Posted on 03/28/2010 9:44:52 AM PDT by JoeProBono
In what part of the world were cats first found? And how did the different breeds arise?
Cats were first domesticated about 10,000 years ago in the area known as the Fertile Crescent. This area stretches from Turkey to Northern Africa and includes Iran, Iraq and Egypt. Research data from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis, where cat genetics are studied, suggests that Turkey is one of the sites of origin for the domestication of cats.
Cats started living close to people when people ceased being nomadic herders and became farmers raising livestock and crops. The stored cereal crops attracted rats and mice, and cats became useful to mankind by preying on the rodents.
Cats spread to the rest of the world by following the same migration paths as people did.
Cats are divided into four groups: European, Mediterranean, East African and Asian. But genetically speaking, the difference is extremely small. For example, Persian cats (which originated in Western Europe and not Persia) and exotic shorthair cats are genetically the same. Breeds look very different only because of variations in a single gene. This finding is of concern because some breeds are becoming so inbred that the amount of genetic variation is dangerously low, and this leads to higher levels of illness and birth abnormalities.
A.k.a. the inlay-puller-outer. Guess dentists the world over are grateful.
“I’ll Google it!”
Let me know if you can find the answer to one of the most important and burning online questions online :)
I saw two turkeys in my neighbor’s yard yesterday right here in town. (granted it’s not much of a town)
Now that is one sad looking cat LOL
There’s a turkey that lives in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA. Once in a while he/she walks down the sidewalk and since it’s Cambridge and in the middle of MIT nobody raises an eyebrow.
I saw two turkeys in the Oval Office.
Teh Internetz!
My Ragdoll kitteh, Stella, swims very well, only it was because she fell in the water off the boat FOUR times. She could swim and scream at the same time! She liked water even less when I had to put her in the shower to bath her after those times.
Dude that’s dondurma, Turkish ice cream. Although it is kinda chewy, just not taffy chewy. Yummy stuff.
I have enough dust kittens to make a Turkish towel.
We have an orange female stumpy manx from the shelter. What a character she is!
PING this one over to Slings and Arrows. :)=^..^=
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I'm sure the turkey is pretty proud of himself. Thanks JoeProBono. |
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What makes ‘em think cats are domesticated?
As far as I can tell, mine are just too small to eat us and content to be spoiled instead.
Ahem, you didn't domesticate me, it was the other way around . . . .
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