A brief history of Cats

Today, we’ll learn more about the cat’s history behind feline evolution.
Differently from dogs, cats became a part of the human household (lar) not too long
ago. That means that their instincts play a huge role on their regular behavior.
By the end of this class, you’ll look at cats in a different way, will think
about their needs and get to know a little bit more about their migration on human
civilization.
Some historical facts are needed, so we’ll learn some about history, as well as
the role that religion and religious rituals are connected with the destiny of the
modern cat.
 The Origins of the Cat

The earliest known ancestors of the Felidae (family of mammals in the order
Carnivora) date back 45,000,000 years. The cat was derived from a subdivision
family, the Dinictis (also known as "false saber-toothed cats"). Approximately
8,000,000 to 10,000,000 years ago, the feline family, with the cat’s closest relatives,
separated from that which gave rise to the modern large cats.
Today it is generally accepted that the modern cat, Felis catus, is derived
from Felis libyca, the Kaffir cat (also known as the small African bush cat), which
was numerous in Egypt at that time.

African bush cat

Through the ages, the human’s relationship with the cat has been a curious
one. This relation, more inconsistent than that between humans and any other
domestic animal, has created the behavior of the modern cat. It is not known when
the cat was first considered domesticated. What is recorded is that by 1600 BC
(Before Christ) cats were domesticated in Egypt.
 Spread of the Cat from Ancient Egypt

Vocabulary notes

• Spread : the development or growth of something so that it covers a

large area or affects a large number of people.
• Granaries : a large building for storing grains.
• Mourn : to feel or express great sadness, especially because of
someone's death.
• Burial : the act of putting a dead body into the ground, or the
ceremony connected with it.

In ancient Egypt, the cat was originally kept to control rodents on farms and
in granaries. Later, cats were also used to fish and to hunt and retrieve wild birds.
The Egyptian word for cat, mau, means “to see.” As time passed, the cat came to be
associated with religion.

Egyptian Cat God Bastet

 The belief that a cat could see into the soul is connected to the fascination
with cat eyes. Bastet (also called Bast, Bassett), the cat goddess, daughter of the sun
god Re, represented the fertility of plants and women, as well as good health.

As Bastet became the primary goddess, the cat became a valuable animal—
legally protected, mourned over at death by the owner shaving his eyebrows, and
mummified for burial in special cemeteries.

Eventually, merchants and soldiers introduced the cat to Asia and Europe, so
between 300 and 500 AD (abbreviation for Anno Domini : a Latin phrase meaning "in
the year of the Lord", which is used when referring to a year after Jesus Christ was
born) the cat is known to have reached Britain.

In the Orient, cats were revered for their ability to foresee storms at sea
and Mi-Ke (calico) cats ensured a safe voyage as symbols of good luck.

Oriental Calico Cat

 However, Christianity’s treatment of this animal has had a more profound
effect on its course of behavioral development. When first introduced into Europe, the
cat was believed to have protected the Christ child in the stable from the Devil’s
mouse.

As time passed, the independent nature of the cat and its prominent eyes led
to its association with Diana, the moon goddess. Legend says she created the cat to
make fun of the sun god Apollo. This association of cats with the moon led to the
connection of the cat with the Devil and witchcraft.

During the Middle Ages, not only were vast numbers of cats exterminated,
but the same thing happened to individuals showing compassion for them. As the
European Crusaders returned around 1600 AD, they brought with them an invasion of
the brown rat, the black plague, and a gradual reacceptance of the only effective
rat-control method—the cat. They lived in monasteries to protect manuscripts from
rodents.

The Introduction into North America came in the seventeenth century,

probably because the cat served as the principal method of rodent control on British
ships headed for the New World. Along with the cat, however, came the witchcraft
cult.

Domestication of the Cat

Vocabulary Notes

• Breeding - The process in which animals have sex and produce

young animals.
• Undergo - To experience something that is unpleasant or something
that involves a change.
• Mating – Similar to breeding.
• Selective breeding - The process of choosing only plants and
animals with desirable characteristics to reproduce.
• Self-sufficiency - The quality or state of being able to provide
everything you need, especially food, without the help of other people.

Domestication is a process that goes through several generations of selective

breeding to produce physiologic, morphologic, and/or behavioral changes. It is not
known how long this process might take. In foxes, dramatic changes occurred in 20
generations however, 24 generations in cats did not result in significant differences
in the reverse process. For cats, the domestication process has been unique.

There has been a recent discussion about whether cats may have undergone
“self-domestication.” This is, humans played little or no role in the changes except
allowing cats near them for a better chance for survival and reproductive success. It
is more likely humans did play a role that gradually became more significant.
 The cat, however, was first brought into the home for religious reasons, not
utilitarian ones. Cats followed the urbanization of human populations, so mating was
a matter of proximity, and not human selection.

Not only was it difficult to control mating in cats, but the religious
connotation prohibited selective breeding. The date given of domestication varies
from 100 BC to as early as 7000 BC, but several information say that even now the
cat is not fully domesticated because it can revert to total self-sufficiency.

Modern Roles for the Cat

Pets take on many roles in society, and these roles change as the needs of
civilization change. Although individual animals can be shown to be unique, all cats
are a product of species-specific characteristics

Reasons people have cats vary, but most people indicate that personality and
appearance are important aspects. The cat still controls rodents, but closer contact
with humans is now adding new dimensions of purpose. As a research animal, the
cat has become invaluable for studies of aggression, neurology, anatomy, ecology, and
aging.

Children can develop significant benefits from having a pet, and the cat has
long been important in this matter. A child may relate better to pets than to adults
and, with this friend, may be better able to work out many of the normal problems
of childhood. Caring for a cat teaches a sense of responsibility to the child, and
watching the cat’s normal body functions results in self-understanding and a respect
for life.