Posted on 12/08/2014 12:07:41 PM PST by shove_it
Unlike dogs, cats are at best semi-domesticated—and we love them for that.
Dog lovers will find it baffling that cats are the world’s most popular pet. After all, they’re passive-aggressive, emotionally unavailable, and known for their chilly independence—traits that at most qualify felines for the role of “man’s best frenemy.”
It turns out, though, there’s an evolutionary reason for this tense relationship. That is, cats are in many ways still wild.
“Cats, unlike dogs, are really only semi-domesticated,” says Wes Warren, professor of genetics Washington University and co-author of the first complete mapping (paywall) of the house cat genome—specifically, that of an Abyssinian named Cinnamon.
~snip~
They came for the mice, stayed for the food scraps, and whenever it suited, kept cuddly with the cats from the other side of the granary. In other words, not only are cats still mostly wild, but they also pretty much tamed themselves. Maybe that means humans are “cats’ best friend.”
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
I have one who hides around the corner and stares at me in the mirror. Kind of freaked me out at first. LOL!
You weren't supposed to know that...
Our feline overlords will be displeased that one has seen the plan.
*mournful wail*
We beseech thee oh glorious feline overlords, harm not the human who sees too much!
/ kidding.
*I have a little black cat that puts her arm around her siblings when they are hurt or upset. She’s done it several times
When her mother fell off the fence, hit her head and broke her tail, Blackie and her brother followed their mother under the bed trying to look at her face to see the hurt.**
I love cats and cat people. xo
: > )
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