What do cats mean once they meow? Why do modern cats look so different from cats from a long time ago? And would your cat really eat you if it were a number of feet taller?
These are all big questions – but we live within the golden age of cat research, in line with the brand new book “The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved From the Savannah to Your Sofa” by scientist and cat lover Jonathan Losos.
He writes that scientists are actually using techniques learned from wildlife research, including genetics, GPS tracking and “cat cameras”, to raised understand cats.
Within the 1000’s of years that cats have descended from a single species of African wildcat, humans have transformed cats (even in the previous few a long time: National Geographic photo of a Siamese cat from 1938) into probably the most successful species on the planet.
But in some ways, cats (large or small, wild or domestic) remain just like their wild ancestors and other cat species.
Although your cat won’t actually eat you, says Losos (in truth, your dog is more prone to).
“Zoo keepers told me the identical thing: when you can read your cat’s facial expressions and body posture, you possibly can understand what a lion or tiger is pondering,” says Losos. “A cat is a cat, no matter size.”
Where did cats come from?
In total, humans have domesticated 14 species of cats in the previous few thousand years, including lions.
But taming will not be similar to domesticating an animal — taming refers to controlling an animal’s behavior, while domestication is a genetic change that makes future generations friendlier.
Genetics shows that domestication took place once, in North Africa.
From there, cats took over the world.
In Egypt, humans domesticated the whole lot from cheetahs to servals, however the African wildcat was domesticated and have become the ancestor of all domestic cats on Earth.
Interestingly, in a survey of zoo keepers, these African wildcats proceed to be the friendliest of untamed cats today.
Throughout the reign of Thutmose III, 3,500 years ago, town of Bubastis rose to prominence together with the half-cat goddess Bastet.
Good times have come for cats.
Killing a cat was a criminal offense potentially punishable by death, and families shaved their eyebrows in mourning after the death of a cat.
Once cats were domesticated, they became highly coveted – and the Egyptians jealously guarded their “discovery” with the Egyptian army, using soldiers to retrieve cats on military expeditions.
“It’s not clear why cats were in demand elsewhere,” writes Losos.
“It is feasible that their initial spread was solely on account of maritime activity – sailors valued cats for his or her pest control activities – which served to spread them across the Mediterranean.”
From there, cats spread all over the world, spreading along trade routes across the Red Sea, north to Europe and along the Silk Road, reaching India, China and at last Japan.
What do meows mean?
Interestingly, most of us cannot understand the common street cat, but we (mostly) understand whether our own cats are hungry, lonely, or simply want company.
Owners can discover the context of a cat’s meow 60% of the time, while non-owners can discover what the meow means only 25% of the time, in line with Losos.
Cats meow to other cats, not only us, as his research has shown – and sometimes even dogs.
One researcher found that African wildcats—the ancestors of all domestic cats—meow in “constant noise,” however the sounds are more insistent and aggressive than domestic cats.
“Short, higher-pitched sounds are more pleasing to our auditory system because young people have high-pitched voices, so cats have evolved to get into our favor,” writes Losos.
For 1000’s of years, humans have owned cats, and purrs have also evolved to sound “nice” to our ears.
What do your cat’s habits mean?
A few of your cat’s habits – resembling “kneading” the chest, like a baby kitten with its mother – are one other way your cat can bond with you. Hand-raised African wildcats and ocelots also do the identical, nevertheless it seems likely that domesticated cats evolved further to form bonds with humans.
But what in regards to the more odd habits of cats? When the creator of Losos noticed sooner or later that his beloved cat Nelson had brought his wife a cashmere glove, he thought he had discovered something latest.
“Not one of the previous seven cats have done this, and I’ve never heard of such a thing,” writes Losos.
“My head was crammed with great ideas: a national tour, The Tonight Show, Nelson’s YouTube channel. Fame and fortune to follow.
Unfortunately, 22% of cats fetch objects, and domesticated cats have also evolved behaviors resembling the power to follow their index finger and recognize their names. Other behaviors seem to point that folks are treated like very vital cats.
One example is when a cat’s tail points upwards like an antenna, which within the cat world roughly translates to “I are available peace.”
The posture is “an incredible tribute, indicating that we’ve achieved the status of an honorary cat,” writes Losos.
What does your cat do whenever you’re not around?
Using a GPS tracker on his cat, Losos used the GPS location to surprise Winston in places removed from his home, resembling bushes and backyards: Winston, Losos writes, “sometimes apparently wasn’t so pleased to see me.”
Scientists are actually tracking cats using industrial GPS devices and cat cameras, and volunteers all over the world are uploading logs of where the cats go. So where do cats go when people aren’t around?
Some cats travel great distances: a one-year-old cat from the hilly, undeveloped area of Wellington, Latest Zealand, covered an area of three square miles.
Funnily enough, a study found that in Australia, 39% of cats that weren’t allowed to go outside at night went out anyway.
Cats entered storm drains, crawled under houses – and other houses to feed, and one cat in a recent study often got here home smelling of smoke.
Cats also hunt, even in the event that they are well fed.
For those who’re ever fearful in regards to the amount of prey your cat brings home, give it some thought: lower than one in 4 cat-killed prey is taken home to be eaten or deposited as a present to the homeowner.
Why Cat Breeds Are Different (and Which Are the Most Affectionate)
Nelson, certainly one of Losos’ cats, is a European Burmese cat, ranked second amongst probably the most affectionate cat breeds, after the Sphynx.
“Before he got here along, I never understood what people saw in dogs,” says Losos, “but living with an animal that seems pleased to see you and enjoys your organization is uplifting.”
Losos is a frequent participant in cat shows, which he says is a possibility to see how much change breeding has made in today’s cats. Strange looks are winning competitions, forcing breeders to create increasingly unusual looks.
“The everyday Siamese cat within the mid-Sixties was a slender cat with a rather wedge-shaped triangular head,” writes Lesos. “In only a number of a long time, breeders have transformed this cat into something unknown within the animal kingdom.”
Most of those breeds originated from individuals with unusual appearances – for instance, the short-legged munchkin is derived from a pregnant cat found under a van in Louisiana in 1983. cats (on this case, servals).
“Most cats have modified little from their ancestral versions, but a small number have modified dramatically,” writes Losos. “There are numerous cat kingdoms that change in alternative ways.”