Cats! These playful and active, yet lazy carnivorous mammals that we love and constantly share around the internet have a long history of evolution. Although the domesticated cats some of us own are far from being one of the most powerful predators in the wild, but none of them seem to have lost touch with their original instincts that the Felidae (The cat family) has counted on for millions of years to survive.
See, what a big jump in appearance and size cats made through all this time?
The pantherlike ancestor to the cat family first appeared in Southeast Asia, about 10.8 million years ago. Prior to the use of DNA studies in cats, it was difficult to trace the Felidae family history, because feline fossils are rare, and difficult to tell apart.
As sea levels rose and fell, cats migrated to new continents and developed new species. It is estimated that cats migrated to North America from Asia across the Bering land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska about 9 million years ago. With each migration, the cats evolved further and changed into an ever-growing array of sizes and types of felines.
Why is it easier to change a dog’s behavior unlike cat’s?
Dogs are pack animals who follow a leader and humans have learned how to lead them to get the most out of their dogs. In the wild leaders demand obedience or they are fought by the alpha dog and driven out of the pack, so they readily conform and do the bidding of humans.
Cats, despite cooperating and interacting with humans over since 10 000 years ago, don’t obey our orders very often.
Notice a cat perching in a cat tree? It’s related to the behaviour of a wild cat atop a rock while watching for prey and being on the lookout for predators. A cat pawing beside its food dish mimics the behavior of its ancestors who covered the remains of their meals to keep them from other animals and disguise the scent.
Cats in outbuildings and barns were and in many ways still are mirrors of their wild relatives.
