How Cats Took Over Our Living Rooms: Blame Egypt

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Edge Guerrero
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How Cats Took Over Our Living Rooms: Blame Egypt

Postby Edge Guerrero » Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:53 pm

Ancient DNA reveals role of Near East and Egypt in cat domestication

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Date: June 19, 2017
Source: KU Leuven

Summary: DNA found at archaeological sites reveals that the origins of our domestic cat are in the Near East and ancient Egypt. Cats were domesticated by the first farmers some 10,000 years ago. They later spread across Europe and other parts of the world via trade hub Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that most of these ancient cats had stripes: spotted cats were uncommon until the Middle Ages.

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These are several cats buried in a 6000-year-old pit in Hierakonpolis, Egypt.
Credit: © Hierakonpolis Expedition


Five subspecies of the wildcat Felis silvestris are known today. All skeletons look exactly alike and are indistinguishable from that of our domestic cat. As a result, it's impossible to see with the naked eye which of these subspecies was domesticated in a distant past. Paleogeneticist Claudio Ottoni and his colleagues from KU Leuven (University of Leuven) and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences set out to look for the answer in the genetic code. They used the DNA from bones, teeth, skin, and hair of over 200 cats found at archaeological sites in the Near East, Africa, and Europe. These remains were between 100 and 9,000 years old.

The DNA analysis revealed that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat or Felis silvestris lybica, a wildcat subspecies found in North Africa and the Near East. Cats were domesticated some 10,000 years ago by the first farmers in the Near East. The first agricultural settlements probably attracted wildcats because they were rife with rodents. The farmers welcomed the wildcats as they kept the stocks of cereal grain free from vermin. Over time, man and animal grew closer, and selection based on behaviour eventually led to the domestication of the wildcat.

Migrating farmers took the domesticated cat with them. At a later stage, the cats also spread across Europe and elsewhere via trade hub Egypt. Used to fight vermin on Egyptian trade ships, the cats travelled to large parts of South West Asia, Africa, and Europe. Bones of cats with an Egyptian signature have even been found at Viking sites near the Baltic Sea.

"It's still unclear, however, whether the Egyptian domestic cat descends from cats imported from the Near East or whether a separate, second domestication took place in Egypt," says researcher Claudio Ottoni. "Further research will have to show." The scientists were also able to determine the coat pattern based on the DNA of the old cat bones and mummies. They found that the striped cat was much more common in ancient times. This is also illustrated by Egyptian murals: they always depict striped cats. The blotched pattern did not become common until the Middle Ages.

Sourcehttps://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619125825.htm

-Who can blame them for loving those charismatic jerk's?


[b] - That's is my handsome cat!

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Postby Som-Pong » Thu Jun 22, 2017 10:16 am

The best animals. Still miss katokrok, when I was broke he became king of the slum.

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Postby Edge Guerrero » Fri Jun 23, 2017 12:42 am

Som-Pong wrote:The best animals. Still miss katokrok, when I was broke he became king of the slum.


- I love dog's and cat's. I even had a pet chicken.
My cat indolizes and loves my mom, follows her like a dog would do, and his prank's arent as stupid against her, i bellieve he knows she is a old lady.

They're charming animals, a mix of natural douchness and inconditional love.
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Winnson
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Postby Winnson » Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:13 am

Cats rule

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Redneck
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Postby Redneck » Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:20 am

Interesting article.

So this is the Great Grandaddy of all cats?

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Winnson
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Postby Winnson » Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:26 pm

Saturday is a holiday here, so I'm locking myself into the bathroom with my cat again to give him another trim. His hair grows back wicked fast now.

I'll try to remember to post pics.

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Postby Winnson » Thu Jun 29, 2017 10:33 pm

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Postby Winnson » Fri Jul 21, 2017 4:56 pm

I forgot about posting Tiger's haircut. I have the pics on my phone but don't know how to post them from the PC. I've turned into a damn luddite.

I've trimmed it up quite a bit since then, but my boy still won't let me around his ass. I put him in what I thought was a death lock to try to really get in there and trim it up. He quickly showed me I didn't have a death lock on him at all. He doesn't like me playing around his butt. I can respect that.

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Postby Winnson » Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:01 pm

Before and after his trim. He lets me do it now no problem, but won't let me near his ass.ImageImageImage

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Edge Guerrero
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Postby Edge Guerrero » Fri Jul 21, 2017 5:31 pm

Winnson wrote:Before and after his trim. He lets me do it now no problem, but won't let me near his ass.


- Why you did that to Heathcliff?

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Don't be selfish, preserve this world for the next generations.

I'll never long for what might have been
Regret won't waste my life again
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