What affects us affects cats
Not Just Mousers: How Rituals, Not Rodents, Domesticated Cats. Recent genetic and archaeological research has reshaped our understanding of cat domestication, positioning ancient Egypt—not early farming communities—as the cradle of the human-cat bond. Contrary to the long-held belief that cats were domesticated primarily for pest control in agrarian societies, new evidence suggests that religious …
One can do a lot worse than quote Dr Desmond Morris who I have already briefly quoted in the infographic. Here is the full text: Religious bigots have often employed the cunning device of converting other people’s heroes into villains, to suit their own purposes. In this way, the ancient horned God that protected …
The BBC video on the BBC website about the shipping of 19.5 tons of mummified cats (180,000 mummies) from Egypt to Liverpool, England in 1890 is excellent but for one omission. It does not refer to a very important part of the story; how so many mummified cats came into existence. Where exactly did …
This is a fascinating – and slightly horrifying – story from the 19th century. 🙀 Here’s the story: in the 1800s, there was a booming trade in mummies and mummy parts. Egyptians mummified a lot of animals, especially cats, which were sacred creatures in their culture. Victorians, however, didn’t see these mummies as cultural …
This is a lovely photograph as the cat looks like an ancient Egyptian statue. All the ancient Egyptian statues depict elegant, rather slender, shorthaired cats. They remind me of today’s Abyssinian cat and there may be a connection there but there is no evidence. This cat has a grey coat and steely, golden eyes …
To be candid, the superstitions surrounding the black cat are numerous and they either say that they bring bad or good luck in about equal numbers. That’s the power of superstition. Completely irrational but understandable. It is only the human who can harbour these strange beliefs. However, if you believe that black cats bring …
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 …
It’s a point worth making. You hear a lot about the first domestic cats coming into being about 10,000 years ago. These are the first N. African wildcats who befriended humans and vice versa; both benefiting in an act of ‘commensalism’ as it is called. These early pet cats were tamed wildcats. Their behaviour …
