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Malwarebytes lifetime key ebay1/22/2024 ![]() ![]() Though everyone might not agree on cats’ perfection, felines are among the most popular pets in the world today, with as many as 74 million cats living in U.S. ![]() “I think that there was no need to subject cats to such a selection process since it was not necessary to change them,” Geigl says. Dogs were selected to perform specific tasks-which never was the case for cats-and this selection for particular traits is what led to dogs’ diversification to the many breeds we see today. This is in contrast to dogs, the first animals to be domesticated, Geigl adds. (See " Our Most Stunning Pictures of Big Cats.") Domestic cats look similar to wildcats, but they aren’t solitary, tolerating both humans and other cats. ![]() Overall, cats became a domesticated companion of humans without changing much, says evolutionary geneticist and article coauthor Eva-Maria Geigl. It was only in the 18th century, however, that the markings became common enough to be associated with domestic cats, and in the 19th century, cat fanciers began selecting cats with particular traits to create fancy breeds. The gene for a tabby coat dates back to the Ottoman Empire in Southwest Asia and later became common in Europe and Africa. ![]() The study sheds light on the late emergence of the blotched or striped coat markings, which began to appear in domesticated tabby cats in the Middle Ages. Surprisingly, wild and domestic cats showed no major differences in their genetic makeup, and one of the few traits available for telling them apart was the tabby coat marking. Tabby Takeoverīy comparing the DNA of cats throughout history, the study captures a glimpse of how the animals were changing even before humans started to cart them across the globe, Ottoni says. The results suggest that prehistoric human populations probably began carrying their cats along ancient land and sea trade routes to control rodents. This Egyptian cat probably had behaviors that made it attractive to humans, such as sociability and tameness. However, one resident has made it her mission to look after Jerusalem's strays and give them the best life possible.Ī second lineage, consisting of African cats that dominated Egypt, spread into the Mediterranean and most of the Old World beginning around 1500 B.C. (Also see “ Surprising Things You Never Knew About Your Cat.”)Ĭat overpopulation threatens the well-being of felines in the Old City of Jerusalem, leaving them susceptible to disease, neglect, and starvation. Instead, people more or less allowed cats to domesticate themselves. “It’s not that humans took some cats and put them inside cages,” he says. “This is probably how the first encounter between humans and cats occurred,” says study coauthor Claudio Ottoni of the University of Leuven. Cats likely followed the rodent populations and, in turn, frequently approached the human settlements. Mice and rats were attracted to crops and other agricultural byproducts being produced by human civilizations. (See little-known small cats in “ Out of the Shadows, the Wildcats You’ve Never Seen.”) The cats likely started hanging around farming communities in the Fertile Crescent about 8,000 years ago, where they settled into a mutually beneficial relationship as humans’ rodent patrol. The earlier ancestors of today’s domestic cats spread from southwest Asia and into Europe as early as 4400 B.C. ![]()
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