homes by cat-loving owners for companionship and for their ability to hunt vermin. There are at least 70 types of cat breeds. However, due to different claims on standards, there are associations who claim that there are more.
A little history
Cats belong to the same family as felids-mammals that share a common ancestry that goes back 10-15 million years. We are talking about lions, tigers, cougars, and many others. The housecat was classified as Felis catus by the father of Taxonomy (science of classification). Within this family of felids, our cat belongs to a smaller group called genus, which includes some other seven members. These include the African wildcat, the Arabian sand cat, and the Chinese mountain cat. These seven (or so) members of this genus share a common ancestor from 6-7 million years ago.
The Domestication process
Why people decided to domesticate the Felis catus, among the others, still remains a mystery. Some say that people, through artificial selection, chose them as good predators of vermin. This is not considered too reasonable, though, since there are other species that are much better at that and could have perfectly fit in a home environment. People probably turned to cats since, through natural selection, they separated from their wildest cousins as they got used to hunting rodents from towns and villages.
Once domestication took place, the different types of cat breeds started to come up. Cats did not undergo as many changes as dogs during their domestication process. The different types of cat breeds obey to different owner needs. Some of them were made agiler with pests or were breed to reduce hair shedding. Others were the result of wrong crossing, thus making them hairier.
Although the origin of the domesticated cat is hidden in antiquity, studies involving mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) suggest that there have been two lineages of Felis catus. One lineage (F. silvestris silvestris) appeared in Asia Minor possibly as early as 6,400 years ago and dispersed northward and westward into Europe. The other lineage appeared in Egypt sometime between 6,400 and 1,000 years ago before spreading throughout the Mediterranean (possibly through human introduction) along paths that paralleled the region’s trade routes. Cats of both lineages continued to breed with the African wildcat (F. silvestris lybica) during their respective dispersals.
The earliest known association between cats and humans dates possibly as far back as the origins of agriculture in the Middle East, about 9,500 years ago. A cat skeleton accompanying that of a human dated to that time was discovered in southern Cyprus. Although some sources note that this finding suggests that cats had undergone some degree of domestication in that location, other sources (citing evidence that the cat genome did not differ that much from that of the African wildcat during this period) argue that cats may have domesticated themselves by choosing to live in human-altered landscapes. Fossil evidence found in China dating to approximately 5,300 years ago revealed that cats similar in size to modern domestic cats fed on small grain-eating animals, such as rodents, and millet in agricultural settings. Although research suggests that these cats were actually leopard cats (Prionailurus bengalensis), which were replaced by modern domestic cats (F. catus) before 3000 BCE, this discovery suggests tHat humans allowed cats to hunt mice and other rodents that threatened grain stores and possibly fed the cats or allowed them to consume leftover.
Although the cat was proclaimed a sacred animal in Egypt in the 5th and 6th dynasties (c. 2465–c. 2150 BCE), it had not necessarily been domesticated at that time. It is probable that the ancient Egyptians partnered with the cat because they realized its value in protecting granaries from rodents. Their affection and respect for this predator led to the development of religious cat cults and temple worship of cats. There are no authentic records of domestication earlier than 1500 BCE, however.
The cat has long played a role in religion and witchcraft. In the Bible, “cat” is mentioned only in the apocryphal Letter of Jeremiah. The cat figured prominently in the religions of Egypt, the Norse countries, and various parts of Asia. The Egyptians had a cat-headed goddess named Bast (or Bastet). Thousands of cat mummies have been discovered in Egypt, and there were even mouse mummies, presumably to provide food for the cats. Often the cat has been associated with sorcery and witchcraft, and the superstitions regarding cats are innumerable. Throughout the ages, cats have been more cruelly mistreated than perhaps any other animal. Black cats in particular have long been regarded as having occult powers and as being the familiars of witches.
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