Viking cats: Travelling the high seas helped felines conquer the world

abc.net.au ^

[BenLurkin]

A study into ancient feline DNA found the emergence of agriculture and boat travel were catalysts — pun intended — for the domestication and proliferation of house cats.

The researchers even found evidence of one specific lineage at an ancient Viking site.

The large-scale study, which was presented at the International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology at Oxford University and reported by the journal Nature, was the first of its kind.

Thanks to a 9,500-year-old human burial from Cyprus that also contained the remains of a cat, we know that some form of relationship between cats and humans stretches back at least this far.

But as Eva-Marie Geigl of Institut Jacques Monod, one of the researchers, said, we know little else about how cats were domesticated.

[Albion Wilde]

we know little else about how cats were domesticated.

Cats weren't domesticated. They colonized humans and demanded to be cared for. Sort of like the ROP.

[Verginius Rufus]

I remember an article in Scientific American, I think it was, a long time ago, which had found genetic links between the cats of the Black Sea and the cats of the British Isles (maybe specifically the Hebrides and Man)...the only logical explanation was that the Vikings who sailed between those areas had cats on board.

[doorgunner69]

what about Great Dane tea cup puppy love dogs??

To grandpa, cats were always "she" and dogs "he", without exception. First dog he was exposed to when he moved in with us was out little miniature (not toy) poodle. That dog and subsequent ones when they would come up to him to mooch food with goo-goo eyes, would often get the hilarious comment:

"He look at you just like a Christian!"

I am sure there was an Irish meaning to that, but no one ever explained it to us.

[dayglored]

More Viking Kitty pings!

[Slings and Arrows]

[trebb]

Cats are domesticated!?

LOL! They have brainwashed those whom they have conquered to believe it's the other way around - something satanic about them cuddly fur balls.

[The Westerner]

Oh, I know what a slave I’ve been! My most endearing Savannah crossbreed cat was a master with the patience of a saint. Could sit and meow for an hour straight until his trusted servant got up to open the door or feed him. The one still alive, a blue, is far more civilized than the Savannah—less demanding, easier to live with, less interesting (which means us slaves get some rest).

[martin_fierro]

[trebb]

Yep - had several cats myself and found myself in a role of servitude ...and liking it.