{"id":4965,"date":"2024-01-19T15:57:15","date_gmt":"2024-01-19T08:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/?p=4965"},"modified":"2024-01-19T15:57:15","modified_gmt":"2024-01-19T08:57:15","slug":"unveiling-cat-domestication-a-journey-from-wild-ancestors-to-global-dominance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/unveiling-cat-domestication-a-journey-from-wild-ancestors-to-global-dominance\/","title":{"rendered":"Unveiling Cat Domestication: A Journey from Wild Ancestors to Global Dominance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>TLDR<\/strong>: Cats, once wild, were domesticated twice, evolving alongside humans to become today&#8217;s globally widespread, varied Felis catus species.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is a summary of a You Tube video &#8220;How We Domesticated Cats (Twice)&#8221; by PBS Eons<br \/>\n<iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CYPJzQppANo?si=PKxHCm0HxrBOqW9D\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Key Takeaways:<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Extensive Cat Population in Cyprus<\/strong>: Cyprus has a remarkably large cat population, outnumbering its human inhabitants with an estimated 1.5 million cats.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Discovery in Cyprus Suggests Early Human-Cat Relationship<\/strong>: Archaeologists in Cyprus uncovered a burial site dating back 9,500 years, showing early evidence of human-cat companionship.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Domestication Origins from Wild Cats<\/strong>: Today&#8217;s domestic cats, Felis catus, are descendants of a wildcat subspecies, Felis silvestris lybica.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cats&#8217; Physical Traits Through Domestication<\/strong>: Domesticated cats are generally smaller than their wild ancestors and exhibit a greater variety in coat colors and patterns.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Genetic and Behavioral Similarities with Wild Ancestors<\/strong>: Despite domestication, cats maintain significant genetic and behavioral similarities with their wild ancestors.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Double Domestication Events<\/strong>: Evidence suggests cats were domesticated twice \u2013 first in Southwest Asia around 10,000 years ago and later in Egypt around 3,500 years ago.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Three Pathways to Domestication<\/strong>: Dr. Melinda Zeder&#8217;s theory outlines three domestication pathways &#8211; prey, directed, and commensal, with cats likely domesticated through the commensal pathway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Cats&#8217; Role in Early Human Settlements<\/strong>: Early domesticated cats helped control pests in human settlements, contributing to their domestication.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spread of Cats Through Human Expansion<\/strong>: Cats spread globally, especially during the Roman Empire expansion, as humans migrated and traded.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Modern-day Cat Population and Human Impact<\/strong>: Today, cats are ubiquitous worldwide, with an estimated global population of 600 million, largely due to human intervention.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cats, once wild, were domesticated twice, evolving alongside humans to become today&#8217;s globally widespread, varied Felis catus species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4966,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","category-44","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4967,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4965\/revisions\/4967"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}