

(Scottish wildcat)
With new genetic evidence pointing to the Fertile Crescent as the sight of domestication, another break-through discovery was made in cat domestication. In 2004, on the island Cyprus, archeologist uncovered human remains buried next to a cat. After dating the evidence, it was determined to be 9,500 years old, roughly 6,000 years before the Egyptian domestication theory. This finding is extremely crucial in dating the domestication of house cats because wildcats are not native to the island Cyprus, meaning the only way a feline could have gotten there is if it was transported there by boat. This suggests again, that people of the Middle East had been keeping cats long before Egyptians, and were even transporting them on boats.
The newest theory of cat domestication revolves around the Middle East and the Fertile Crescent. It is believed that maybe humans did not originally intend to domesticate cats at all, and the felines were exploiting our newly found agriculture to survive. Wildcats are strictly carnivourous animals, so crops do not appeal to them, however, the new rodents that came along with farming did. Wildcats could take advantage of the field new mice and rodents that came along with humans newest agriculture trend. When thinking about the domestication of the house cat, it's quite comical that essentially cats have not served much purpose to humans. They do not listen to commands. Do not carry out specific tasks for humans unless it benefits them. And rarely do they want to be held captive inside a house. Even the house cats of today still display these qualities.
All of this evidence comes down to one new theory. Humans never domesticated cats. Cats just chose to live near us because we provided them food. In today's day we still provide them with food but also with shelter, and in typical cat fashion, they even have us picking up their feces and throwing it out for them. It seems like cats really have domesticated us in a way that their wildcat ancestors could only dream.
I love cats, and thought this article was great because it gave insight into a thought that is commonly misinterpreted. Humans never really domesticated cats with a particular purpose. It is remarkable to think that we now take care of our house cats because their ancestors decided to feed on the rodents from ancient crops. When thinking of dogs, horses, chickens, or most domesticated species the animal typically serves a purpose. However, without the mice for cats to eat in the Fertile Crescent, cats would probably not be house pets today, and most definitely not the most popular one.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5790555/
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/317/5837/519
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=GgUwg6gU7n4C&oi=fnd&pg=PA179&dq=cat+domestication&ots=V07J3Eg67f&sig=MeFR_gQpnNMzWgwk9Ggbmk16uTo#v=onepage&q=cat%20domestication&f=false
I have never thought about this before. I consider myself more of a dog person, because I have always thought that cats were so independent and did not make very good pets. This article makes me really think about this. Cats do offer some comfort and interest to some owners, but it really does seem as if we are doing all the work for them, even when they do not need it. I also found this interesting relative to what we learned about domestication in the beginning of the class.
ReplyDelete