feline domestication

Question 1

how many cat breeds are there

Answer 1

-1100 individual
-22 breeds
-microsatellite marker (DNA) analysis

Question 2

how ere cats domesticated

Answer 2

-commensal relationship
-10,000 ya?
-prob the most recent “common” domestic animal
-used for rodent control, spiritual
-domesticated around the time of agriculture

Question 3

finding of date of domestication

Answer 3

-cats skeleton changed only slightly during domestication, so difficult to identify time period of domestication
-archeological evidence of cat tooth found in 9000-year-old settlement
-cat jaw dating back 8000 years found on cyprus
-significant because cats did not exist before this time
-in 2004 skeleton in cyprus dating to 9500yrs ago discovered

Question 4

early cat domestication

Answer 4

-most of what we know of the cat domestication comes from ancient egypt
-painting and inscriptions from 2000 BC (4000 ya) show domestic cats
-cats were revered and protected and interred after death in special cemeteries

Question 5

bastet

Answer 5

-punishment was served to those who harmed cats
-bubastis was the city that celebrated the feline goddess bastet
-in 1888, and egyptian farmer uncoverd a tomb and it had 8000 cat mummies dated ~1000 BC

Question 6

cats in ancient Greece and rome

Answer 6

-cats were rare in ancient greek and Roman households
-rarely found in literature

Question 7

cats in the medieval period

Answer 7

-The first evidence of a “cat breed” was in the medieval period (5th to 15th century)
-they had blotched tabbies which do not live in the wild

Question 8

changes in cats due to domestication

Answer 8

-reduction in body size
-increased varieties of coat colour and length
-variation in eye colour
-domestic cat has multiple estrous cycles and most wild cats have one per year

Question 9

what is the cat-human relationship

Answer 9

-Egyptians used the cats as a positive religious symbol
-early Christian churches associated cats with pagan religious practices (witchcraft)
-persecution of cats occurred for over 400 years until the mid 1800s (still lingers)

Question 10

what is the modern perception of cats

Answer 10

-cats are independent, quiet, and sometimes aloof
-seen as a mysterious animal
-these traits are admired by some and disliked by others