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How Cats Used Humans to Conquer the World
The Atlantic ^ | June 19, 2017 | Sarah Zhang

Posted on 06/19/2017 8:25:04 AM PDT by C19fan

Sometime around the invention of agriculture, the cats came crawling. It was mice and rats, probably, that attracted the wild felines. The rats came because of stores of grain, made possible by human agriculture. And so cats and humans began their millennia-long coexistence.

This relationship has been good for us of course—formerly because cats caught the disease-carrying pests stealing our food and presently because cleaning up their hairballs somehow gives purpose to our modern lives. But this relationship has been great for cats as species, too. From their native home in the Middle East, the first tamed cats followed humans out on ships and expeditions to take over the world—settling on six continents with even the occasional foray to Antarctica. Domestication has been a fantastically successful evolutionary strategy for cats.

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


TOPICS: History; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: animalhusbandry; cats; dog; dogs; domestication; godsgravesglyphs; kittyping
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To: mowowie

I’ve had cats do that, and in a week or so come strolling back in like nothing happened. Hopefully your kitty will.


21 posted on 06/19/2017 9:54:43 AM PDT by Rusty0604
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To: Psalm 73

Who says cats are domesticated?


22 posted on 06/19/2017 9:56:32 AM PDT by Little Ray (Freedom Before Security!)
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To: Rusty0604

Hope so


23 posted on 06/19/2017 10:01:31 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: C19fan

24 posted on 06/19/2017 10:20:37 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
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To: Slings and Arrows

Ping!


25 posted on 06/19/2017 10:32:15 AM PDT by Albion Wilde ("We will be one people, under one God, saluting one American flag." --Donald Trump)
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To: mowowie
My 12 yr old indoor house cat snuck out the back door 4 nights ago, haven’t seen her since. I’m pretty depressed about it.

I hope you find her soon. One thing in your favor is that it's warm weather. Is she microchipped? If so, does your microchip company provide posters and search service?

26 posted on 06/19/2017 10:33:17 AM PDT by EinNYC
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To: mowowie

My daughter’s cat stormed off in a snit when we got another cat. A year later, a family asks my daughter to house sit and feed their cat.
Yep, it was her cat. They pamper it and blow gobs of money on his royal highness.The adulterous feline no longer has to eat cheap cat food. Even better, they paid my daughter to take care of her own cat.


27 posted on 06/19/2017 10:38:37 AM PDT by AppyPappy (Don't mistake your dorm political discussions with the desires of the nation)
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To: ClearCase_guy
All my base belong to them.

My Maine Coon Bijou certainly thinks along those lines. I only sit at my computer to rub that furry tummy, according to her!

28 posted on 06/19/2017 10:40:19 AM PDT by EinNYC
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To: EinNYC

She might be chipped but to the woman who gave us the cat that lives in NY, i’m in MA.
We have zero way to contact the lady hopefully she still has our #.


29 posted on 06/19/2017 10:52:23 AM PDT by mowowie
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To: Snickering Hound

That’s just not right.


30 posted on 06/19/2017 11:27:34 AM PDT by Crucial
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To: C19fan

How to find a lost cat:

Grab a newspaper, a glass of iced tea, a can of cheap tuna, and a can opener and go outside to a picnic table.

Open the can of tuna and set it on the table.

Now sit down, sip your tea, and open up the newspaper.

Try to read it. I guarantee it will be difficult to read it because a cat will appear from out of nowhere and park its fat butt on it before you get through one section.


31 posted on 06/19/2017 11:42:53 AM PDT by piasa
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To: Albion Wilde; Slings and Arrows; Glenn; republicangel; Beaker; BADROTOFINGER; etabeta; ...

32 posted on 06/19/2017 3:52:46 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg)
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To: NorthMountain

Our Bob is part indoor, part outdoor. He always shows up at bedtime because we have various critters out there. He also becomes a lot more friendly when the weather is cold and/or rainy.

We are moving to our farm and taking Bob with us. We have to keep him inside until he bonds to the house and then he can go out and smell the coyotes and bobcats. We also are taking our son and daughter in law’s cat that they now have to keep in the garage because he and their indoor male fight. Ziggie was a neighborhood cat living in a hole under their porch when they moved it. He’ll live in Mr. Mercat’s huge shop out there - big as a barn and it does have mice. If he slips out occasionally that’s okay.


33 posted on 06/19/2017 4:03:43 PM PDT by Mercat (Everytime an old man farts, a butterfly dies.)
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To: mowowie

When I was little, about six or seven, my Aunt gave us a cat named Duke. I adored that cat, and one night he disappeared, and we couldn’t find him anywhere.

I was heartbroken, and remember sitting in reading class when the book was about a cat, and fighting so hard to keep back tears, because my own little cat was gone. I kept trying to have faith that we’d find him.

My folks had gotten on the ‘phone, and called animal control (back then we called it ‘the pound’.) They finally tracked down someone there who recognized Duke’s description - animal control had been called to pick up a stray cat that had given birth to a bunch of kittens a few blocks from us, and our cat had been hanging around and was taken, too.

The people at the pound told us that our cat had almost immediately been adopted by a woman a few miles from us, and they gave her name and number to my folks. But when contacted, the woman told us that she had kept him for a few days, when he escaped; and she hadn’t seen him since. We knew it was our cat when she described his behaviors.

Long story short, almost a month after his disappearance we were sitting around one evening after dark, and heard a cat crying outside. We ran out, and saw Duke, all dirty and skinny - but definitely Our Cat. He had found his way home over several miles - only God knows how.

I had that cat until I was 21 - I think he was about 22 when he died. And that experience taught me that we should never view any difficult thing as ‘final’, but keep having faith.


34 posted on 06/19/2017 4:42:53 PM PDT by Jamestown1630 ("A Republic, if you can keep it.")
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To: C19fan; Slings and Arrows

35 posted on 06/19/2017 4:54:06 PM PDT by Daffynition ("The New PTSD: Post-Trump Stress Disorder" - The MLN didn't make Trump, so they can't break Trump.)
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To: Slings and Arrows

I don’t often respond, but I always check, so thanks, as always, for the ping.
Cheers,
Jim


36 posted on 06/19/2017 6:37:56 PM PDT by gymbeau (America...becoming great again!)
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To: mowowie

I’ve heard that, if you put the litter box on front porch or in garage (left open just enough for her to get in), the odor might help her find her way home. Also, to go out looking, with a flashlight, after dark. Good luck!


37 posted on 06/19/2017 7:08:27 PM PDT by NEMDF
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To: C19fan

I occasionally cat-sit an Egyptian Mau. I have never known a sweeter, more affectionate kitty in my life! Her breed is one of the oldest if not the oldest breed of felines. I guess they have had a lot of practice endearing themselves to humans.


38 posted on 06/19/2017 10:49:30 PM PDT by boatbums (The Law is a storm which wrecks your hopes of self-salvation, but washes you upon the Rock of Ages)
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To: gymbeau

My pleasure.


39 posted on 06/20/2017 2:51:28 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg)
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To: Daffynition

Indeed.


40 posted on 06/20/2017 2:52:31 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook: Hopalong Ginsberg)
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