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How cats conquered the world (and a few Viking ships)
Nature,com ^ | 20 September 2016 | Ewen Callaway

Posted on 09/21/2016 5:10:09 AM PDT by SJackson

First large-scale study of ancient feline DNA charts domestication in Near East and Egypt and the global spread of house cats.

Thousands of years before cats came to dominate Internet culture, they swept through ancient Eurasia and Africa carried by early farmers, ancient mariners and even Vikings, finds the first large-scale look at ancient-cat DNA.

The study, presented at a conference on 15 September, sequenced DNA from more than 200 cats that lived between about 15,000 years ago and the eighteenth century ad.

Researchers know little about cat domestication, and there is active debate over whether the house cat (Felis silvestris) is truly a domestic animal — that is, its behaviour and anatomy are clearly distinct from those of wild relatives. “We don’t know the history of ancient cats. We do not know their origin, we don't know how their dispersal occurred,” says Eva-Maria Geigl, an evolutionary geneticist at the Institut Jacques Monod in Paris. She presented the study at the 7th International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology in Oxford, UK, along with colleagues Claudio Ottoni and Thierry Grange.

(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: africa; agriculture; ancientnavigation; animalhusbandry; cats; egypt; eurasia; evamariageigl; felissilvestris; godsgravesglyphs; helixmakemineadouble; thevikings; vikings
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To: COBOL2Java

That was a fun little movie ... back in the day.


41 posted on 09/21/2016 7:44:38 AM PDT by Kommodor (Terrorist, Journalist or Democrat? I can't tell the difference.)
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42 posted on 09/21/2016 7:49:10 AM PDT by ETL (God PLEASE help America...Never Hillary!)
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To: SJackson

bump


43 posted on 09/21/2016 8:49:28 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (We will be one People, under one God, saluting one American flag. --Donald Trump (standing ovation))
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To: Wonder Warthog

I bow to your experience :)

My cats are all indoor cats, and always have been. I don’t let them out, but I don’t declaw them either, so I have no decent furniture. But then furniture doesn’t care whether it is decent, or not.


44 posted on 09/21/2016 9:49:23 AM PDT by chesley (The right to protest is not the right to disrupt.)
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To: SJackson

“We don’t know the history of ancient cats. We do not know their origin, we don’t know how their dispersal occurred,”

...

At least now they have a good idea of where their spaceship landed.


45 posted on 09/21/2016 9:51:52 AM PDT by Moonman62 (Make America Great Again!)
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To: Wonder Warthog
We had a calico momma cat, who "kittened" several generations that we kept some kittens out of. She was "the boss" of all her offspring, including the males. Why do you think they call unaltered females "queens"? :)
46 posted on 09/21/2016 9:55:52 AM PDT by chesley (The right to protest is not the right to disrupt.)
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To: Jamestown1630

could be.

In my neighborhood, it could be foxes. And I saw a coyote around once.


47 posted on 09/21/2016 9:56:53 AM PDT by chesley (The right to protest is not the right to disrupt.)
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To: chesley
"My cats are all indoor cats, and always have been. I don’t let them out, but I don’t declaw them either, so I have no decent furniture. But then furniture doesn’t care whether it is decent, or not.

Likewise. We had indoor/outdoor in the middle of a medium-sized city (Baton Rouge), and never lost one. Then we moved to our current location, which is quite rural (which we initially thought would be safer), lost two to traffic, and decided to go "all indoor".

We do have a second-floor deck, which does not have exterior stairs, so they can go out on it, soak up sun, and watch (and occasionally catch) the birds.

Also, in the last five years or so, coyotes have found their way onto our island, and multiplied to the point that indoor/outdoor is dangerous for pretty much all pets.

48 posted on 09/21/2016 10:29:31 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel and NRA Life Member)
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To: chesley
"Why do you think they call unaltered females "queens"? :)"

It ain't just the unaltered ones that have the attitude. And with "calico momma" of the pseudo-ferals mentioned up-thread, there were other females. The queen-mother was still "da boss".

49 posted on 09/21/2016 10:34:16 AM PDT by Wonder Warthog (The Hog of Steel and NRA Life Member)
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To: Wonder Warthog

:) I came home from work one day, and one of the cats got out the door before I could stop it, and dashed into the woods. 10 minutes later she came back and has never attempted to leave the house again.


50 posted on 09/21/2016 12:30:08 PM PDT by chesley (The right to protest is not the right to disrupt.)
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To: chesley

I visit a high school and college buddy and his wife often enough that I have a key and let myself in at ungodly hours, get the paper, make coffee, etc.

Early on I was warned to be careful not to let Remy, one of the cats out. Remy was a big mixed Persian looking cat, quite good looking, her brother Milo was a huge guy showing the Maine Coon Cat part of their shared heritage.

Milo found me beneath notice but Remy had an active dislike for me, go figure, my buddy’s brother’s cats mostly love me, his wife less so.

Early one morning I thought I’d gotten in without incident and while filling the coffee pot, to my horror I spotted Remy cavorting on the neighbor’s lawn.

My first thought was she had slipped out despite my efforts, my second thought was “Melissa will kill me if anything happens to her cat”.

I spent a half an hour with an opened can of extra stinky wet cat food pleading, “Psssp, psssp, nice kitty, come Remy, please kitty” only to have the cat run away.

Finally giving up 3 or 4 houses down the street, not wishing the cat to run off irretrievably I trudge back to awaken Melissa and face the music, entering the house to find a sleepy Melissa making coffee and her Remy, who hissed and jumped down, sitting on the counter.

I made confused choking noises and my explanation triggered Melissa’s peals of laughter as she explained the neighbors had an outdoor cat identical to her Remy....


51 posted on 09/21/2016 8:49:27 PM PDT by skepsel (Apres moi, le deluge.)
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To: rjsimmon

Samurai Cat! (And his nephew Shiro.)


52 posted on 09/22/2016 11:06:55 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg)
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To: Jamestown1630
I had an orange Tabby ‘lion’ that would eat the whole squirrel except for the tail and the stomach,a special treat I guess.
It would also catch mountain beavers and rabbits and just eat their brains.
53 posted on 09/22/2016 11:30:40 AM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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To: right way right

I always wondered why the feral cats in my neighborhood were so fat and healthy looking. They were eating squirrels ;-)

At one point, the management of my apartment complex put out humane traps with food in them. Only once did a cat get caught- usually the food was gone, and no sign of the cat!

We live in a very built-up suburban area; there are no other animals around here that would be taking down squirrels.

But we do have lots of squirrels, and birds; some mice. Kitties in this ‘hood are at the top of the animal food chain.

-JT


54 posted on 09/22/2016 4:05:01 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, If you can keep it.")
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
This topic was posted 9/21/2016, thanks SJackson.

55 posted on 01/17/2022 7:15:27 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Jack Hydrazine; Bikkuri; Tax-chick

Check this out, bikkuri! There really were Viking Kittehs!


56 posted on 01/17/2022 7:26:16 AM PST by Monkey Face ( ~~ Keep calm and watch British murder mysteries on TV ~~ Facebook )
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To: Wonder Warthog

Rats have a different smell than any of the other rodents. Good for your Corgi!

‘Face

;o]


57 posted on 01/17/2022 7:28:40 AM PST by Monkey Face ( ~~ Keep calm and watch British murder mysteries on TV ~~ Facebook )
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To: McBuff
They haven’t figured out how to cut our balls off yet

That's a dog's ultimate end game every time it sticks its nose in your crotch.

58 posted on 01/17/2022 7:30:40 AM PST by Hot Tabasco
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To: McBuff

“They haven’t figured out how to cut our balls off yet..”

Their trained female human familiars handle that quite well.

Cats are secure in possession of the house and bed.

Men. Not so much.


59 posted on 01/17/2022 8:16:05 AM PST by Lowell1775
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To: Phlap

+1

5.56mm


60 posted on 01/17/2022 9:21:52 AM PST by M Kehoe (Quid Pro Joe and the Ho need to go.)
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