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Wild and Domestic Cats
by vremde kattan
http://www.strangecats.com
Cats were not originally meant to be pets. They were
brought into the home primarily to protect the store of
grains from mice and other rodents. The African Wildcat was
probably the first one to be domesticated, and brought into
the house. The wildcat was larger than the cats found
today. The first people, to keep cats, as pets were the
Egyptians.
The Egyptians were the first to realize that the task of
domesticating the cat was easy. They only had to raise a
kitten within the confines of their homes. As a result, the
kitten would have no fear of humans when it grew into an
adult cat. Thus evolution over thousands of years and its
domestication by man made the brain of the cat thirty
percent smaller than its wild counterpart.
All cats, dogs, bears, foxes and other similar predators
are believed to have a common ancestor. That was the Miacis
that lived about fifty million years ago on the trees. It
hunted other animals and became extinct long ago. Five
million years before the Miacis, predator called the
Dinicitis lived on the planet and it was very much like the
cat that we have today.
Wild cats could be divided into three categories-small,
medium and large. The pet cats of today have all been
domesticated from small wild cats like the African
Wildcats. The medium category of cats includes the Bobcat
and the Asian Golden cat.
The large cats are the most remarkable. People mistakenly
believe the lion to be the largest. The largest cat is the
tiger. The tiger often weighs more than 700 pounds and is a
man-eater. It is found in the swamps and the tropical
climate of Asia. This wonderful species is, however, an
endangered one.
The cheetah is another big cat and the fastest land animal
on Earth. It is in reality a sprinter and cannot be beaten
over short distances and can sprint as fast as sixty miles
an hour.
In the species of cats, the Lion is the most unusual. It is
a very social animal and form prides of extended families
unlike other cats. This group hunts and lives together. It
is so unlike the domestic cat that looks after its offspring
for a very short period after birth that it is truly
wonderful.
Wild and domestic cats do share one common characteristic
however - they like to sleep. Many wild cats are nocturnal
hunters and most the big cats seem to prefer sitting around
digesting their food to hunting it down. Every animal,
humans included, need a set amount of sleep - domesticated
cats need sixteen hours a day!
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