Together with the cat’s athleticism, their claws and teeth define the cat because they are essential to their predatory nature. The cat is a top predator and they live with us when domesticated. It’s remarkable in many ways that humans should so successfully live with such a devastating predator. The relationship isn’t always successful for …
The claws of wild and domestic cats (infographic) Read More »
There’s been quite a lot of discussion about the first domestic cats in America. We are sure that early Americans, around 10,000 years ago, did not domesticate a wild cat species and thereby create the first domestic cat. That happened in and around what is now Syria with the North African wildcat. So, the only …
Did the Vikings bring the first domestic cats to North America? Read More »
In the image below I have tried to present a feel for what the Fertile Crescent was like around 10,000 years ago when ‘at least five different females from the wildcat population’ befriended farmers and founded one of the greatest populations of domestic animal companions the world has seen: the domestic cat. Of course, around …
All of today’s 600m domestic cats descend from 5 female matriarchal wildcats Read More »
The infographic answers the question as best I can. It is not clear when the multitude of different domestic cat coats first emerged through natural selection (evolution) except for the classic (blotched) tabby which emerged in the 18th century. But as the domestic cat is a domesticated North Eastern wildcat which is a rather pale …
Infographic on “What kind of cat did Cleopatra have?” Read More »
Here are 16 succinctly summarised facts about the ancestors of today’s cat. It is all about evolution over eons. Today’s domestic cat is a marvel of this evolutionary process which has taken tens of millions of years. All predator animals come from the same roots including the cat family. The first mammals on the planet …
